Billionaire tech executive Elon Musk shot back at the United Auto Works (UAW) on Tuesday after the union filed labor charges against him and former President Donald Trump.
During the Monday evening discussion on X Spaces, Trump called Musk “the greatest cutter” and touted him as someone who fires employees going on strike. Musk laughed and responded, “Yeah,” as Trump spoke.
Although he declined to mention a specific company, CNBC reported that Trump had been referring to a time when Musk fired a great deal of the staff at Twitter, the social media platform he purchased in 2022 and rebranded as X.
The UAW, in response to the exchange, announced that it had filed federal labor charges against Musk and Trump for allegedly making illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers engaging in protected activity.
CNN noted that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would investigate the labor union’s charges and could help settle the case if wrongdoing is found, and might even sue Trump and Musk on behalf of UAW.
On X, remarking on a post about the labor charges and featuring a photo of UAW President Shawn Fain, Musk suggested the union boss may end up incarcerated for criminal activity.
“The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!” Musk quipped.
The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
Gary Jones and Dennis Williams are two former UAW presidents who received prison time for a corruption scheme; however, they are not Fain’s direct predecessors in leading the union.
The UAW recently endorsed Trump’s rival in the 2024 race, Vice President Kamala Harris. Earlier this year, Trump said Fain should be fired and insisted that “every single” auto worker should be voting for him.
Musk, whose other companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have clashed with the NLRB and Big Labor, endorsed Trump last month after the former president survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The comment about firing employees came up during the X Spaces talk on Monday, right after Trump said he would “love” for Musk to help out with a prospective Government Efficiency Commission to cut wasteful spending.
I used to drive by Peterbilt everyday going to work and it seemed that the workers were picketing the plant every 6 months for better wages, better health insurance, etc. Eventually, these union workers picketed themselves right out of a job because Peterbilt closed the plant down because the workers were constantly on strike because of the union. In my opinion, unions are worthless and do more harm to their members than good.
Exactly that’s why I’ve never worked for a union shop and absolutely never will
ITS HORSESHIT
Unions are worthless to the worker!! They collect hefty dues from the workers and fund the democrats, but do little to nothing for the workers. Unions are Definitely not what they use to be.
No doubt the suit is the product of a pay off by some wealthy democratic party donor.
I know of 2 construction outfits, the smaller is 1500 employees both doing the same job from a small town in SC. They run north to take the machinery from a non production union factory and relocated it to a productive factory in the south.
Screw the UAW. If I remember correctly, we, as American citizens have the freedom of speech. What they say in their interview is not solid, written in cement and can therefore discuss what they feel like discussing and say what they want. Good Grief, get over it, grow the fuck up, grow some balls, and just walk away. It was a comment, not a threat.