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- Tesla has found a very Elon Musk solution to its striking Swedish workers: throw money at the problem.
- The long-running industrial action ended after Tesla bought out all of IF Metall’s striking workers, the union said.
- The strike lasted nearly three years and caused major disruption, with Musk branding it “insane.”
Elon Musk’s long battle with Tesla’s striking Swedish workers is finally coming to an end.
On Thursday, IF Metall said it is suspending its nearly three-year industrial action against Tesla, effective August 19, after the company bought out all of the Swedish union’s striking workers.
The fractious dispute has disrupted Tesla’s operations in the Scandinavian country, with dockworkers refusing to unload the company’s EVs from ships and cleaners boycotting Tesla’s showrooms and offices as other unions joined the fray.
The strike action, which lasted more than 1,000 days, has drawn Musk’s attention, with the Tesla CEO previously calling it “insane.” Musk has been sharply critical of unions in the past, and the automaker was accused of cracking down on unionization efforts in the US in 2023.
In a statement announcing the end of the industrial action, which was initially intended to force Tesla to agree to negotiations with the union over pay and working conditions, IF Metall accused the company of “systematic strikebreaking.”
“We can conclude that Tesla is so strongly opposed to collective agreements that they would rather buy out employees who are members of the union than give them safe conditions,” the union wrote, according to a translated announcement.
Such collective agreements are common in Sweden’s heavily unionized workforce. The initial strike action, which began in 2023, covered around 120 Tesla workers.
It is unclear how many employees were bought out by Tesla or how much the company paid to resolve the strike. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
The Model Y maker has regularly clashed with unions in Europe. Tesla fended off an attempt by German union IG Metall to win control of a workers’ body overseeing its Berlin Gigafactory earlier this year, in a fierce dispute that peaked when Tesla management accused union members of secretly recording an internal meeting.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has in the past paid out large sums to draw a line under issues, either directly or through his companies. In 2018, Musk paid a $20 million SEC fine after falsely claiming to have secured funding to take Tesla private, and in 2025 reached a settlement with former top Twitter executives over unpaid severance.
Tesla’s latest victory over union opposition in Sweden comes as the brand’s sales in Europe recover after slumping in 2025 amid backlash over Musk’s political interventions.
The automaker’s European registrations surged 50% year-over-year in June, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, and are up around 43% in Sweden so far this year.
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