DETROIT, Aug 13 - The United Auto Workers Union said on Tuesday it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Donald Trump and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab CEO Elon Musk over attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.

The action came after Musk and Trump held a two-hour conversation on social media platform X on Monday night, during which Trump complimented Musk's ability to cut costs by saying he would not tolerate workers going on strike.

"You're the greatest cutter," Trump said during the conversation. "I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just 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 okay, you're all gone.'"

Musk chuckled but did not respond to Trump's comments, making it harder for the NLRB to find him liable for making illegal threats to workers at his companies, said Wilma Liebman, chair of the NLRB under former President Barack Obama

Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, the UAW said in a statement.

It is unclear whether the NLRB would take action against Trump for his comments, but the UAW jumped on his remarks as it continues to rally behind Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris and encourage its nearly 400,000 workers to vote for her over Trump, especially in battleground states like Michigan that could determine who wins the White House in November.

The UAW endorsed Harris at the end of July.

UAW President Shawn Fain and Trump have exchanged barbs in the past.

"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," Fain said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk also did not respond.

Trump has called for the union leader to be fired, saying he is responsible for U.S. auto manufacturing becoming weaker.

UAW members in Michigan tend to side with Democrats, but pro-Trump workers have organized their own rallies in recent weeks.

In the 2020 presidential race, 62% of Michigan households with a union member voted for President Joe Biden, helping him win the state, according to Edison Research. By contrast, union households split 53% to 40% for Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she narrowly lost the state and the national race.

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