UAW hits Trump and Musk with federal labor charges over anti-union comments

THE Automotive Workers United on Tuesday filed federal labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the former president donald trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike.

“I see what you do,” Trump told Musk during a two-hour interview on X Monday night.

“You walk in and say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ They go on strike,” Trump said of Musk, who is CEO of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX. Musk also owns X, formerly Twitter.

“I won’t name the company, but they go on strike and you say, ‘Okay, you’re gone. You are gone. So every one of you is gone,’” Trump said.

Trump was referring to the destruction of the Twitter team in 2022 after Musk took over the social media business and renamed it X.

That’s it illegal to fire workers who threaten to go on strike, because the right to strike is protected by federal labor law.

“When we say Donald Trump is a hurricane, we mean it,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday about the new allegations. “When we say Trump is against everything our union stands for, we mean it.”

Neither the Trump campaign nor Musk responded to a request for comment on the UAW action from CNBC.

Trump’s praise of union destruction is notable because the Republican presidential nominee is currently struggling to win the support of organized labor in a tight race against Vice President Kamala Harris.

The UAW, which represents more than 400,000 auto workers, has already supported Harris. But another major U.S. union, the Teamsters, has yet to give its support.

A Teamsters spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s support for destroying unions.

In July, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien gave a speech at the Republican National Convention.

Their presence was intended to underline that the union’s powerful political support was still available to any candidate who committed to defending workers’ interests.

“Companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind useless laws that are meant to protect workers but are rigged to benefit corporations,” O’Brien said at the RNC in Milwaukee.

“This is economic terrorism at its best,” O’Brien said.

Musk is no stranger to labor battles. Tesla has clashed with union advocates for years, and Tesla workers remain union-less.

In 2021, the NLRB found that Tesla violated labor laws by firing a union activist.

Three years earlier, the board made the same conclusion after Musk wrote on Twitter: “Nothing stops the Tesla team at our factory from voting for the union. They could do it tomorrow if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?”

SpaceX was also accused by the US labor board of illegally firing eight employees, this time in retaliation for its internal open letter criticizing Musk and his public conduct.

In response, SpaceX filed suit alleging that the NLRB’s authority and administrative processes are unconstitutional.