UAW Hits Trump, Musk With Federal Labor Charges Over Effort To ‘Intimidate Workers’
The United Auto Workers announced Tuesday that it filed federal labor charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk after the former president heaped praise on the world's richest man for firing striking workers.
During a rambling and lie-filled conversation on X—the social media platform owned by Musk—Trump hailed the Tesla CEO as "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," Trump said as Musk—who is backing the GOP nominee—laughed. "And you say: 'That's okay, you're all gone.'"
The UAW argued Tuesday that Trump and Musk's remarks during the conversation, which was viewed live by more than a million people, amounted to "illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes."
"Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It's disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns."
"Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act," the union said.
Listen to Trump's comments:
Trump praises billionaire Elon Musk for firing workers who were striking for better pay and working conditions pic.twitter.com/4ZGWHV49Mw
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 13, 2024
Shawn Fain, the UAW's president, said in a statement Tuesday that "when we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean."
"When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean," Fain added. "Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a super PAC to get him elected. Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It's disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns."
Shortly after taking over the social media platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, Musk terminated unionized custodial workers at the company's San Francisco headquarters on the same day that they launched an Unfair Labor Practice strike. Months later, Musk-led Tesla fired dozens of workers at its Buffalo, New York factory just a day after they announced plans to unionize.
Musk, like Trump, has a long history of hostility toward labor unions, both in the U.S. and overseas—a similarity that the pair bonded over during the X conversation Monday night.
"Scab recognize scab," the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S., wrote on X in response to Trump's remarks on striking workers.
Chris Brooks, a strategist for Fain, added that "when the mighty UAW says DONALD TRUMP IS A SCAB, this is exactly what we mean."
"Listen to Trump in his own words, laughing with anti-union billionaire Elon Musk about how they both support firing workers who exercise their right to strike," Brooks added.
Both the AFL-CIO and the UAW have endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, warning that a second Trump term would "would decimate workers' ability to organize; gut health and safety protections; attack civil, labor, and consumer rights; eviscerate retirement security; and undermine our ability to hold the wealthy and corporations accountable."
Warren Gunnels, staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), wrote during the Trump-Musk conversation that "the problem is not the dude from Guatemala picking tomatoes for starvation wages," rejecting the pair's demonization of immigrants.
"The problem is billionaires like Trump and Musk who exploit workers, rip off the American people, and make a fortune by being conmen," Gunnels added. "The problem is corporate greed, boss. Trump and Musk are scabs."
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Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
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