UAW hits Trump, Musk with federal labor charges over union-busting remarks
By: Rebecca Picciotto,Lora Kolodny (CNBC)
Union members supporting Trump has always been a reflection of how people will cultishly follow this demagogue believing he will work for them when facts and logic show he will do the opposite.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The United Auto Workers union on Tuesday filed federal labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike.
"I look at what you do," Trump said to Musk during a two-hour interview Monday night on X, the social media platform Musk owns.
"You walk in, you say, 'You want to quit?' They go on strike," Trump said to Musk, who also is CEO of the EV car maker Tesla and of SpaceX.
"I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, 'That's okay, you're all gone. You're all gone. So, every one of you is gone,'" Trump said.
Trump was referring to the 2022 gutting of Twitter staff after Musk took over the social media business and renamed it X.
It is illegal to fire workers who threaten to strike, because the right to strike is protected under federal labor law.
"When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday on the new charges. "When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean."
Neither the Trump campaign nor Musk replied to CNBC's request for comment on the UAW action.
UAW President Shawn Fain chairs the 2023 Special Elections Collective Bargaining Convention in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., March 27, 2023. Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Trump's praise of union busting is notable because the Republican presidential nominee is currently fighting to win support from organized labor in a tight race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
The UAW, which represents more than 400,000 autoworkers, has already endorsed Harris. But another major U.S. labor union, the Teamsters, has yet to make an endorsement.
A spokesman for the Teamsters did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump's support for union busting.
In July, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention.
He said his attendance was intended to underscore that the union's powerful political endorsement was still available to whichever candidate pledges to champion workers' interests.
"Companies fire workers who try to join unions, and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations," O'Brien said at the RNC in Milwaukee.
"This is economic terrorism at its best," said O'Brien.
Musk is no stranger to labor battles. Tesla has clashed with union proponents for years, and Tesla workers remain without a union.
In 2021, the NLRB found that Tesla violated labor laws when it fired a union activist.
The board had made the same finding after Musk wrote on Twitter in 2018, "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?"
SpaceX has also been accused by the U.S. labor board of illegally firing eight employees, this time in retaliation over their internal, open letter criticizing Musk and his public conduct.
In response, SpaceX filed a suit claiming the NLRB's authority and administrative proceedings are unconstitutional.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Trump's position on labor should be obvious. Trump admires tough authoritarians who control the 'little' people.
Trumps comments last night on labor should be disqualifying.
I thought it was crowd size?
OMG - I'm listening to some of it now - OMG - he said that he told Vladimir Putin - regarding Ukraine - 'don't do, it you cannot do it Vladimir, you do it, it's gonna be a bad day, and I told him things that what I do, and he said no way and I said way..'
he actually said that - what world leader speaks this way?
sorry - some of the musk/trump 'interview'
Nope.
I think it was on the Daily Show, Desi Lydic - one of the correspondents -
- said something to the effect that I said - 'and he said no way and I said way' - that all diplomats speak this way
All this while the Republicans are trying to frame their platforms as standing up for the working middle class. It's tragic.
... almost as funny as their law and order platform.
They, Donald and Elon, two of the most 'in the moment' people on the planet sitting at a major juncture of "listen up! & be heard' online and they are verbally slapping each other on the back and high-fiving as they diss unions/workers! What a 'disaster' Donald and Elon!
... defenders of the constitution. /s
My mistake. There was something similar on another seed and I thought the company involved was tesla.
It won't work:
Labor leaders have worked for months to sell their members on Biden, hoping to avoid a repeat of 2016 when Donald Trump outperformed among union members and won the White House. But despite a bevy of national union endorsements for Biden and years of what leaders call attacks on organized labor from the Trump administration, local officials in critical battleground states said support for Trump remains solid.
Rank-and-file union members snub Biden for Trump - POLITICO
tell us, what does project 2025 say about the future of unions and labor organizations?
Tell us when Trump has ever endorsed project 2025?
The same as the Spartans were coy about Troy's gift horse!
