Ismo Kokko, the chairperson of Finnish Transport Workers’ Union (AKT) smiled at a press conference held by members of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in Helsinki on Thursday, 7 December 2023. AKT on Thursday announced it will launch a blockade in solidarity with IF Metall, a Swedish union that is in a labour dispute with Tesla. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)
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FINNISH TRANSPORT WORKERS’ Union (AKT) has decided to take solidarity action to support the employees of Tesla in Sweden.
AKT on Thursday reported that its executive committee has decided unanimously that the union will join other transport unions and support the employees with a blockade that will start at ports across Finland on 20 December.
Dockers and stevedores represented by the union will therefore neither load nor unload vehicles or components of Tesla bound for Sweden.
“IF Metall and its Swedish employees have the full support of AKT,” Ismo Kokko, the chairperson at AKT, stated on Thursday.
Kokko told Helsingin Sanomat that the blockade is primarily a precautionary measure as, in normal circumstances, no Tesla vehicles or components are transported from Finland to Sweden. The union, he explained, is seeking to make sure the electric vehicle maker does not re-route its deliveries in response to sympathy actions taken against it in other parts of the Nordics.
“It’s a precautionary measure. Tesla has a manufacturing plant in Germany. In normal circumstances, nothing from the plant is shipped to Sweden via Finland. Now Tesla could try to pull off something like this. AKT is making sure with its sympathy action that the industrial actions in Sweden are effective.”
The blockade, he added, will last until an agreement that satisfies employees has been found in the labour dispute between IF Metall and TM Sweden, the Swedish subsidiary of Tesla.
“I appreciate the Swedes’ concern about what could happen to their labour market system if the practices of Tesla spread in the country,” commented Kokko.
Tesla has refused to commit to a collective bargaining agreement in any of its countries of operation. In November, the US electric vehicle maker initiated legal action against the Swedish Transport Agency, over a sympathy action that saw postal workers suspend the deliveries of Tesla licence plates to customers in Sweden.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
