IF Metall takes Tesla to Labor Court for lack of transparency

Trade union IF Metall is taking electric car manufacturer Tesla to court, reports Arbetsvärlden. According to the union, Tesla has refused to disclose information about the company's finances, which they are obliged to do under the Co-determination Act.

IF Metall plans to file a lawsuit against Tesla with the Labour Court because the Co-Determination Act requires Tesla to disclose financial data. The union claims that Tesla is violating this law.

– The lawsuit will be filed as soon as possible, next week at the latest,’ says Tomas With, vice chairman of IF Metall, to Arbetsvärlden.

Labour lawyer Tommy Iseskog points out that Tesla is usually obliged to provide financial information to all unions that have members at the company. This must be done in connection with each financial statement, without the union having to request the information.

However, under the law, there is an exception which states that during an ongoing conflict, companies do not have to disclose information that may be relevant to the conflict.

– ‘This could be interesting because this has never been tried before. The burden of proof is on Tesla, which must argue that the information is relevant to the conflict, says Tommy Iseskog and continues:

– My judgement is that economic conditions do not fundamentally affect the company's decision on whether or not to enter into a collective agreement, and therefore this information should be disclosed.

”Could deepen conflict’ The electric car manufacturer and the union have been in conflict since late October last year. IF Metall says Tesla is resisting signing collective agreements in Sweden, which has led to the union going on strike.

However, Mr Iseskog does not believe that the mood will affect the ongoing conflict.

– If anything, it may deepen the rift between the parties, he says.