The United Auto Workers filed federal labor charges against former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk on Tuesday, accusing them of intimidating workers in comments made during an interview Monday.
According to the union, remarks by Mr. Trump during the two-hour X Spaces interview constituted “illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate” workers. The UAW posted a clip of the comments in question on its X account.
“I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you say, ’You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company,” Mr. Trump said in his interview with Mr. Musk. “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.’”
The Trump campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
UAW leadership tied Mr. Musk to Mr. Trump, claiming the interview is evidence both men are against worker unions.
“Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected.” 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.”
The National Labor Relations Act prevents workers from being fired for participating in protected picketing/strike.
After Mr. Musk announced he would support Mr. Trump’s election bid, reports surfaced that he would contribute $45 million a month to the pro-Trump America PAC. The X owner denied these reports, saying the contribution would be much smaller.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.