This photo pairing features Elon Musk on the left and Donald Trump on the right.
AFP | Getty Images
The United Auto Workers union on Tuesday filed a federal labor lawsuit with the Federal Labor Relations Board against former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly praising the practice of firing employees who threaten strikes.
“I’m watching what you do,” Trump told Musk. 2 hour interview It will air on Musk’s social media platform X on Monday night.
“You come in and you say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ and they go on strike,” Trump told Musk, who is also CEO of the electric car maker. Tesla And SpaceX.
“I won’t name the companies, but when they go on strike, they say, ‘OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So you’re all gone,'” Trump said.
Trump was referring to disbanding Twitter’s staff in 2022 after Musk buys the social media business and renames it X.
it is It is illegal to fire a worker The threat of attack is Right to strike They are protected by federal labor law.
“This is exactly what Donald Trump is saying about strikebreakers,” UAW President Sean Fain said in a statement about the new charges on Tuesday. “This is exactly what he is saying about him going against everything our union stands for.”
Neither the Trump campaign nor Musk responded to CNBC’s requests for comment on the UAW’s actions.
UAW President Sean Fain chairs the 2023 Special Election Collective Bargaining Convention in Detroit, Michigan, United States, March 27, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Trump’s praise of union-busting is notable as he is currently fighting for the support of labor unions in a fierce battle with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Republican presidential nominee.
The UAW, which represents more than 400,000 autoworkers, has already endorsed Harris, but the Teamsters, the other major US labor union, has yet to endorse her.
A Teamsters spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s support for union-busting.
In July, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention.
He said his presence was intended to underscore that the union’s strong political support would still be available to any candidate who pledges to defend workers’ interests.
“Corporations fire workers who try to unionize and hide behind ineffective laws that are meant to protect workers but are rigged to benefit corporations,” O’Brien said at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“This is the height of economic terrorism,” O’Brien said.
Musk is no stranger to labor disputes: Tesla has clashed with union advocates for years, and the company’s workers remain non-unionized.
In 2021, the NLRB found that Tesla violated labor laws when it fired a union activist.
The committee came to the same conclusion after Musk. He wrote on Twitter In 2018, he said, “There’s nothing to stop the Tesla teams in our car factories from voting to unionize. They can vote tomorrow if they want. But why pay union dues and give up stock options?”
SpaceX has also been accused by the U.S. Labor Relations Board of illegally firing eight employees in retaliation for an internal open letter criticizing Musk and his public actions.
SpaceX responded by filing a lawsuit alleging that the NLRB’s authority and administrative procedures were unconstitutional.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