That way Spartans were inside before exposing themselves.
Project 2025 is Trump's plan to consolidate power in power...
It is of Trump, by Trump and was explicitly drafted for Trump!
The people of the US aren't ever letting Trump's trick pony in.
starting in 2022...
Donald (78 years old - mothball) Double-talking fool!
Ahh, but to use the words of someone who is defending Walz on anther seed...
That's old news and he's changed his mind.
I didn't say he changed his mind. I said he may have changed his mind. Don;t put words in my mouth.
And did Vance ever backtrack his statements about trmp?
I would say that Vance has backtracked just as much as Walz has. The only real difference I see is that Vance is now speaking about Trump in a positive way (yeah, terrible but true) while Walz has not said anything about his past support so we really don't know if he's changed his mind or not. I would believe that neither has changed their minds but are willing to say (or in the case of Walz not speak) the opposite for political gains.
Both are terrible picks for the VP office and do little to help their respective tickets.
So neither has done the back track thing.
How about an apology for misrepresenting my words?
Only because I like you. Sorry for misrepresenting your words. You did say Walz MAY have changed his mind, not that he did change his mind. I say it would sure help if he were to say anything about that issue rather than just ignore it but so long as main-stream media is willing to ignore it and the Democrats are willing to ignore it, there's little harm to him in ignoring it also.
need a few reminders on what positions trump has flipped on in the last year, for campaign cash?
There are these training films involved with Project 2025 and it's really whackjob stuff. They showed some on one of the shows we were watching last night. Stephen or the Daily Show. 29 of the 36 involved in this whackjobbery/government takeover were in the former 'president' convicted felon and rapist's criminal enterprise of an administration.
More like sold their souls to Biden! Many union leaders nowadays ain't got nothing on the likes of Jimmy Hoffa.
I disagree.
In fact, union members will not be voting for Biden in the upcoming presidential election-- that I can tell you!
Could be.
In fact many people are saying that union members will definitely not be voting for Biden in the upcoming presidential election!
I'm surprised he wasn't tarred and feather after speaking this blasphemy.
Unions better wake the fuck up. People like trmp and musk don't care about them. They only care about their bottom line and how much money they can make.
TRUMP. DOES. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU!!!!
Hard to understand why the cult doesn't get this. trump cares about trump and what benefits trump...trump cares about nothing else
TRUMP IS ALL YOU"VE GOT!
... for maga morons, crooks, or thumpers, trump is their only choice.
Tell us what a thumper is?
I would rather die than live thru even one year of a trmp administration
A far rightwing Bible thumping evangelical MAGA fundamentalist
[✘] Not being political but no politician should have this much control over your life.
I'd rather be dead than MAGA in red...
they're like mackerel snappers, only without the chronic masturbaters in the funny hats and matching shirt collars...
DON'T DO IT-- ITS A TRAP!!!!
Nope, Trump is not ours. He is all yours and you can have him...
No, that's all you got!
That vague claim could mean anything.
Trump gaining the power of the presidency is indeed what I view as the number one issue in 2024.
Personally I do not deal with other lesser issues because at the foundation my view is that Trump must be stopped because him as PotUS would be horrible for this nation and for the GOP in many ways which I have outlined now for almost two years.
You want to give the power of the presidency to a traitor. To a malignant narcissist pathological liar who will abuse his power to suit himself. To an irresponsible loose-cannon who is living in an alternate reality where he is the smartest man on the planet and is willing to stubbornly (and ignorantly) make the changes he alone sees fit to make.
The key issue is the potential empowerment of this old, irrational demagogue and the key problem is those who support this scoundrel.
Yes , but he has "policies" that the far right desires.
Yeah, ad infinitum. We've read these repeated rants for a long time now and consider them to be baseless and unfounded.
Carry on!
I have yet to see you make a counter argument other than the equivalent of nuh-uh. So now is your chance. Instead of offering nothing other than a platitude denial, make an actual argument based on real facts and sound logic.
