The Ford employee who known as Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” whereas the president toured a Michigan auto manufacturing facility final month nonetheless has his job and no self-discipline on his file, an official with the United Auto Workers union stated Monday.
The incident turned nationwide information as a result of Trump responded to the employee, TJ Sabula, by giving him the center finger and mouthing the phrases “fuck you,” in response to video on the time. Ford suspended Sabula over his heckling.
UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson stated in a speech Monday on the union’s convention in Washington, D.C., that the UAW would proceed to help Sabula.
“TJ has got his job. And, more importantly, TJ has no discipline on his record,” Dickerson stated, prompting “UAW” chants.
She added, “As UAW members, we speak truth to power. We don’t just protect rights ― we exercise them.”
Although she stated Sabula continues to be employed, Dickerson didn’t deal with the standing of his suspension. According to a union supply, Ford had suspended Sabula with pay.
Ford didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday. Dickerson’s remarks have been first reported by the Detroit News.
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Sabula’s taunt was an apparent reference to Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epsteinthe disgraced financier and intercourse offender who took his personal life in jail in 2019. Trump had palled round with Epstein in New York City and as soon as informed a reporter that Epstein was a “terrific guy” who appreciated ladies “on the younger side.”
After he was suspended, Sabula informed The Washington Post he had “no regrets” over his run-in with the president.
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” the manufacturing facility employee stated. “And today I think I did that.”
The UAW endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris over Trump within the 2024 election, and its president, Shawn Fain, turned certainly one of Trump’s loudest critics in organized labor. The labor chief incessantly known as Trump a “scab” and a “con man” who put his rich mates earlier than working-class individuals.
Dickerson stated Trump’s response to Sabula confirmed “what the president really thinks about working people.”
“It took a lot of courage for that worker … to speak his mind to the most powerful person in the world,” she stated, “when the easy thing to do would have been to say nothing at all.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ford-worker-trump-taunt-uaw_n_698a212ee4b09f934ad1545d