This set of photos shows Elon Musk (left) and Donald Trump (right).
AFP | Getty Images
The United Auto Workers filed a federal labor complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, accusing former President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk of publicly praising the firing of employees who threatened to strike.
“I see what you did,” Trump told Musk during his speech. two hours interview X Monday night.
“You walk in, you say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ and they go on strike,” Trump said of the electric car maker’s chief executive, Musk. Tesla and SpaceX. Musk also owns X (formerly Twitter).
“I won’t mention the names of the companies, but they go on strike and you say, ‘It doesn’t matter, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone,'” Trump said.
Trump was referring to the layoffs of Twitter employees after Musk took over the social media business in 2022 and renamed it X.
This is It is illegal to fire workers They threatened to strike because right to strike Protected by federal labor laws.
“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday about the new accusations. “When we say Trump is against This is what we mean when it comes to everything our union stands for.”
Neither the Trump campaign nor Musk responded to CNBC’s request for comment on the UAW action.
UAW President Shawn Fain presides over the 2023 Special Election Collective Bargaining Convention in Detroit, Michigan, USA on March 27, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Trump’s praise for union-busting is noteworthy because the Republican presidential nominee is currently locked in a tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris for the support of organized labor.
The United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents more than 400,000 auto workers, has endorsed Harris. But the Teamsters, another major U.S. union, has yet to endorse it.
A spokesman for the Teamsters union did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s support for union-busting.
In July, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention.
His presence was intended to highlight that any candidate who pledges to stand up for workers’ interests can still command strong political support from unions.
“Companies are firing workers who try to unionize and hiding behind ineffective laws designed to protect working people, but these laws are rigged to benefit corporations,” O’Brien told the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee. ”
“This is economic terrorism at its best,” O’Brien said.
Musk is no stranger to labor struggles. Tesla has clashed with union supporters for years, and Tesla workers remain union-less.
In 2021, the National Labor Relations Board found that Tesla violated labor laws when it fired a union activist.
After Musk, the board made the same discovery wrote on twitter In 2018, “Nothing is stopping the Tesla team at our auto plants from voting union. They can do so if they want. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?”
SpaceX has also been accused by the U.S. Labor Commission of illegally firing eight employees, this time in retaliation for an internal letter criticizing Musk and his public conduct.
In response, SpaceX filed a lawsuit claiming that the NLRB’s powers and administrative procedures were unconstitutional.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
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