Musk, Trump Hit on Federal Labor Charges Over Livestream

The live broadcast on X with former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has many problems, and this time they are not just technical.

The United Auto Workers union has filed federal labor charges against Trump and Musk alleging that the two men tried to “intimidate and intimidate” X Spaces workers who wanted to participate in “safeguarded activities, such as strikes.”

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In the speech, which the UAW called “rushed, disorganized” and “illegal,” Trump called for the firing of the striking workers.

“I look at what you’re doing, you come in, you say, ‘Do you want to stop?’ They’re going on strike,” Trump told Musk via live broadcast. “I won’t say the name of the company, but they’re going on strike and you’re all gone.”

The UAW noted in its lawsuit that under US federal law, workers cannot be fired solely because of a strike and that an employer threatening to let them go for that reason violates workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

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“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and laugh about it in public,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a union release. “Disgusting, illegal, and completely predictable for these two clowns.”

In 2022, after Musk took over Twitter (now X), he began laying off thousands of people, letting go of thousands of employees and senior management following his acquisition of the company. In May, Musk fired the entire Tesla Supercharger team after one executive tried to push back more layoffs.

The UAW, based in Michigan, currently represents more than 40,000 auto workers and officially endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris earlier this month.

Trump and Musk have not yet commented on the charges.