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Labor News & Commentary August 14, 2024 UAW filed unfair labor practice charges against former President Trump & Musk
https://onlabor.org/august-14-2024/
By Jacqueline Rayfield
Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, the United Auto Workers Union filed unfair labor practice charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, leader of Tesla and SpaceX, Starbucks appointed an anti-labor CEO, and Vice-Presidential Candidate, Governor Tim Walz made his first solo campaign speech to a union audience.
The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) announced in a thread on X that Trump and Musk violated federal labor law by attempting to threaten and intimidate workers. Musk hosted an interview with Trump on X Monday night. Trump praised Musk in the interview for conducting mass layoffs. “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you go, ‘You’re all gone,’” Trump said. UAW claims that this statement violates federal labor law since a strike is considered a protected activity for which workers cannot be legally fired. UAW President Shawn Fain commented: “When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean.”
Starbucks named Brian Niccol, former CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill as its new CEO on Tuesday. Niccol faced criticism for his negotiations with Teamsters while at Chipotle. Teamsters considered Chipotle’s wage offer in a store in Lansing, Michigan insultingly low. The same year, Chipotle violated federal labor law by closing a store and firing workers who tried to form a union. After the NLRB sided with the union, Chipotle paid $240,000 to aggrieved workers.
Governor Tim Walz gave his first solo speech as vice-presidential nominee on Tuesday night to a union audience in Los Angeles. Walz spoke to members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees about his and Vice President Kamala Harris’ working-class roots. Walz was a union member as a public-school teacher before he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.