The US auto workers union (UAW) filed a lawsuit today in federal labor court against Donald Trump and Elon Musk, accusing the two billionaires of “intimidating and threatening” workers.

The Republican nominee for the White House and Musk, an avowed supporter, debated Monday night on Platform X, citing various radical theories.

“I see what you are doing. You arrive, ask “Do you want to quit?” and they go on strike“, Trump said to his interlocutor.

“They go on strike and you say, “Okay then, everybody’s fired. Everybody’s fired.”“, he continued. Several times during this conversation, the two men can be heard laughing.

The union explained that it was taking legal action against “disgraceful billionaires Donald Trump and Elon Musk for their illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who are mobilizing through concerted, protected actions such as strikes.”

“Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for striking and the threat of firing is illegal,” added the union, which has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Previously, he supported Joe Biden. “Trump and Musk both want workers to sit back and plug it and openly laugh about it. It’s heartbreaking, illegal and completely predictable from these two rascalssaid union president Sean Fein.

Musk owns, among others, social networking platform X, SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla. It has been criticized in the past for preventing unionization of its employees around the world. After acquiring the Twitter platform (now X), he proceeded with mass layoffs and in mid-April he announced that “more than 10%” of Tesla’s workforce worldwide, i.e. at least 14,000 people, would be laid off.

Several lawsuits have also been filed in California by former SpaceX employees alleging “retaliation” against those who tried to protest working conditions. In many cases, retaliation took the form of dismissal.