ALBAWABA - On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers Union said that it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against presidential candidate Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, for their alleged actions in intimidating and threatening workers.
The National Labor Relations Board received a complaint from the United Auto Workers Union alleging unfair labor practices during their discussion, according to the Washington Post, claiming that Trump and Musk unlawfully threatened and intimidated employees who participated in strikes and other protected labor activities.
The UAW took offense at Trump's comments during a live discussion with Musk on X (formerly Twitter), mobilizing its roughly 400,000 members to support Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump, as reported by Reuters.
“You're the greatest cutter,” Trump praised Musk for his skills at reducing expenses during their talk on Monday, adding that he would not let employees go on strike. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, 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,” Trump added.
Musk laughed quietly without replying to Trump's remarks, thereby complicating the NLRB's efforts to hold him accountable for issuing unlawful threats to employees at his businesses, according to Wilma Liebman, who chaired the NLRB during former President Barack Obama's administration.
Following the completion of his acquisition of Twitter (now X) in October 2022, Musk said in April that he would be letting go of over 10,000 employees, or more than 10% of Tesla's worldwide workforce, according to AFP.
“Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act” said the United Auto Workers (UAW. “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,” the Union’s President Shawn Fain added.
