A Michigan autoworker who heckled President Donald Trump last month during a campaign visit escaped punishment after his union told him "we got your back."
A United Auto Workers official confirmed Monday that Local 600 line worker TJ Sabula kept his job and "has no discipline on his record" despite calling Trump a "pedophile protector" during his Jan. 13 visit to a Ford Motor Co. plan in Dearborn — triggering an obscene response from the president, reported The Detroit News.
"TJ, we got your back," said UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson during a Washington, D.C., speech Monday morning.
Trump responded to the insult by flashing his middle finger and mouthing the words "f--k you" twice at the worker before mouthing his "you're fired" catchphrase from his reality TV show "The Apprentice."
"Well, this ain't 'The Apprentice,'" Dickerson said.
Union officials during their national political conference this week in Washington have highlighted Trump's reaction to Sabula as a symbol of how he feels about working-class Americans.
"In that moment, we saw what the president really thinks about working people," Dickerson said. "As UAW members, we speak truth to power. We don't just protect rights, we exercise them."
Sabula was initially suspended from work pending an investigation, but he told the Washington Post shortly afterward that he had "no regrets whatsoever,” although he conceded that he was worried about losing his job and being “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
Two online fundraisers hauled in more than $810,000 for Sabula within a day of his confrontation with Trump, but he ultimately kept his job and UAW leaders decided not to punish him.
"That's a union brother who spoke up," said UAW President Shawn Fain. "He put his constitutional rights to work. He put his union rights to work."