Officials for the United Automobile Workers (“UAW”) Union said on Tuesday it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against former President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over attempts to threaten and intimidate workers. The union say Trump and Musk illegally threatened union workers who might go on strike Monday night.
The action came after Musk and Trump held a two-hour interview on Musk’s X social media platform X on Monday night, during which Trump complimented Musk’s ability to cut costs by saying he would not tolerate workers going on strike (per Reuters). UAW officials said was viewed by a million people.
During the X conversation, Trump suggested an auto company like Tesla might fire workers who threaten to go on strike, with Trump telling Musk: “You’re the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s okay, you’re all gone.’” Tesla does not have a collective bargaining agreement with labor and in October endured a workers’ strike in Sweden due to the electric-vehicle manufacturer not agreeing to workers’ collective bargaining demands.
Musk chuckled but did not respond to Trump’s comments, which will make it difficult to find him liable for making illegal threats to workers at his companies. UAW President Shawn Fain said in the UAW news release that under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act: “Workers cannot be fired for going on strike and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes called the complaint “frivolous, and shameless political stunt intended to erode President Trump’s overwhelming support among America’s workers. While Kamala Harris pushes a job-crushing electric vehicle mandate that is crippling our manufacturing industry, raising costs, and sending even more jobs to China, President Trump has pledged to slap a 100 percent tariff on Chinese imports to make sure that the future of the auto industry will be made in America. Democrat special interest bosses may lie and stoke fear to try and stop President Trump from creating the broadest coalition of any candidate in history, but rank-and-file workers and their families know the truth.”
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