The Swedish trade union IF Metall is demanding that a collective agreement be established with Tesla, but the electric car manufacturer is refusing to collaborate. As a result, well over a hundred Swedish Tesla workers have been on strike since late October, with trade unions from several Nordic countries have recently supported the demand.

But Fredrik Bakkemo Kostøl and Elin Svarstad, two researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gjøvik, claim that a collective agreement can not only help to improve collaboration within a company but also increases productivity and the degree of innovation.