Nordic Tesla shareholders seek to promote workers’ rights in vote

Nordic Tesla shareholders seek to promote workers’ rights in vote

The fight over Elon Musk’s salaries and the vote on whether to move Tesla’s headquarters to Texas were the center of attention ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting on Thursday, but not for investors in the Nordic.

Tesla’s main shareholders in Sweden, Denmark and Norway are instead counting on this meeting to bring to the forefront the issue of labor rights at the automaker.

Behind this campaign is the strike of Tesla mechanics in Sweden. The dispute, now six months old, has drawn unions from across the region to join in blockades aimed at bringing the U.S. automaker to the negotiating table to reach a collective agreement with its Swedish workers.

Several of the Nordic countries’ biggest shareholders are urging others to support a proposal that would force Tesla to respect workers’ right to assembly.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. He remained resistant to unions in Europe, even in countries with strong traditions of unionization. Mr. Musk has expressed disdain for unions. “I don’t agree with the idea of ​​unions,” he said at a news conference. the DealBook summit in New York last year.

None of Tesla’s factories are unionized, which could give the company an advantage over competitors like Ford Motor, General Motors and Volkswagen, which must pay union wages. But in the United States, Tesla is a prime target for the United Automobile Workers union, which is in a strong position after recently winning the biggest pay raises in years for workers at unionized factories.

The proposal to be voted on Thursday was presented by Folksam Group, a Swedish insurance company, as well as a Canadian pension fund and U.S. equity funds. Together, they call on Tesla’s board of directors to adopt a policy that would commit to “non-interference and good faith negotiations in accordance with internationally recognized human rights standards regarding freedom of speech.” association and collective bargaining”, according to a deposit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Among those backing the proposal, which is due to be voted on on Thursday, are KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, which owns 900,000 Tesla shares worth about 1.7 billion Norwegian crowns, or 162 million dollars.

“As a long-term investor, we hope that the companies we invest in will adhere to the highest international standards in their business operations, particularly when conducting business across the world where standards may vary from ‘one country to another,’ said Kiran Aziz. , head of responsible investments at KLP.

The Norwegian fund was one of several Nordic investors to send a letter to Tesla management last year addressing the issue of labor rights.

Despite the strike and the campaign by these Nordic shareholders, Mr. Musk enjoys strong popularity among many tech-savvy Swedish drivers. However, a majority of Swedes expressed support for the strike. Tesla sold 20,400 cars in Sweden last year and the Model Y is the country’s best-seller.

Tesla mechanics who are members of the IF Metall union walked off the job at the end of October. Dozens of people are still on strike and the union has organized pickets at company facilities across Sweden.

The union claims that Tesla is flouting the Swedish tradition of collective agreements. Around 90 percent of Swedish workers are covered by these agreements, which also apply to non-union employees and set working conditions across all sectors.

Tesla has refused to engage in the collective bargaining process that results in such an agreement, arguing that the company pays its workers competitively and respects local labor laws.

That didn’t stop the union from rallying more than a dozen other labor organizations to support its side through solidarity measures, permitted under Swedish law. For several months, workers in other sectors have refused to provide Tesla with services ranging from unloading its cars at ports to removing trash to delivering new license plates.

Last month, Sweden’s largest union, Unionen, joined the effort by calling a walkout by workers who conduct equipment inspections for the company.

Tesla has so far found workarounds and managed to maintain operations without significant disruption to customers.

KLP, the Norwegian pension fund, also said it would vote against Mr. Musk’s $46.5 billion pay package. Although the wage vote was unrelated to the labor dispute, the fund said “the total value of the awards remains excessive” despite Tesla’s significant growth. KLP also voted against the salary package in 2018.

Major shareholders appear divided on whether to support the pay plan, which was struck down by a Delaware court judge in January. Tesla is now asking shareholders to approve the pay package and Mr Musk has been pressuring shareholders to support social media platform X, which he owns.

In response to a message from Mr Musk urging small investors to be allowed to vote, some Swedish brokerages broke with European tradition by saying they would allow their clients to vote at Thursday’s annual general meeting, after receiving requests. do this.

“We always want to do our best to respond to our customers’ requests and have decided to make an exception this time and allow them to vote at this specific Tesla annual general meeting,” said Sofia Svavar, spokesperson. from Avanza. an online bank based in Stockholm.

Jack Ewing reports contributed.

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Mattie B. Jiménez

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