As a Swede, perhaps I can shed some light on the "Tesla situation".<p>Tesla is not breaking the law when they don't sign a collective agreement with IF Metall. Tesla would not break any laws if they brought in workers from other countries, as long as those workers are able to get work visas or are from countries within the EU. They WOULD be breaking the law if they tried to fire employees for going on strike, so they would end up paying double salary.<p>However, Tesla's real problem is not the law. It is the solidarity between unions in Sweden. Once the IF Metall strike gets going, other unions will join in. Tesla's business would grind to a halt in days and people who own a Tesla would not be able to get their cars serviced anywhere. All this is a given, since there is absolutely no chance that the Swedish unions will back down.<p>A number of years ago, Toys'r'us tried the same thing. They were brought to their knees in about a week, if memory serves. They ended up signing the agreement, despite the fact that they had also said that "they never signed agreements with the unions". They had apparently not done their homework when it comes to "the Swedish model". Their stance was simply impossible, as is Tesla's.<p>There are two things I don't understand:
1. What does Tesla think will happen? Do they really think that they can do business in Sweden without getting along with the unions?<p>2. Why are they so negative towards unions? The Swedish model is built on a century of cooperation between employers and unions and it is working very well. I have myself been on the employer side many times when speaking to unions, and by far the most common situation is that we have good and productive discussions, where both parties are focused on helping the company to succeed. There are of cours exceptions, but they are not very common.