AFL-CIO President: Trump and Musk Are ‘Greedy Bosses Laughing at Workers on Livestream’

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s anti-worker comments during a Twitter/X Space conversation Monday night:

Last night, Donald Trump yet again made it crystal clear exactly who he is: a scab who will go to any lengths to crush working people.  

Greedy bosses aren’t just laughing at workers in smoke-filled backrooms anymore. They’re broadcasting it for the world to hear. It’s no surprise coming from Trump and Elon Musk—two notorious union-busters who boast a combined record of crossing picket lines, underpaying workers, flouting health and safety laws, and retaliating against workers for demanding the rights and fair pay we deserve, with Musk even suing the National Labor Relations Board rather than being held accountable for charges he illegally fired workers. This special breed of arrogant and weird billionaire CEOs just want an America where they can get even richer at workers’ expense. No matter what script Trump reads, working people know that he doesn’t care about us and he has no intention of fighting for us. Trump only cares about his Project 2025 Agenda that favors his ultra-wealthy buddies like Musk while stomping on the fundamental freedoms of everyone else. 

We applaud our union brothers, sisters and siblings at the UAW for filing federal labor charges against Trump and Musk for threatening and intimidating workers with the NLRB. That was illegal union-busting in real time, and they should be held accountable.

Last week, the AFL-CIO released our 2024 Executive Paywatch report, which found that the average S&P 500 CEO received 268 times what their average median worker earned last year.   Elon Musk is the world’s richest CEO, and in 2024, Tesla’s shareholders voted to re-approve Musk’s $56 billion pay plan—the largest ever received by a CEO—which a Delaware court had struck down. Musk responded to the court decision on his pay package by reincorporating Tesla from Delaware to Texas.

Contact: Mia Jacobs, 202-637-5018