Special Poll
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain, a recent and somewhat surprising supporter of President Trump’s new tariffs on imported cars, took a sharp turn on Sunday condemning Trump’s latest executive order that strips federal workers of their union rights. In an appearance on CBS News’s Face the Nation, Fain didn’t hold back, calling the move “deplorable” and accusing the president of attacking labor rights with the stroke of a pen.
Fain, who just months ago had campaigned against Trump and stood alongside Democrats on union picket lines during major strikes, had recently embraced Trump’s tariff plan, saying it would help bring back American manufacturing jobs. But when asked by host Major Garrett whether he preferred a president who walked a picket line or one who imposed tariffs, Fain didn’t choose sides.
“It’s both,” he said. “We support a president who supports organized labor and good working conditions.” But he quickly shifted to rebuke Trump’s latest action, which he said undermines everything unions stand for.
“While we applaud the shift with tariffs here under this administration, again, it’s deplorable what happened last night with the stroke of a marker stripping away bargaining, stripping away contractual rights for hundreds of thousands of union workers, attacking the free speech of union workers. And we can’t stand for that.”
Trump’s executive order, signed late Saturday, limits the ability of numerous federal agency employees to unionizeand bars the government from participating in collective bargaining with those workers. While the administration has framed the move as necessary to streamline agencies involved in national security, many of the affected departments have little to no connection to defense or intelligence, raising questions about the real motivation behind the order.
The move is being seen as a major blow to organized labor, and the fact that criticism is now coming from a Trump ally like Fain highlights growing tension even among those who have supported parts of the president’s economic agenda.
Labor leaders are accusing Trump of sending mixed signals: promoting tariffs and American jobs on one hand, while gutting union rights on the other. Critics argue this duality is unsustainable and politically risky. While blue-collar support helped Trump secure wins in the industrial Midwest, decisions like this could alienate union voters in swing states who may have warmed to Trump’s economic nationalism but still value their collective bargaining rights.
Fain’s rebuke marks a rare moment where a key figure in the labor movement who recently aligned with Trump is now publicly attacking him, drawing a line in the sand over labor protections.
As the election cycle continues and Trump tries to expand his coalition of working-class voters, moves like this could complicate his message and create new cracks in the fragile alliance between his populist rhetoric and the priorities of organized labor.