After the successful giant strike against the Detroit Big Three, the United Auto Workers (UAW) initiated a high-stakes campaign to unionize Tesla and a dozen non-unionized car companies.  The move for the American EV maker comes on top of a spreading union fight in the Scandinavian countries, where Denmark’s largest trade union has joined with a strike warning.

The UAW has kickstarted the expansive campaign on its website, highlighting Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s status as the world’s wealthiest individual and the company’s soaring sales, posing the pivotal question: “Will Tesla workers get their fair share?”

‘Lord and peasant’

Tesla is a specific target because Musk has been explicit about union activism, stating that it creates a ‘lord and peasant’ situation in the factory. He openly rejects the idea of unionization, asserting that, if it occurs, it would indicate failure on the company’s part.

He believes that “the UAW has a track record of destroying productivity so a company can’t compete on the world market”. His disagreement with the UAW goes back and builds upon several conflicts. In 2018, he tweeted that workers would be stripped of stock options if they organized, leading to ongoing legal action.

While the UAW tackles Tesla on the discrepancies between payment and profit, the carmaker also faces legal opposition due to discriminative and questionable working conditions.

Journalist investigations unveiled that the Fremont factory was expanded by workers earning as little as $5 per hour. They also uncovered racist behavior, with black people earning less and misleading injury reports covering up safety deficiencies. Some of these cases were settled in court.

Scandinavian unrest

The unrest is one more dagger from the Union side for Tesla. Last month, the workshop workers in Sweden went on strike and were soon joined by sympathizing colleagues from the ports and the post, among others, with the first blocking the car import and the latter refusing to deliver Tesla number plates.

The company found a loophole by exporting to gateway Denmark. But, as of Tuesday, Denmark’s biggest trade union, 3F, has declared that it will support its Swedish colleagues and issued a strike warning.

“We have agreements on the labor market in the Nordic countries, and you have to follow them if you want to do business here,” said 3F Transport chairman Jan Villadsen in a press release. Unions in Norway and Tesla’s German factory in Grünheide are currently assessing their positions and following the developments with wary eyes.

Tesla has sued Swedish Nordpost and the harbor workers and won the first court case.

Toyota, a top target

The UAW, however, thinks it is much more significant than exclusively Tesla. Victory-drunk from its six-week strikes at major automakers Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, which culminated in landmark deals that substantially increased pay for workers by as much as 25%, it targets all non-unionized carmakers, listing Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, Subaru, Volkswagen, Mazda, Rivian, Lucid, and Volvo. Of those brands, Toyota is named as another top target.

Shawn Fain, President of the UAW, is backed by US President Joe Biden, who stated: “I want this type of contract for all auto workers, and I have a feeling the UAW has a plan for that.” Fain contends that the resources are at hand – “The money is there” – urging workers to secure a better life without struggling with concerns about their own private finances.

In an official reaction, some automakers, like Honda and Subaru, have voiced reservations about union representation, citing their commitment to an outstanding employment experience. In response to the upheaval in Sweden, Tesla has stated that it offers “similar or better conditions than the others in the sector”.