Tesla’s Nordic Shareholders Seek to Promote Workers’ Rights in Vote
Summary
The fight over Elon Musk’s pay package and the vote over whether to move Tesla’s headquarters to Texas have been the main focus of attention ahead of the company’s shareholders meeting on Thursday, but not for investors from Nordic countries. Now stretching into its sixth month, the dispute has drawn in unions from across the region that have joined in blockades aimed at bringing the U.S. carmaker to the negotiating table to reach a collective agreement with its Swedish workers. Among those backing the proposal, which is up for vote on Thursday, are KLP, Norway’s biggest pension fund, which holds 900,000 Tesla shares worth some 1.7 billion Norwegian crowns, or $162 million. Tesla has refused to engage in the process of collective bargaining that sets such an agreement, arguing that the company pays its workers competitively and complies with local labor laws. For several months, workers from other industries have been refusing to provide Tesla with services ranging from unloading of its cars at ports, to trash removal to the delivery of new license plates.