The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters won’t situation an endorsement within the presidential election for the primary time since 1996, and for under the second time since 1960.
Teamsters Normal President Sean O’Brien stated “neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”
“We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges,” O’Brien stated.
The Teamsters endorsed President Biden in the course of the 2020 election, and has constantly supported Democratic presidential nominees in current election cycle.
The union notably waited to announce its endorsement determination far longer than different unions and labor organizations, together with the United Auto Employees, Nationwide Schooling Affiliation, Service Staff Worldwide Union and AFL-CIO, which all endorsed Biden, then Vice President Harris, after the president dropped out of the race in July.
The Teamsters has endorsed GOP presidential candidates, together with Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and O’Brien’s flirtation with former President Trump and Republicans sparked hypothesis the union may as soon as once more break from the pack.
O’Brien has labored to construct inroads with Republicans resembling Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) because the union works to advance coverage priorities together with the Defending Employees Proper to Manage (PRO) Act, which might strengthen employees’ skill to type a union and discount, and opposition to the nationwide proper to work.
The union’s PAC additionally made its first contribution to the Republican Nationwide Committee this cycle since 2006, donating $45,000 to the committee’s conference fund a couple of week earlier than Trump spoke at a Teamsters roundtable in late January, in accordance with Federal Election Fee information.
The union additionally hosted roundtable discussions with Harris, Biden and third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West as a part of the endorsement course of.
Harris has supported the PRO Act on the marketing campaign path, and O’Brien informed reporters Monday that there wasn’t a “whole lot of difference” between Harris’s roundtable and Biden’s, who the union chief stated “has been great for unions.”
Some Teamsters locals and caucus members, together with the Nationwide Black Caucus of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, have additionally endorsed Harris.
However O’Brien additionally stated his members’ enter could be a “significant” a part of the endorsement course of, and up to date polling reveals members clearly help Trump within the presidential race.
Whereas 44.3 p.c of union members polled between April 9 and July 3 backed Biden in comparison with 36.3 p.c for Trump, polling within the wake of the Republican and Democratic Occasion conventions discovered the Teamsters members help Trump over Harris.
In a union-commissioned survey performed by an unbiased third social gathering between July 24 and Sept. 15, 59.6 p.c of Teamsters members voted to endorse Trump, in comparison with 34 p.c for Harris.
In a separate Teamsters-commissioned ballot in the course of the week ending Sept. 15, 58 p.c of Teamsters members voted to endorse Trump, in comparison with 31 p.c who voted to endorse Harris.
The shortage of an endorsement is a giant blow to Trump, who invited O’Brien to be the primary Teamsters chief within the union’s 121-year historical past to talk on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July.
The transfer prompted backlash from labor leaders and antiunion activists alike however gave him a platform to tackle company bosses, antiunion elites and the established order in Washington.
“The Teamsters are doing something correct if the extremes in both parties think I shouldn’t be on this stage,” O’Brien stated.
“At the end of the day, the Teamsters are not interested if you have a D, R or an I next to your name. We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?”
O’Brien rebuked Trump weeks later, nevertheless, after the previous president floated firing putting employees throughout an interview with Elon Musk.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump informed Musk. “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”
O’Brien known as such a proposal “economic terrorism.”
Trump’s marketing campaign highlighted the outcomes of inside polls later Wednesday.
“While the Teamsters Executive Board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear— they want President Trump back in the White House! These hardworking men and women are the backbone of America and President Trump will strongly stand up for them when he’s back in the White House,” Trump nationwide press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated.
The Republican Occasion has struggled to court docket union management broadly, and Individuals are much less more likely to say the GOP greatest serves the pursuits of union members, in accordance with a current Gallup ballot.
In accordance with the Gallup ballot, 62 p.c of surveyed Individuals assume the Democratic Occasion greatest serves labor union members, in comparison with 27 p.c who stated the identical factor concerning the Republican Occasion.
“The labor union voting bloc is particularly important in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan, swing states where the shares of union members are higher than the national average,” Gallup famous in its evaluation.
However union members’ issues in an election prolong past labor points, and enormous swaths of union members and Teamsters should vote for Trump.
Exit polls from the 2020 race discovered about 40 p.c of voters in union households voted for Trump in comparison with 56 p.c who voted for Biden.
Harris had a 10-point lead over Trump amongst union households in a Fox Information survey launched final month.
Whereas O’Brien stated that “no candidate for President has earned the endorsement of the Teamsters’ International Union,” he famous the union “strongly encourage[s] all our members to vote in the upcoming election, and to remain engaged in the political process.”
“Democrats, Republicans, and Independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect every one of them,” O’Brien stated.
Up to date at 4:15 p.m.
