Alex Acosta to Newsmax: Tesla Labor Flap 'Should Be Investigated'

Tesla firing dozens of workers barely 24 hours after they issued a letter declaring their intent to unionize "should be investigated and will be," former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta said.

"This is part of a larger trend that we're seeing where companies whose political views are disfavored are being targeted and we have to stop that," Acosta said Friday on Newsmax's "National Report."

In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, the Workers United union accused Tesla of firing more than 30 employees at Gigafactory New York in Buffalo "in relation to union activity and to discourage union activity."

The union asked the labor board to seek a federal court injunction to "prevent irreparable destruction of employee rights resulting from Tesla's unlawful conduct."

Jaz Brisack, a Workers United organizer working on the case, called the terminations "a form of collective retaliation against the group of workers that started this organizing effort. The terminations are designed to terrify everyone about potential consequences of them organizing, as well as to attempt to cull the herd."

Tesla workers say their new union's Twitter account was shadowbanned. Elon Musk serves as CEO of Tesla and Twitter.

During his appearance on Newsmax, Acosta also discussed the unemployment rate and the drop in the labor participation rate, which measures the percentage of Americans who are working or want to work.

"We're talking about a tight labor market, and we're increasing interest rates and bringing the economy into recession because of the labor market, and here's what we don't hear about at all — what is the administration doing to get all those Americans, the nearly 40% of Americans that are on the sidelines, off the sidelines and into the labor force?" Acosta said.

Americans aren't going back to work because the U.S. government is incentivizing them not to, Acosta said.

"What we took away from COVID is if you get into trouble, the government will bail you out," he said. "COVID was an emergency and it certainly was important that we do what we did then, but people do have to get back to work."