The fight over Elon Musk’s pay package and the vote on moving Tesla’s headquarters to Texas have been the main focus ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting on Thursday, but not for investors in the Nordic countries. .
Tesla’s major shareholders in Sweden, Denmark and Norway hope the meeting will bring the issue of labor rights at the automaker to the forefront.
Behind the campaign is the strike of Tesla mechanics in Sweden. The dispute, now in its sixth month, has attracted unions from across the region who have joined the blockades aimed at bringing the American automaker to the negotiating table to reach a collective agreement with its Swedish workers.
Several of the Nordic countries’ largest shareholders are urging others to back a proposal that would require Tesla to respect workers’ right to assembly.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. He has continued to resist unions in Europe, even in countries with strong traditions of organized labor. Musk has expressed his disdain for organized labor. “I don’t agree with the idea of unions,” he said at the DealBook Summit in New York last year.
None of Tesla’s factories are unionized, which could give the company an advantage over rivals such as 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 achieving the biggest pay increases in years for workers at unionized plants.
The proposal put to a vote Thursday was put forward by Folksam Group, a Swedish insurance company, along with a Canadian pension fund and U.S. stock funds. Together they are calling on Tesla’s board of directors to adopt a policy that commits to “non-interference and bargaining in good faith in accordance with internationally recognized human rights standards with respect to freedom of association and collective bargaining,” according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Among those backing the proposal, which will be voted on Thursday, is KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, which owns 900,000 Tesla shares worth about 1.7 billion Norwegian crowns, or $162 million.
“We, as long-term investors, expect the companies we invest in to comply with the highest international standards in their business operations, particularly when they have business operations around the world where standards may vary from country to country” said Kiran Aziz. , director of responsible investments at KLP.
The Norwegian fund was one of several investors from the Nordic countries who sent a letter to Tesla management last year addressing the issue of labor rights.
Despite the strike and campaign by Nordic shareholders, Musk enjoys a strong following among many of Sweden’s most tech-savvy drivers. Although most Swedes have expressed support for the strike, many are fans of Musk. 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 left their jobs at the end of October. Dozens of people are still on strike and the union has been picketing company facilities across Sweden.
The union says Tesla is flouting Sweden’s tradition of collective bargaining. About 90 percent of Swedish workers are covered by these agreements, which also apply to non-union employees and set working conditions across industries.
Tesla has refused to participate in the collective bargaining process established by that agreement, arguing that the company pays its workers competitively and complies with local labor laws.
That hasn’t stopped the union from rallying more than a dozen other labor organizations to support its side through solidarity measures, which are permitted under Swedish law. For several months now, workers in other industries have refused to provide Tesla with services ranging from unloading their cars at ports to collecting trash and providing new license plates.
Last month, Sweden’s largest union, Unionen, joined the effort with a strike by workers who perform equipment inspections for the company.
So far, Tesla has found solutions and managed to maintain its business without significant disruption to customers.
KLP, the Norwegian pension fund, has also said it would vote against Musk’s $46.5 billion pay package. Although the vote on wages is unrelated to the labor dispute, the fund said “the total value of the award remains excessive” despite Tesla’s significant growth. KLP also voted against the pay package in 2018.
Major shareholders appear divided over whether to support the pay package, which was struck down by a Delaware court judge in January. Tesla is now asking shareholders to approve the pay package and Musk has been lobbying shareholders to support social media platform X, which he owns.
Reacting to a post by Musk urging small investors to be allowed to vote, some Swedish retail brokerage firms broke with tradition in Europe by saying they would allow their clients to cast votes at Thursday’s annual general meeting, after receive requests. to do it.
“We always want to do our best to satisfy our customers’ requests, and this time we decided to make an exception and make it possible for them to vote at this specific Tesla annual general meeting,” said Sofia Svavar, Avanza spokesperson. an online bank based in Stockholm.
Jack Ewing contributed reports.
