Tesla should respect fundamental labor rights, including union collective bargaining rights. A spokesman for Norway’s $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest equity investors, told Reuters. The carmaker is facing protests from unions and some pension funds in Scandinavia over its refusal to meet a demand from Swedish mechanics for bargaining rights for better wages and other working conditions.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which runs the Norwegian fund, is Tesla’s seventh-largest shareholder with a 0.88 percent stake worth about $6.8 billion, according to LSEG data. “We expect the companies in which we invest to respect fundamental human rights, including labor rights,” the company told NBIM when asked about the conflict between Tesla and its Swedish workers. “In 2022, we supported a shareholder proposal at Tesla that called on the company to adopt a policy to respect the right to freedom of association,” it said.
Danish pension fund sells Tesla shares
PensionDanmark, one of Denmark’s largest pension funds, announced on Thursday that it had sold its $69 million stake in Tesla, while fund manager Paedagogernes Pension said it would follow suit and sell its $35 million stake . NBIM declined to comment on whether its investment in Tesla would be affected by the automaker’s opposition to organized labor.
The Norwegian fund’s separate ethics board, which can recommend NBIM divest from companies that do not meet its expectations, also declined to comment. NBIM said its expectations are based on international standards set by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and global human rights conventions.
Union in Norway wants to block Tesla transports
Norway’s largest trade union Fellesforbundet announced that it would block transport of Tesla deliveries to Sweden from December 20th. The aim is to persuade the car manufacturer to conclude a collective agreement with the IF Metall union in Sweden. Port workers in Finland also want to join the strike. They announced that they would also block deliveries of Tesla vehicles in Finnish ports from December 20th.
The workers expressed solidarity with the 130 members of IF Metall who, on October 27th, in seven Swedish workshops where the popular Electric cars are serviced, have stopped work.
Jørn Eggum, chairman of Fellesforbundet, a Norwegian trade union federation, said that if Tesla does not accept the demand of the Swedish metal workers’ union IF Metall by December 20, “we will continue to carry out boycott measures.” The Fellesforbundet union also represents workers in car repair shops. Should Tesla still try to get cars through? Norway “We will take action against it and take the necessary measures.
Swedish postmen boycott Tesla service
Swedish postmen also refused to serve the car manufacturer. They refused to provide license plates for the vehicles. A Swedish court backed them up in a decision on Thursday. The court argued that as long as collective bargaining continued, the mail carriers had no obligation to deliver the license plates.
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The Danish transport workers’ union “EF” had previously announced that it wanted to prevent car imports from being loaded into Sweden. Also to force Tesla to negotiate collectively. The announcement is based on speculation that Tesla attempted to ship vehicles into Denmark instead of Sweden and then transpose them overland to Sweden. The Finnish workers also apparently want to prevent this by blocking Finnish ports.
In Sweden, several unions expressed solidarity with the Tesla mechanics’ strike that has been going on since October. These include dock workers, electricians and cleaners. Dock workers in Sweden’s four largest ports have already stopped deliveries of Tesla vehicles. Tesla rejects collective agreements and unions globally. The electric car manufacturer does not have a factory in Sweden, but has several workshops.