The discussion on X on Monday between Donald Trump and Elon Musk did not satisfy the UAW at all. The American union of auto industry workers even filed a complaint on Tuesday in a federal labor court against the Republican presidential candidate and the boss of the social network.
The union accuses the two billionaires of “attempting to intimidate and threaten” workers.
Laughter against strikes
“I’m watching what you’re doing,” Donald Trump told supporter Elon Musk on Monday. “You come in, you say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ and they go on strike.” “They go on strike and you say, ‘Okay, you’re all fired. You’re all fired,'” he continued. Several times during this exchange, both men can be heard laughing.
The UAW explains that it has filed its lawsuit “against dishonest billionaires Donald Trump and Elon Musk for their illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who mobilize through concerted defensive actions, such as strikes.” “Under federal law, employees cannot be fired for going on strike and the threat to do so is illegal,” said the union, which threw its support behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris after she did the same for Joe Biden.
“Both Trump and Musk want workers to stay quiet and shut up, and they openly laugh about it,” said Shawn Fain, the union’s president. “It is sick, illegal and completely predictable from these two cloisters. »
Musk’s massive gamble
Elon Musk owns, among others, the social network X, SpaceX but also the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. He has been noted in the past for blocking the unionization of his employees around the world. It made massive layoffs following the acquisition of Twitter (now X), which was completed in October 2022, and announced in mid-April, in an internal letter, the layoff of “more than 10%” of Tesla’s global workforce, or at least. 14,000 people.
Our file on the American presidential election
Former SpaceX employees have also filed several complaints in California, denying retaliation against some who tried to protest working conditions, going as far as dismissal in some cases.