For the very first time since the strike against Tesla in Sweden started almost 5 months ago, Swedish Tesla manager speaks to media!! This debunks all the lies IF Metall have told you since October! ————— No one asks about collective agreements" Tesla's Swedish manager after five months of strike: "We will have Sweden's best-selling car this year" For the first time, the Swedish management is now speaking out for Tesla after IF Metall's strike. "Our team is solution-oriented and finds ways forward. We are here to stay," says Jens Stark at the Swedish subsidiary TM Sweden. The expansion in Sweden continues, most recently with its own damage repair shop. It's lunchtime at the Tesla Center in Segeltorp in southwest Stockholm and the first barbecue of the year is arranged by the staff on their own initiative. There is a large service workshop, showroom and the Swedish head office here. Jens Stark – whose title is market lead for TM Sweden, which can be described as head of Sweden – cannot stress the team spirit enough. "We work very closely with our employees. We have just had a digital information meeting where we have asked how everyone is doing and they can also write in questions. No one asks about collective agreements. However, they want to know how they can help with different solutions in this situation," he says. The dislike of collective agreements has put the American electric car company at the center of the longest labor market conflict in Sweden since the 1940s. IF Metall took up the strike weapon after several years of hopeless attempts to get Tesla's subsidiary in Sweden, TM Sweden, to sign what is described as the cornerstone of the Swedish model. Through collective agreements, unions and employers agree on conditions and rights that cover everyone. The strike began almost five months ago, on October 27, 2023. Nine other unions have joined and introduced a range of sympathy measures. Dock workers are not unloading Tesla cars at the ports, painters, electricians and construction workers are not doing work at service centers and charging stations, mail is not being delivered - which has stopped the usual process of delivering new license plates - and since Christmas Eve, Tesla waste is no longer being collected, to name a few some consequences. After a long silence from the Swedish management, Jens Stark chooses to give his first interview and Di is allowed to enter the service center. "If we would have responded to all the requests from the union, we would not have been able to do anything else. But now we feel that it is time to present our image more clearly and also show how determined we are to continue our mission in Sweden to work for a transition towards sustainable energy, which is why Tesla exists as a company. It is regrettable if the strike stops that development," says Jens Stark. Around ten Tesla cars are in the workshop and a group of technicians are working on them. "We have managed to keep both the sales, delivery and service organizations running as usual," says Jens Stark.