The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is filing federal labor charges against President Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over comments made during an interview on X.

In a statement on Tuesday, the UAW blasted the “rambling, disorganized conversation on Monday evening in front of over one million listeners in which they advocated for the illegal firing of striking workers.”

Trump was interviewed by Mr. Musk, who also owns X, and during his conversation, he praised the billionaire for how he handles workers’ complaints.

“I mean, I look at what you,” Trump said. “You walk in, you 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 OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.” 

The UAW notes it is illegal to fire striking workers or to threaten to do so. 

Shawn Fein, the president of the UAW, said in the statement, “When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean.”

“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,” he added.

The UAW endorsed Vice President Harris last month, and Mr. Fein has previously been critical of Trump.