Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe United Auto Workers filed federal labor charges against former president Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk after a high-profile conversation Monday evening on Musk’s social media platform X, the union said Tuesday.
The charges of unfair labor practices that the autoworkers union filed with the National Labor Relations Board allege that, during their conversation, Trump and Musk illegally threatened and intimidated workers who engage in protected labor activity, such as strikes.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk during the rambling interview. “You walk in, you 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. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”
The charges were filed against Musk as a representative of Tesla, the electric vehicle company where he is the chief executive and largest shareholder. The union has been trying to organize workers there. The UAW recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, and its members met with her last week in Michigan.
More than 1 million X users tuned in to Trump and Musk’s conversation.
“When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a written statement. “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.”
Musk posted on X in response to the UAW’s charges Tuesday, “the last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!”
The two UAW presidents who preceded Fain did not go to prison, but two earlier UAW chiefs who led the union in the late 2010s served time in prison after corruption convictions.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment via Tesla or X.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, it is illegal to fire workers for legally going on strike or to threaten them for doing so. The National Labor Relations Board will now investigate whether a labor law violation occurred. If the board determines that violations occurred, it could issue penalties against Musk or Trump.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Party of the working man, they claim …
They have never been the party of the working man. They also say they are the “Freedom Party,” – freedom to restrict your freedoms more like it.
This filing and this article are nothing but a joke. with Shawn Fain playing his DNC role for later favors. Shawn is once again giving the UAW a bad name while trying for personal fame. Of course WAPO loves to print misinformation and pitiful false accusations.
That’s a lot of red UAW workers switching** to blue.
**Too much Fox News for that to happen
So podcasts now merit labor charges. That is up there with roads are racist!
Democrat stupidity and of course WaPo is here for it and IBJ dutifully regurgitating the party line
It was an interview.
If Biden said the same dumb stuff in an interview you can guarantee the same result would happen