A showdown between a traditional American union and CEO of an electric car company could have big ramifications for American politics this season.
But there’s a legal dimension, too: The United Auto Workers (UAW) union filed charges against GOP nominee Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in federal court following their 2.5-hour livestream interview Monday night.
“You’re A Great Cutter”
The 2.5-hour fairly informal interview, Trump commended intimidation and retaliation on workers unionizing. The lawsuit cites comments Trump made to Musk, praising Musk for firing 80% of Twitter’s staff in 2022 and 2023.
“You’re a great cutter. I look at what you do, you walk in and you just 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 okay, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. Every one of you is gone.”
Donald Trump to Elon Musk during an X Spaces interview on August 12, 2024.
In response, the UAW filed charges alleging the two billionaires admitted to interference with legal, federally protected employee behavior – on air with 1.3 million listeners.
Musk’s Twitter Layoffs
In late 2022, prior to the massive cuts, former Twitter employees penned an open letter to the CEO after rumors of massive layoffs made headlines.
“Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” the letter reads. “The workers at Twitter, will not be intimidated. We recommit to supporting the communities, organizations, and businesses who rely on Twitter. We will not stop serving the public conversation.”
The employees’ letter did not have the intended effect, so say the least. The letter was submitted to Twitter management less than a week before Elon finalized his acquisition of the social media platform.
Negotiations for the acquisition had been going on for the better part of 2022. At one point, Musk had tried to back out of the purchase. After a lawsuit was brought against him by the company, Musk changed course and finalized the deal.
As soon as the ink had dried, Musk laid off half of Twitter’s staff. According to reports, hundreds of employees resigned in the aftermath, in part as a response to Musk issuing an “ultimatum” demanding remaining employees commit to the company’s new “extremely hardcore” culture.
UAW Files Suit
The filing of charges shows that despite the existence of Right-to-Work states and relaxed enforcement of some labor regulations, there are still worker protections on a federal level under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
The Act identifies striking as a protected activity. However, running the process through the National Labor Relations Board means that resolution is time-consuming.
It’s more likely that the optics could adversely factor into the political calculus of the November election.
“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.”
UAW president Shawn Faine in a press release.
UAW Background
Founded in 1930, the United Auto Workers has led many successful labor organization movements.
In 2023, the UAW led the first record breaking, six-week long strike of all three major automakers (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis) in the United States. The strike lead to auto workers gaining a minimum 25% raise, among other negotiated benefits including
Earlier this year, workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted with an overwhelming majority to join the UAW. The plant is the first outside of Detroit to join the organization.
Billionaire Responses to UAW’s Suit
In response, Trump’s campaign referred to the union charges as a “shameless political stunt” and a “frivolous lawsuit.”
Several of Musk’s companies, including both Tesla, SpaceX, and X, have garnered controversy for labor practices.
The UAW has attempted to have Tesla and other EV workers join the organization, and has openly supported striking workers at Tesla plants in Sweden.
Where Tesla employees had tried to organize a strike multiple times, SpaceX people resorted to whistle-blowing. They reported a hostile work environment with no recourse or supervision over things like harassment.
The fallout in the media includes many segments on the relative impact of the comments in the run-up to an election between Trump–Vance ticket, and the newcomer to the race, Kamala Harris-Walz ticket. The UAW formally endorsed Harris on July 31, citing her track record of siding with labor.
Related: Project 2025 Think Tank President Pleased With Trump’s VP Pick, J.D. Vance
The pending legal case looms over the Republican candidate, particularly as labor arises as a battleground topic.
