Elon Musk calls strikes ‘insane’ as Swedish workers take on Tesla
Elon Musk calls strikes ‘insane’ as Swedish workers take on Tesla
Strike at carmaker prompts sympathy action from dockers, painters and postal workers in fight over Swedish labour model
Elon Musk has decried a wave of “insane” strikes focused on Tesla workshops in Sweden, as workers target the US electric car manufacturer in a strike calling for collective bargaining rights.
In what has been portrayed as the largest fight in decades to save Sweden’s union model from global labour practices, the powerful trade union IF Metall has been leading a strike across eight Tesla workplaces in Sweden for five weeks.
It is the first time workers for the US carmaker have gone on strike and on Thursday, Musk, the tech billionaire and chief executive of Tesla, made his feelings clear, writing on X, formerly Twitter: “This is insane.”
Guys, this is what success for the working class looks like.
If the ruling class is upset, it's because we're doing something right.
If they're content, it's because they're fucking us up the ass with no lube or reach-around.
They literally want us to roll over and just take it. And some of us are proud to. Glad that number is rapidly diminishing, though.
Frfr, hate on them high billys
I would love to see the number of people upvoting this who are genuinely working class.(remember, every downvote on my reply is a middle class person who does not practice what they preach)
Middle class is the working class and I support our unions. When I worked for one I got a fair wage and just because I'm not in one currently doesn't mean you cant support them.
Ah yes. I might have missed the memo where you became the Judge of who is working class or not.
(And remember if you answer my comment you admit that you have no Idea what you are talking about and are just here to troll 🥸)
.(remember, every downvote on my reply is a middle class person who does not practice what they preach)
Yeah no, that's not how this works. You're being downvoted for posting a stupid comment.
The reason they have so many downvotes is because they buy them cheap on Amazon.com
OnT: I'm Swedish and it's good to see a proper strike, but the real thing motivating the unions on this isn't workers rights or anything. The unions are subservient to the national labour union organisation, LO, who'll do the shadiest shit to get more power for themselves, and don't care about working conditions in the slightest. The only thing that's a red line for them, is when corporations refuse to take part in the charade, by not signing a collective agreement.
You have to pay some lip-service, even if it costs you. If you do, the unions will be on your side against the workers.
Cry harder billionaire.
Literally made his money on exploitation and lies. SpaceX is amazing, but built on much smarter minds; he was just the wallet. And he bought Tesla and has been lying and overpromising since he did.
NASA could do what SpaceX does if we gave NASA the money we gave SpaceX. I won't even give him credit for that.
Meh another repeat of private shark corp vs government zombie group, would be interesting though
Doubtful, big administrations have big issues with productivity and meeting goals. Not that I think it is thanks to Musk, but startups/scaleups organizations are often much more efficient than traditional companies and administrations.
I think every engineer who has worked both at a big traditional company and a startup can confirm.Wtf are you on about? We give SpaceX nowhere near the funds we give NASA.
We gave NASA $25 billion this year.
SpaceX was awarded a $2.9B contract to fund the entire "land starship on the moon" program (a non cost+ contact I might add) spanning multiple years. They launched two sets of crew to the iss this year, at an estimated cost of ~700m. They have had one cargo mission this year at a cost of about $150m.
But didn't he also go above and beyond to have him portrayed as founder of SpaceX?
That's what all "visionary entrepreneurs" do. They pretend like they made every single product they sell with their bare hands and all the engineers and scientists designing them and the factory workers fabricating them are just for decoration.
I'm also convinced that they've breathed enough of their own farts that they genuinely believe most of the things they say.
Literally made his money on exploitation and lies. SpaceX is amazing, but built on much smarter minds; he was just the wallet.
Not to mention 100's of millions of subsidies from the US government. Space X could never have survived with only his wealth!
His real skill is getting people to work hard. And he brought the iterative design he learned in software development to the physical world. Pared with family money, hire the right people to do the work, and you get SpaceX.
His real skill is getting people to work hard.
Did you really just say that on a post about how his workers are striking?! LOL!
Musk whines: "This isn't fair, I'm rich, poor people have to do what I say! Get back to work peasants! Why isn't it working?!"
Hmmm calling your workers insane for striking due to their lives and wellbeings endangered, seems entirely responsible and in no way insane.
Is he out of touch? No it is the workers who are wrong.
Well, SOMEONE is gonna have to make sacrifices and we all know that it can't be the rich guy, so...
