• The UAW filed charges against Trump and Musk for allegedly intimidating striking workers.
  • The charges are based on a public conversation between Trump and Musk on X.
  • It is illegal to fire or threaten workers who participate in strike actions.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump jumped on X for a conversation Monday night. Despite technical difficulties, the pair managed a lengthy discussion on a wide variety of topics. One set of comments from Trump has the pair of them in hot water with the UAW now.

All of this appears to come down to one small segment of their conversation. “I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told 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.’”

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It seems as though Trump is referring to the way Musk gutted Twitter after his acquisition of it in 2022. Before the takeover was complete, workers at the social media company drafted an open letter to Musk as well as other executives. Musk still fired the vast majority of the staff there.

It’s not clear what exactly the UAW believes it can charge Musk with as he doesn’t appear to confirm any illegal behaviors in the discussion. Notably, he does laugh when Trump makes the comments he does. Musk has long opposed unionization at Tesla and the UAW has publicly vowed to try and gain significant members there anyway.

“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,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.

“Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected. Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”

We’ve reached out to the UAW for additional comments on exactly what the strategy is from this point forward or what it’s hoping to achieve. Musk has responded to the charges by suggesting that Fain might end up following the last two UAW presidents into incarceration.