IF Metall has ended its almost three-year strike against Tesla in Sweden after the carmaker paid the remaining strikers to leave their jobs. A Danish labor market researcher calls the outcome something he has never seen before.
DR reports that around 80 Tesla employees have been paid to end their employment with the company. The news of the so-called buyout emerged on Thursday, DR writes. Laust Høgedahl, a labor market researcher at Aalborg University, told the broadcaster that he has seen nothing similar in a labor conflict.
IF Metall began the strike in October 2023, after talks on a collective agreement broke down. The aim was to get Tesla to sign a collective agreement in Sweden. According to Høgedahl, that did not succeed, and he said Tesla and Elon Musk won this round.
Union calls it the longest strike in modern Swedish history
Bloomberg reported on August 13, 2026, that the union said the industrial action will end on August 19, 2026. Per Bloomberg, IF Metall described the conflict as the longest strike in modern Swedish history. The union said Tesla had bought out every remaining striker.
Electrek reported that the strike lasted 1,021 days, and that all conflict measures end at 00:01 on August 19, 2026. As noted by the outlet, the buyouts left the strike with nothing further to withhold.
The BBC has reported that the strike started on October 27, 2023, and involved about 70 mechanics at ten Tesla service centers in Sweden. Reuters reported in May 2024 that Sweden’s largest union had joined the dispute. Sympathy actions were widening the conflict at that point, according to the agency.
Maria Lantz, communications manager for Tesla Sweden, welcomed the end of the strike. In a written comment to the Swedish news agency TT, she said Tesla’s agreements with its employees are equal to or better than those covered by a collective agreement.
Høgedahl told DR that he assumes the striking members needed to move on with their working lives. He said conflicts like the Swedish one often end in a compromise. In this case, according to him, it was a matter of principle and a difficult negotiating opponent.
The researcher added that Musk has a reputation for refusing to negotiate with unions. As stated by Høgedahl, a breakthrough at Tesla in Sweden could have encouraged unions in other countries to try the same.
Both DR and Bloomberg point to the buyouts as the immediate reason the action is being called off. Bloomberg reported that the payments removed the practical basis for continuing the strike. IF Metall’s official conflict page documents the background to the dispute, which centered on Tesla’s refusal to sign a Swedish collective bargaining agreement.
