United Auto Workers is throwing its support behind the Ford factory employee who heckled President Donald Trump during a visit to Michigan on Tuesday — and appeared to prompt a vulgar response from the commander-in-chief.
During Trump’s visit to a Ford plant that produces F-150 trucks, he was caught on cell phone footage appearing to mouth “fuck you” twice from a catwalk above the factory floor to someone below. He also was filmed raising his middle finger at the person, later identified as TJ Sabula.
Off camera, a person assumed to be Sabula can be heard yelling “pedophile protector,” an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s slow rollout of Department of Justice files related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Following his act of protest, Sabula identified himself to The Washington Post and said he was suspended from work pending an investigation.
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In a post to X on Wednesday, United Auto Workers said Sabula is among its nearly 400,000 members and that the union stands “with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”
“The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member,” the union’s post continued. “Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about UAW’s response, though communications director Steven Cheung defended Trump’s comments in a fiery statement Tuesday. “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung wrote.
Sabula, for his part, doesn’t regret the viral interaction.
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” Sabula told the Post. “And today I think I did that.”
The UAW has a conflicted relationship with Trump. In the last three presidential elections, it has endorsed the Democratic candidate.
The union’s president, Shawn Fain, did, however, speak at the Republican National Convention in 2024. He said after the election that the organization would work with Trump to continue its mission to “raise the standard of living for our members and the entire working class through unity, solidarity, and working-class power.”
At least two GoFundMe pages have been created to support Sabula through his period of unemployment, raising more than $630,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
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