the The union said on its website that the accusation was due to “illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who defend their rights through coordinated and protected activities, such as strikes.”
The remarks came during a two-hour conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on social media platform X on the night of August 12, in which Trump defended the practice of firing striking workers and praised Musk for it.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You come in and you say, ‘Do you want to leave?’ If they go on strike, I won’t mention the company name, but they go on strike and you say, ‘Well, you’re out. Everybody’s out.’ Everybody’s out.”
The United Auto Workers, one of the nation’s most powerful unions with 400,000 members, noted that “under federal law, workers cannot be fired for striking, and threatening to do so is illegal under labor relations regulations.”
Donald Trump’s Full Interview With Elon Musk
Enhanced version without the long pauses and noise I must say what a historic interview. #Donald_Trump #Elon Muskpic.twitter.com/wA0cBptOaY
– Pooja Sangwan 🇮🇳 (@ThePerilousGirl) August 13, 2024
In 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter and laid off most of its employees. The millionaire has been involved in legal proceedings over labor law violations.
“When we say Donald Trump is a strikebreaker, that’s what we mean,” said union president Sean Fine.
Fine added that Trump “will always be against workers standing up for their rights and in favor of billionaires like Elon Musk, who contributes $45 million a month to a super PAC to get him elected.”
Musk, who is known for his anti-union stance, has already denied giving large sums of money to the Trump campaign and wrote in X that Fine would end up in legal trouble just like his predecessors.
“Both Trump and Musk want the working class to sit back and shut up, and they’re both openly laughing about it,” Sean Fine said. “It’s disgusting, illegal, and completely predictable from these two buffoons.”
The UAW has publicly endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris as Donald Trump’s campaign tries to drum up more support from unions.
Fine was the most visible face of the simultaneous strike that crippled the world’s largest automakers last year, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
The conversation was heard on X Spaces by 2.1 million users, after a 45-minute delay due to technical difficulties. The event marks Trump’s return to the social network, where he has 89.1 million followers, after being banned from Twitter in 2021 over misinformation that culminated in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Read also: Target X for cyber attack? Some say Elon Musk is lying
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