UAW files complaint against Trump and Musk after social media interview, alleging threats and intimidation

(Gray News) - The United Auto Workers said Tuesday it’s filing federal labor charges against Donald Trump and Elon Musk after their comments during Musk’s interview of Trump that streamed on Musk’s social media platform X.

In their Monday night conversation, Trump praised Musk, saying he would fire workers who were organizing for better pay.

In addition to owning the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Musk owns Tesla, a leading electric vehicle automobile company that has no union representation.

UAW posted a related snippet of the conversation.

“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in, you 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 OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.”

The union pointed out that firing someone for threatening to go on strike is illegal under federal law, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

“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,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “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. 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.”

Neither Trump nor Musk had responded to the media about the complaint yet Tuesday.

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