This will come back to bite the unions, part 2

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

One of the companies that IF Metall has ordered to go on a sympathy strike is a car repair shop. This company works almost exclusively with repairing Tesla cars. They have more than 90 workshops in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The group employs approximately 1,200 employees.

Besides prevention being better than cure and to stay one step ahead, it is speculated that the company will have to start notifying employees soon. With 1,200 employees, any notice must be given early in the process to avoid incurring large costs that contribute to the company ending up insolvent or, in the worst case, going bankrupt.

Every working hour with 1,200 workers on strike is extremely costly even if the union pays the wages of its striking members. In addition to the fixed costs like rent, insurance, pension insurance, telephony, electricity, vehicle fleet, etc. run as usual, there are always staff who are not covered by the union that the company has to pay.

Before a notice affecting more than 25 full-time employees enters into force, 2 months must have passed between the notice and termination. Therefore, I believe that a notifying will come quite soon.

The union concern for the individual worker is non-existent, which may soon become clear when many workers with collective agreements risk unemployment due to these sympathy strikes.

It is rumored that only 6 employees out of 130 at TM are unionized. That IF Metall's concern for these 6 workers is more keen than the existing members who are covered by the collective agreements and risk losing their jobs does not feel credible.

It all comes down to the union wanting its 1.5% of the gross salary that a collective agreement entails.