The United Auto Workers union, which represents about 400,000 workers in the auto, aerospace and agricultural industries, said Tuesday it has filed federal labor charges against Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The charges follow what the UAW describes as “attempts to threaten and intimidate workers” that emerged during a call between Trump and Musk at X Spaces on Monday night, in which Trump appeared to praise X owner Musk for firing striking workers.
“Well, you’re the ultimate cutter,” Trump told Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. “I mean, I look at what you do. You come in and you just say, ‘You want to quit?’ They’re on strike. I won’t mention the company, but they’re on strike and you say, ‘You’re all gone. You’re all gone.’” Musk didn’t respond specifically to Trump’s comments, but he laughed as the former president spoke and said he would “be happy to help” with the government efficiency commission.
Workers in the U.S. — union and nonunion alike — cannot be fired for participating in protected strikes, according to the National Labor Relations Board. In his comments, Trump “stated a position that violates the law, bluntly and directly,” says William B. Gould IV, a professor at Stanford University and former chairman of the NLRB. Trump could be seen as an agent of Musk’s companies, Gould says, and his words could potentially influence unionization votes at companies.
The NLRB will have to investigate these allegations and decide how to proceed if it determines there is merit to the allegations.
“When we say Donald Trump is a strikebreaker, that’s what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, that’s what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement. statement“Both Trump and Musk want the working class to sit down and shut up, and they openly laugh about it. It’s disgusting, illegal, and completely predictable coming from these two clowns.”
UAW has supported Vice President Kamala Harris for president, and previously called Trump a “scab and billionaire lap dog.” The union did not provide a copy of the charges it filed Tuesday when asked by WIRED; they were not yet posted on the NLRB’s website at the time of press time.
Musk’s companies have a bad reputation when it comes to workers’ rights. Trump did not name the company Musk was referring to, but Musk is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and Dull Company. Musk has said in the past that unionization at Tesla would lead to loss of stock optionsand laid off employees at X (then Twitter) when it bought it, eventually even canceling services cleaners Who went on strikeMeanwhile, SpaceX is currently dispute with NLRB in court.
The UAW previously tried to form a Tesla workers’ union, but failed. The union I’m still trying to do so. Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. The Trump campaign also did not respond to a request for comment.
Shortly after the UAW announced the indictment, Musk sent to X: “The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery and corruption, and based on the latest news, it looks like this guy will join them!” (Two former UAW presidents were sentenced to prison in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, but they were not the last two union presidents.)