I have fond memories of Ronald Reagan firing the air traffic controllers for walking off the job back in 1981.
UAW Files Federal Labor Charges Against Trump and Musk for Threatening Workers
One of the country’s largest unions alleged both men attempted to intimidate workers during their conversation on X
By Joseph De Avila and Christopher Otts, WSJ
Updated Aug. 13, 2024 3:25 pm ET
The United Auto Workers filed federal labor charges against former President Donald Trump and Tesla TSLA 5.24%increase; green up pointing triangle CEO Elon Musk, alleging they attempted to intimidate workers during their conversation on Musk’s social-media platform X.
The UAW, one of the country’s largest unions, seized on remarks Trump made Monday night in an interview with Musk, in which the Republican presidential nominee commented on how an employer should handle striking workers.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump said during his conversation with 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 charges filed Tuesday by the UAW allege both men threatened workers who participate in protected labor activity, including walkouts.
The UAW highlighted Trump’s comment in a press release describing the charges but didn’t reference any statements made by Musk during the interview.
Representatives for Musk and the Trump campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Under federal law, employees conducting lawful strikes for economic reasons, such as higher wages, can’t be discharged by their employers. They can be replaced under certain circumstances, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
The UAW, which has endorsed Kamala Harris, the presidential nominee for the Democrats, has been eager to blunt the former president’s appeal to working-class voters by painting him as a friend of the wealthy.
“When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.
The UAW filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Musk as a representative of Tesla, an electric-vehicle maker at which the union has been trying to organize workers for years.
“The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!” Musk said on X Tuesday.
Musk’s post about the UAW presidents was inaccurate. The previous two presidents didn’t go to prison but the two presidents that preceded them were convicted as part of a sprawling corruption probe.
Musk has previously disagreed with the idea of unions, and another of his companies, SpaceX, has challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB. Speaking at a conference last year, Musk said unions “try to create negativity in a company, and create a sort of lords and peasants situation.”
“If Tesla gets unionized, it will be because we deserved it and we failed in some way,” Musk said. “But we certainly try hard to ensure the prosperity of everyone.”
The union’s charges against Trump and Musk are “amorphous” and it isn’t clear what kind of practical impact they might have on the two men, said Michael Duff, a former NLRB investigator who teaches labor law at St. Louis University.
“Its principal value is political,” Duff said. The union would have to show Trump’s statement could be interpreted as an employer threatening a specific group of workers, he added.
Musk, as CEO of Tesla, would be more easily considered an employer if the comment relates to auto workers, Duff said. The problem with the charge against Musk is the notion that the Tesla chief could have liability for Trump’s words rather than his own, he said.
Write to Joseph De Avila at joseph.deavila@wsj.com and Christopher Otts at christopher.otts@wsj.com
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