I just had to deal similarly with a co-worker who tried to tell me how great Musk's interview of Trump went. She specifically told me, she didn't want me to explain why they were wrong, she just liked two billionaires having a down to earth conversation about why groceries were too expensive and how drilling for more oil would fix everything.
This illustrates a long-standing, key problem with much of the electorate. They operate at a superficial level and have only a handful (if that much) of data points on which they base their voting decision.
The woman in question listened to this interview and somehow did not recognize the staggering lies that Trump told about his non-accomplishments and that his grandiose claims are bullshit.
No way!
Way!
See 1.1.2
lol
And they surround themselves in a bias confirmation bubble.
As if either one could tell you how much a gallon of milk goes for.
Then I will happily go forward with nothing.
Trump literally went golfing while his brother died in a hospital bed from covid, and you think he cares about YOU? You gotta be fucking kidding me.. LOL
For a good joke that neither you nor he get..
... and never will.
Nope-- wrong again!
While you not be aware of it, there is an alternative to voting for Trump-- and that is voting for the Harris/Walz ticket!
The gop had one, ONE, winning Presidential election cycle in the last twenty years in 2016 when Trump badly lost the popular vote again yet squeaked out a razor thin inside straight in the Electoral College. Yet, MAGA whoop and crow as if they were winning...
Trump has never polled above 50%. Never won the popular vote!
As MAGA attacks on Harris' race and sex and on Walz's military service blow up negatively in gop faces the MAGA double down.
MAGA are so far gone now nothing except utter defeat will work.
it's very entertaining to watch the maga demigod mentally deteriorate in the media...
It is fun! My dad and I and his gal pal were watching Stephen Colbert last night, got caught up, and some of the Daily Show episodes. The former 'president' convicted felon and rapist provides so much raw material - Stephen's monologues practically right themselves.
Anyone else in such serious mental decline we would feel sympathy/empathy for if they weren't such an evil and hateful scumbag.
Why has no one in his family talked to him and said that he needed to step aside and seek help? Maybe they have but it reminds me of Jim Jones - his wife was talking with their biological son - after the psycho had slipped into drug addiction - and said we need to get him off drugs - we need to isolate him - we need to do something - and the son - Stephen I believe is his name, said, mom, you don't tell a Demigod, a god, that he is a drug abuser.
You can't tell that psycho/sociopath/malignant narcissist a damned thing
If they were actually stupid enough to do this, the United Auto workers should be sanctioned and fined for this publicity stunt and for wasting NLRB time.
Kinda like suing the DOJ for 100 million? Political stunt.
Exactly! Did you have a point other than deflecting to trump?
did you even read the article headline?
Yes, and i copied and pasted their statement from the article, You do realize that you are allowed to say you support union workers getting fired if they strike right? Do you not believe in freedom of speech? It is when you actually fire them that you violate the law.
... and then my simple question gets turned into a 1st amendment violation deflection.
[✘]
What in the world have the Dems done for working people lately. They've allowed millions of illegals into the country who willl compete with citizens for jobs. Dems are the party of laws and restrictions that are unfriendly to large and small business alike. Didn't the autoworkers win big during their last strike last year? Big contracts mean higher costs for companies which gets passed on to the customers.
What today's working class wants from political leaders | Brookings
The UAW won big — but what does it mean for the rest of us? : NPR
How about not raising taxes on the middle class?
Sigh.......................... PolitiFact | Social media post misrepresents analysis of Trump tax law
In their "distributional tables" — the analytical charts that show how much a typical taxpayer in a given income group will see their after-tax income rise or fall under the law — both the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center and the Tax Foundation concluded that until 2027, taxpayers across the income spectrum will fare better under the 2017 law than they would have otherwise.
I seem to remember that Pelosi and the Dem's wouldn't work with the Republicans on this so the tax cuts had to have a 10 year sunset clause. I don't remember all the specifics but it would end the tax cuts for the lower and middle class payers due to the way the laws work, but business changes were supposed to be permanent.