The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters is ready to host a roundtable with Vice President Harris and the union’s members and executives on Sept. 16.
“We appreciate Vice President Harris taking the time to meet in person with rank-and file Teamsters. Our members are the backbone of this nation, working in all 50 states and representing every political background. We look forward to having a conversation on the direction of the country and the issues that matter to working people,” Teamsters Basic President Sean O’Brien stated in an announcement first shared with The Hill.
The Teamsters have this 12 months hosted roundtables with former President Trump, President Biden and third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West.
The Harris marketing campaign accepted the union’s invitation to affix the roundtable final month forward of the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
The Teamster have but to make an endorsement within the presidential race, at the same time as different unions and labor organizations together with the United Auto Employees (UAW), the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters Nationwide Black Caucus have endorsed Harris since she launched her marketing campaign in mid-July.
The labor chief stated Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the union had not but issued an endorsement as a result of he hasn’t but met with Harris, and “you don’t hire someone unless you give them an interview.”
Whereas the Teamsters endorsed Biden through the 2020 election and have traditionally supported the Democratic nominees, O’Brien has made it clear his union’s endorsement is just not a assure.
O’Brien challenged the notion that unions ought to routinely endorse a Democrat throughout his speech on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July, saying “we have an obligation to do our due diligence” and “not just automatically support one side.”
However O’Brien has since rebuked the previous president for suggesting throughout an interview with Elon Musk that employees who go on strike ought to be fired, calling the proposal “economic terrorism.”
Harris is main Trump by 10 factors amongst union households, in line with a Fox Information ballot launched final month. She’s additionally been a vocal supporter on the marketing campaign path of one of many union’s high coverage priorities, the Defending the Proper to Manage (PRO) Act, which might bolster employees’ potential to type unions and discount with their employers.
A Harris marketing campaign spokesperson didn’t instantly return The Hill’s request for remark.
