The United Auto Workers filed federal labor charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Tuesday following an interview on X in which Trump discussed firing employees who go on strike.
During the conversation, whose start was delayed due to technical difficulties, Trump and Musk “advocated for the illegal firing of striking workers,” the UAW, which has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’s bid for president, wrote in a statement.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk, who owns several companies, including SpaceX and Tesla. “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 OK. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.'”
According to the National Labor Relations Act, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, the UAW noted.
“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,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a 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,” Fain added.
Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes called the lawsuit “frivolous” and an attempt to “erode President Trump’s overwhelming support among America’s workers” in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“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,” Hughes said. “President Trump strengthened our economy and delivered results on behalf of the forgotten men and women of America, and he will do it again when he is re-elected on November 5.”
The conversation on X began with technical glitches that prevented the interview from starting on time. Forty minutes later, Musk and Trump were able to get online and were joined by more than 1.3 million people listening at the beginning.
Trump has courted union voters in swing states such as Michigan, but he has repeatedly butted heads with Fain, who he said should be “fired immediately” at his nominating convention in July.
The endorsement for Biden was delayed by months as UAW strikes erupted across the United States last year. Workers demanded higher wages and better benefits as companies transitioned to electric vehicle manufacturing, turmoil that Republicans have attempted to exploit to draw a contrast with the Democrats on climate policy.