He's actually referring to the sympathy strikers. No Tesla can get a licence plate or registered in solidarity with the autoworkers.
I feel like if someone is insane, it must be Musk, trying to circumvent the unions in a Nordic country, which have one some of the strongest unions and union culture in the world.
They used to have an even greater influence... These days there are no real extended demands, just smaller pay rises for many unions. And the social democratic political parties have severed the historical ties to them i many countries.
The collective agreements are still pretty strong, with unions blocking companies unwilling to agree to these collective Agreements.
Like when Burger King came to Denmark I believe it was, they refused to make collective agreements, and like in Sweden now, many other unions joined in year long boycotts until Burger King caved and agreed to comply.
McDonald's made collective agreements from the start, but had some tax evasion scheme that resulted in them not paying any taxes for decades up until fairly recently.
There is still cross union solidarity, that flair up now and again. But lobbied so called "yellow unions", that offers economical security benifits but without politics for a much lower fee price have chipped away at the older more classic unions.
The US is one of the most active places union wise these days. God knows they need it.
Typical rich person mentality. How easily they forget they don’t create wealth in a vacuum. People are only that rich off the hard work of other people
The sound of strong unions is music to my ears.
There are almost no minimum wage laws but 90% of workers are unionized or represented in some way. They strike very rarely because employers know unions are strong there but when they do, oh boy the whole country is behind the workers on strike.
130 mechanics started the whole thing!
Good for them. This abuse of workers collective bargaining rights is just divide and conquer. Unions cannot work if you allow them to disappear.
It has to be said that the unions in Sweden do not want minimum wage because it would give employers another argument against them in negotiations. Even Elon uses it in countries that do have it.
To me, proof that Elon Musk is a doofus and not as smart as he thinks he is, is that he had this public persona of "real life Iron Man" billionaire playboy thing going, and within just a couple years his public image has become "douche bag with too much money". Obviously that one is way closer to reality, which is exactly my point.
Someone with half a brain would have hired a PR team to keep the original image intact for as long as possible, but he's so egotistical and so prideful and so oblivious he thinks he can let his real self on display and that'll just carry him
I think most people are at a point where they only really want to know what he's up to to make fun of him.
I would love it if people would just stop talking about him
do you think that will make him go away? Stop shining a light on the dark and disgusting in the hopes that they just disappear? Doesn't work like that pal.
If you actually cared, there are ways of stopping phony stark from coming up in your feed, yet here you are
For a while there I had hope he was doing it so he could run as a republican and then do a flip on them when he got elected.
Just started passing things usually called literal.
This was 5 years ago
Evidently he has Asperger's, so there might be a non-nefarious explanation for his lack of understanding of social things and why he is both simultaneously so successful/creative but also completely socially inept.
He might be actually incapable of understanding others' perspectives.
I still believe in him
Let's appreciate the insanity of opening factories in countries with some of the best unions and laws supporting unions and then doing a pikachu face when those unions go and decide to bust your kneecaps for essentially abusing the workers... Elon why did you even open a factory in sweden? It was obvious from the beginning this would happen.
Probably some insidious long term plan to weaken unions in Scandinavian countries.
I’ll take “Things petulant billionaires say when they don’t get their way” for $1000, Alex.
He's so persecuted. Guys, guys, be nice to Elon. He's just the victim here. There's no way these strikes are a direct response to his policies and business practices.
Poor thing.
“They are insane” = “I’m so far out of touch I can’t understand people who work for a living”
- “people giving a shit about the other people in their country”
More like ‘I’m a sociopath who thinks petty things like empathy and basic human rights are stupid. Now get back to work, my servants are meant to be seen, not heard.’
I mean, he makes several hundred times what any of those workers make. That's because his labor is just soooo much more valuable than anything they could do, should be easy for him do all their work too, right?...right?
Yeah, just a friendly reminder that no rich person is "self-made." Their wealth (especially billionaires) is built off the backs of hundreds, often thousands of exploited workers, combined with favors and handouts from the government.
I love watching Musk screech and scream while his ass gets clapped by unions, keep it up!
I mean, he makes several hundred times what any of those workers make.
Not several hundred times more. A million times more. If you made 100k, he made 1000 x 1000 as much as you to make 100 billion.
A billion dollars is an unfathomable amount of money. A hundred billion is unknowable. If anything, your points are even more poignant.
I think they are referring to his actual salary and not his "worth".
