The United Auto Workers union, which represents some 400,000 workers in the automobile, aerospace, and agriculture industries, on Tuesday said that it filed federal labor charges against Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The charges follow what the UAW describes as “attempts to threaten and intimidate workers” that arose during a conversation between Trump and Musk, hosted on X Spaces Monday evening, in which Trump appeared to praise X owner Musk for firing workers who strike.
“Well, you’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just 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 okay. You’re all gone. You’re all gone.’” Musk did not respond specifically to Trump’s statements, but laughed as the former president spoke, and said he would “be happy to help out” on a government efficiency commission.
US workers—both unionized and nonunionized—cannot be fired for engaging in protected strikes, according to the National Labor Relations Board. In his comments, Trump “stated a position which is a violation of law, flat and simple,” says William B. Gould IV, a professor at Stanford Law School and former chair of the NLRB. Trump could be seen as acting as an agent for Musk’s companies, Gould says, and his words could potentially interfere with votes to unionize at companies.
The NLRB will need to investigate the claims and then decide how to move forward if it feels the charges have merit.
“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.”
The UAW has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, and previously called Trump “a scab and a lapdog for the billionaires.” The union did not provide a copy of the charges it filed Tuesday when requested by WIRED; they were not yet docketed on the NLRB website as of press time.
Musk’s companies have a blighted record when it comes to workers’ rights. Trump did not name the Musk company he was referring to, but Musk is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and the Boring Company. Musk has said in the past that unionization at Tesla would result in a loss of stock options, and he slashed staff at X (then Twitter) when he bought it, ultimately even canceling services from janitors who went on strike. Meanwhile, SpaceX is currently sparring with the NLRB in court.
The UAW previously tried to unionize Tesla workers, but fell short. The union is trying still to do so. Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment either.
Shortly after the UAW announced the charge, Musk posted to X: “The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!” (Two former UAW presidents were sentenced to prison time in a large corruption probe, but they were not the two most recent union presidents.)
