Detroit's UAW Files Labor Complaint Against Trump, Musk

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union filed unfair labor charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The union filed the complaints after it said Trump and Musk encouraged the firing of striking workers during their “rambling, disorganized conversation” on X Monday night.

The union accuses the two of trying to intimidate and threaten its members.

“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, 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.,’” Trump told Musk during the conversation.

Union leaders also noted a company cannot fire its employees if they are on strike under the National Labor Relations Act, which is a federal law.

“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,” United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said in a news release.

Fain also blasted Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla, a nonunion company that the United Auto Workers has long sought to organize.

“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,” Fain said in the release. “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.”

Musk has criticized unions by suggesting they create inequality among employees. Tesla is the only auto manufacturer in the U.S. whose workers are not unionized.

Moreover, Tesla has been accused of implementing policies that prevent workers from unionizing.

Fain publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election at a Michigan rally last week.