I’m an American that hasn’t been to many other countries, but Sweden is fortunately one of them. The culture is different from what I’m used to, and it boils down to respecting the dignity of the people around you, and in the process respecting yourself as well.
So, it’s very nice to see the solidarity of the workers, but also not surprising. In a good way.
Billionaires, the true Unskilled Worker
Worker is a bit of a stretch.
Poor guy. It must be so difficult watching his workers joining together to demand their fair share of his company’s profits. It’d be a real shame if workers in other countries follow suit. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to be a billionaire. Those poor bastards.
Musk could spend a million dollars per day for 500 years and still be a billionaire. That’s a literally incomprehensible amount of money.
He could single-handedly end world hunger and barely notice a difference in his staggering wealth. Just paying his fair share of taxes would have a seismic effect on the US in so many ways, but instead he hoards more and more, siphoning wealth from those who need it most into coffers so large, he can’t even really notice.
It’s obscene.
"Waaaah my precious market forces are working against me."
They've seen 50-100% payrises in many cases - unions are important.
LOL, being forced to burn $44 billion on Twitter was completely rational.
Ikr, genial some might say
America are you awake
At this hour? I doubt it.
Waiting for Noway and Denmark to join in and make it even more insane
I know there are Tesla Factories in Norway, but I don't think there are any in Denmark. I'm Danish, but I could be wrong.
It's more about the sympathy striking. If danish post clerks did not deliver letters to Tesla's offices or like in Sweden, they won't make number plates or unload them from the ships
Given the recent Dutch election I suspect trade unions may not be participating...
What does the Dutch election have to do with unions in Sweden, Noway and Denmark?
Yes, it is insane to go against unions in a country with a high degree of unionisation, where collective bargaining agreements are signed exactly because they prevent industrial unrest by ensuring the relationship between management and workers isn't adverserial.
I mean, I say it's insane, but let's be honest. Musk is yet another arrogant American CEO who didn't do his research on how things work in non-domestic markets. It's as much stupidity and arrogance, as it is insanity. Imagine thinking you somehow know better than companies like McDonalds (who did sign agreements with unions).
Musk seems like the kind of guy who thinks about the Roman Empire entirley too much. So it's surprising that he's never heard of the expression 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'
Musk is yet another arrogant American CEO who didn't do his research on how things work in non-domestic markets. It's as much stupidity and arrogance, as it is insanity.
He doesn't need to do his research. His obscene wealth makes him an expert on everything, you see.
Musk is yet another arrogant American CEO who didn't do his research on how things work in non-domestic markets.
Ironic, since he's South African.
I know, I know. But American passport, American degree, America company.
Oh here is some of your own medicine, how does it taste?
"Strikes are insane!" declares man who thinks Jews aren't white people.
wait what? wtf kinda logic is that? It's a religion not a fucking phenotype
You'll have to ask antisemites.
More Trump-like shit. Anyone who opposes him is 'deranged' or 'crazy'.
Nazicuntsayswhat
Elmo's clearly the one whose insane.
What a bizarre statement, given how he'll have to capitulate within a few weeks.
Elmo says something crazy. What a scoop.
Elmo's great. Musk is a sentient sack of detritus.
The rabble refuses to do my perfect bidding?! This is insanity!!
Isn't Musk just basically a venture capitalist? He's just fucking loud about it and has to have his fucked up fingers deep in all the pies?
USA strikers should take notes
@MicroWave Insane how, Elon? Seems you need sanity to cooperate enough to organize a strike.
If money is just a high score for you and you can literally buy whatever you want, of course a strike is "insane". It's just money, right? Why are they mad?
For real, how much can a banana cost? 100 kronor??
Musk logic:
This is insane .... If it weren't for workers unions and advocates for human rights and regulating big corporations, I'd have all of you working as indentured slave laborers working for bread and water just to keep you alive for my benefit!
No exactly the most constructive reply, mr. Musk. Though, you don't really have one isnt? Not the one that will be great for both sides anyway.
No, purchasing Twitter without knowing how to run it is "insane".
Some people are more risk averse than others, some are more risk inclined
Skitsækk
if everyone pitched in, i know we could make that fat baby cry every single day
Fuck Musk
Yes, Musk, we know you're insane.
Of course Elon would.
@MicroWave
Swedish workers strike - best kind of 'insanity' , imo.It inspires hope to see other countries pick up the ball that the USA has been so consistently dropping.
Fuck Musk.