Tesla Inc has sued the Swedish state and the country’s postal service after a spiraling strike in the Nordic country has paralyzed the delivery of license plates to its cars.
The monthlong walkout among industrial-union members at seven Tesla-owned repair shops in Sweden has evolved into a veritable storm of industrial action as eight other unions have thrown their weight behind the repair-shop workers’ demands on Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement. That means the initial action involving a share of about 130 Tesla workers may now be potentially backed by thousands of Swedish union members.
Read More: Tesla Business Grinds to a Halt Where Unions Still Hold Sway
Sympathy action among postal workers refusing to handle Tesla-related mail and deliveries have stopped license plates from the Swedish Transport Agency to be delivered to new Teslas as current regulations say they have to be delivered via the Swedish postal service, PostNord AB.
The two separate suits, which call upon the courts to force the transport agency to hand over the license plates directly to Tesla or deliver them by other means, come mere days after Tesla Chief executive Elon Musk called the Swedish labor action “insane.”
In the lawsuit, the Swedish law firm representing Tesla calls PostNord AB’s failure to deliver mail “very serious, nearly system threatening” and the transport agency’s actions “discriminatory.” PostNord has earlier said it has no power in the matter that is categorized as force majeure.
The transport agency said it does not share Tesla’s view that the agency is not fulfilling its duties, according to emailed comments to Bloomberg. It added the US automaker has “every right” to have its case proven in court.
Swedish and other Scandinavian labor unions have wide-ranging rights to exert pressure when one of their peers enters a conflict with a company. Other actions currently affecting Tesla include a blockade among dockworkers, who refuse to load or unload any Tesla cars at Swedish ports, while trash pickups and any electrical work at Tesla Supercharger stations are also hindered.
Tesla’s Model Y is the country’s best-selling car so far this year, with 14,078 units or 6% of the market, according to Mobility Sweden. About 2,600 of Model 3 and Model S cars, combined, have also been sold.
(Updates with extent of strike from second paragraph, agency view in seventh.)
