By Nora Eckert and Daniel Wiessner
DETROIT (Reuters) -The United Auto Workers Union said on Tuesday it has filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against Donald Trump and Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO Elon Musk over attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.
It is unclear whether the NLRB would take action against Trump over his comments Monday during a two-hour conversation with Musk that aired on social media platform X.
The UAW seized on Trump’s comments as the union rallied behind Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris and encouraged its nearly 400,000 employees to vote for her over Trump. The issue is especially relevant in battleground states like Michigan, which could determine who wins the White House in November. The UAW endorsed Harris in late July.
“You are the biggest cutter,” Trump told Musk during Monday’s call, complimenting the CEO’s ability to cut costs by saying he would not tolerate employees going on strike. “I mean, I look at what you do. You come in and you just say, ‘Do you want to quit?’ They’re going on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they’re going on strike. And you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone.’”
Musk chuckled but did not respond to Trump’s comments, making it harder for the NLRB to hold him liable for making illegal threats against his companies’ employees, said Wilma Liebman, chairman of the NLRB under former president Barack Obama.
Under federal law, employees cannot be fired for striking, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, the UAW said in a statement.
After the union’s action Tuesday, Musk criticized UAW President Shawn Fain in a social media post, citing two former union presidents who went to prison for bribery and corruption. “Based on recent news, it looks like this guy will be joining them!” Musk said.
A court-appointed monitor for the UAW is investigating several union officials, including allegations that Fain retaliated against a member of his board when the person failed to take action that would have benefited Fain’s domestic partner and her sister. The UAW could not immediately be reached to comment on Musk’s response.
Trump campaign officials said his promised 100% tariff on Chinese imports would strengthen the industry, while Harris’ EV policy is hurting U.S. manufacturing.
“This frivolous lawsuit is a brazen political stunt designed to undermine President Trump’s overwhelming support among American workers,” Trump senior campaign adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the UAW’s action.
Fain and Trump have exchanged barbs in the past.
“Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they openly laugh about it. It is disgusting, illegal and completely predictable from these two clowns,” Fain said in a statement on Tuesday.
Trump has called for the union leader to be fired, saying he is responsible for weakening US car production.
UAW members in Michigan are siding with Democrats, but pro-Trump workers have organized their own rallies in recent weeks.
In the 2020 presidential race, 62% of Michigan households with a union member voted for President Joe Biden, helping him win the state, according to Edison Research. By contrast, union households were split 53% to 40% for Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she narrowly lost the state and national races.
Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, another major union, said of Trump’s comments: “Firing workers for organizing, striking and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism.”
Traditionally, the Teamsters have endorsed a candidate after party conventions. O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
The union had also requested a speaking opportunity at the upcoming Democratic National Convention but had not yet heard back, spokesperson Kara Deniz said. It had also invited Harris to a roundtable discussion but had not yet heard back.
SEND A MESSAGE
The NLRB has limited authority to punish unlawful employment practices and the process often takes years. In cases involving illegal threats, the board may order employers to cease such behavior and post notices in the workplace informing employees of their rights. Unions can also use favorable rulings from the NLRB to engage workers they are trying to organize.
“Everyone knows the NLRB remedies are toothless to begin with, but it’s not so much about the remedy as it is about sending both a political message and an organizing message,” said former NLRB head Liebman, referring to the action of the UAW on Tuesday.
Fain filed separate complaints with the NLRB against the Trump campaign and Tesla, citing Trump and Musk as the employer representatives, and alleging that both men made statements suggesting they would “fire employees engaged in protected joint activities , including strikes.” The complaints contain no further details.
As an employer, the NLRB has jurisdiction over the Trump campaign, but not Trump himself.
The UAW led a six-week strike against the Big Three automakers in Detroit last fall before winning record contracts.
MUSK AND THE NLRB
Musk, who has supported Trump for president, has had numerous run-ins with the Labor Council. His rocket company SpaceX is currently challenging the agency’s entire structure in a pair of ongoing lawsuits. These cases stemmed from NLRB complaints accusing SpaceX of firing engineers critical of Musk and forcing employees to sign severance agreements with unlawful terms.
In March, a U.S. appeals court upheld an NLRB decision that found Musk illegally threatened Tesla workers by tweeting in 2018: “Nothing is stopping the Tesla team at our car plant from voting for a union… But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?
Tesla is separately facing allegations from its board that it illegally discouraged union organizing at a factory in Buffalo, New York.
