Elon Musk, who supported Donald Trump for president, has had disagreements with the labor council. (File)
Detroit:
The United Auto Workers Union said Tuesday it has filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.
It is unclear whether the NLRB would take action against Trump for his comments Monday during a two-hour conversation with Musk that was broadcast on the social media platform X.
-Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2024
The UAW seized on Trump’s remarks as the union rallied behind Democratic presidential candidate and vice president Kamala Harris and encouraged its nearly 400,000 workers to vote for her over Trump. The question is especially pertinent in swing states like Michigan, which could determine who wins the White House in November. The UAW endorsed Harris in late July.
“You are the biggest cutter,” Trump told Musk during their Monday conversation, praising the CEO’s ability to cut costs, saying he would not tolerate workers going on strike. “I mean, I see what you do. You go in and just say, ‘Do 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, ‘Okay, you’re gone.’”
Musk laughed but did not respond to Trump’s comments, making it harder for the NLRB to hold him responsible for making illegal threats to workers at his companies, said Wilma Liebman, chairwoman of the NLRB under former President Barack Obama.
Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for striking, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, the UAW said in a statement.
Following the union’s action on Tuesday, Musk criticized UAW President Shawn Fain in a social media post, alluding to two former union presidents who went to prison for bribery and corruption. “Based on recent news, it looks like this guy is going to join them!” Musk said.
A court-appointed UAW monitor is investigating several union executives, including allegations that Fain retaliated against a member of his board when that person failed to take steps that would have benefited Fain’s domestic partner and her sister. The UAW could not immediately be reached for comment on Musk’s response.
Trump campaign officials said the promised 100% tariff on Chinese imports would bolster the industry, while Harris’ EV policies are hurting American production.
“This frivolous lawsuit is a blatant political stunt designed to undermine President Trump’s overwhelming support among America’s workers,” Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
Harris’ campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the UAW’s action.
Fain and Trump have traded barbs in the past.
“Both Trump and Musk want the working class to sit down and shut up, and they openly laugh about it. It is disgusting, illegal and completely predictable for these two clowns,” Fain said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump called for the union leader to be fired, saying he is responsible for the weakening of the US auto industry.
UAW members in Michigan tend to side with Democrats, but pro-Trump workers have organized their own rallies in recent weeks.
In the 2020 presidential race, 62% of Michigan households with a union member voted for President Joe Biden, helping him win the state, according to Edison Research. In contrast, union households split between 53% and 40% for Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she narrowly lost the state and national race.
Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, another prominent labor group, said of Trump’s comments: “Firing workers for organizing, striking and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism.”
The Teamsters traditionally endorse a candidate after party conventions. O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
The union also requested an opportunity to speak at the upcoming Democratic National Convention but did not receive a response, spokeswoman Kara Deniz said. She also invited Harris to a roundtable discussion, but received no response.
Sending a message
The NLRB has limited powers to punish illegal labor practices and the process often takes years. In cases involving unlawful threats, the board may order employers to cease and desist such conduct and post notices in the workplace informing workers of their rights. Unions can also use favorable NLRB rulings to engage workers they are trying to organize.
“Everybody knows that the NLRB’s remedies are useless to begin with, but they’re not so much for the remedy as they are for sending a political message and an organizing message,” said Liebman, the former head of the NLRB, referring to the NLRB’s action. UAW on Tuesday.
Fain filed separate complaints to the NLRB against the Trump campaign and Tesla citing Trump and Musk as representing the employers, alleging that both men made statements suggesting they would “fire employees engaged in protected concerted activity, including strikes.” The complaints did not provide further details.
The NLRB has jurisdiction over the Trump campaign as an employer, but not Trump himself.
The UAW led a six-week strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers last fall before winning record contracts.
Musk and the NLRB
Musk, who supported Trump for president, has had several run-ins with the labor board. His rocket company, SpaceX, is currently challenging the agency’s entire structure in two pending lawsuits. These cases resulted from NLRB complaints accusing SpaceX of firing engineers who were critical of Musk and forcing employees to sign termination agreements with illegal terms.
In March, a U.S. appeals court upheld an NLRB ruling that said Musk illegally threatened Tesla employees by tweeting in 2018: “Nothing stops Tesla staff at our auto plant from voting for the union… But for have to pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?” ?”
Tesla separately faces accusations from the board that it illegally discouraged unionization at a Buffalo, New York, factory.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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