A United Auto Workers representative confirmed to the Detroit News on Monday that Ford employee T.J Sabula, who 'heckled' President Trump during his January visit to the Blue Oval's historic River Rouge truck plant, "has no discipline on his record" and has retained his union-backed employment.
Following the incident–in which the 40-year-old line worker called the President a "pedophile protector" in apparent reference to the Epstein files, to which the President allegedly flipped the blue collar American employee the middle finger while saying "F*** you" twice and "you're fired"–Sabula was temporarily removed from his position at the plant. This, for obvious reasons, didn't sit well with the UAW, and the union set about getting Sabula reinstated to his position.
"TJ, we got your back," United Auto Workers Vice President Laura Dickerson said during a speech in Washington on Monday morning. "In that moment, we saw what the President really thinks about working people. As UAW members, we speak truth to power. We don't just protect rights, we exercise them."
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UAW President Shawn Fain also weighed in, saying he wanted to "shout out brother T.J. That's a union brother who spoke up. He put his constitutional rights to work. He put his union rights to work." Following his suspension, a GoFundMe page was started in Sabula's name which saw hundreds of thousands of dollars given in support of the UAW worker.
The January visit to Ford was intended as an opportunity for Trump to tout his massive economic growth platform for American manufacturing. Mere weeks before the plant tour, Ford announced it would be discontinuing its F-150 Lightning program and writing down some $19.5 billion worth of investment in electric vehicle production, decisions which the Trump administration's policies have directly contributed to. Ford saw a 29% reduction in profit across the first nine months of Trump's second term.
Regardless of whether Mr. Sabula's words have factual basis his speech is constitutionally protected. The constitution, however, doesn't protect Mr. Sabula from being fired by his employer. The UAW did that.
