Portside

For labor unions across the Nordics — a region encompassing Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland — the tussle with Tesla and Elon Musk, a vocal critic of unions, is existential.

German unions use their positions on corporate boards to push their agenda. They have unleaded waves of strikes and secured generous wages increases thus ending years of waning influence.

"The outcome of the vote, however, does not change our goal of setting up a works council in Chattanooga," Gunnar Kilian, secretary general of VW's works council, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that workers continued to back the idea of labor representation at the plant.