None of the so-called ‘Magnificent 7’ were able to withstand the market pressure from Monday’s session, with moderate losses across the board sending all three major indices into the red.
While macro conditions were weighing on the market as a whole, Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report is also facing microeconomic pressures that are unique to the company.
Related: Tesla’s Musk has harsh take on unions as the UAW takes bold new step
Tesla’s operations in Europe are being threatened by an ongoing worker strike that is both unique to the electric vehicle maker and also unique in its execution.
Sweden’s IF Metall union workers says that it has been trying to get a labor agreement in place at ten Tesla workshops located around the country for “several years.”
The Swedish workers officially went on strike on October 27, and since, the strike has grown to encompass 470 mechanics who service Tesla cars at Tesla’s workshops and includes mechanics who work on Tesla’s in other workshops.
But the labor action didn’t have a huge impact until November 7 when Swedish dock workers started refusing to unload Tesla vehicles from cargo ships. Postal workers in Sweden have also refused to deliver license plates to Tesla vehicles.
Last month, Musk commented that the union strike was “insane,” but this week the strike got a little more crazy.
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On Tuesday, 3F, Denmark’s largest union, said that its transport workers will launch a strike in solidarity with Tesla workers in Sweden if the company does not reach a collective wage agreement with them by December 18.
Danish port workers have vowed to neither unload nor load Tesla vehicles and drivers will not receive and transport Tesla cars going through Denmark.
Musk has been notoriously adverse to unionizing efforts at his car company.
Last week, Musk, speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Nov. 29, said that if Tesla became unionized, it would be because “we failed.”
“I think it’s generally not good to have an adversarial relationship between one group at the company and another group,” Musk said. “I disagree with unions because I don’t like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing. I think unions naturally try to create negativity at a company.”
Musk said that Tesla line workers could advance into senior management, adding that he is no stranger to the people on the line who are responsible for assembling his vehicles.
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