Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has reportedly ignored the Teamsters union, which represents more than one million members, after the union’s head gave a populist speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) aimed at winning over Republican lawmakers with pro-labor policies.
At the Republican National Convention, Teamsters Chairman Sean M. O’Brien gave a historic speech praising former President Donald Trump for inviting him to speak. O’Brien said his goal in the speech was to make a dent in the Republican Party that is increasingly representative of the nation’s working and middle classes.
“President Trump has had the courage to open the door to this Republican convention, which is unprecedented. No other candidate in this race would have invited the Teamsters to this event,” O’Brien said.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable need to be properly called labor unions for big business. …The facts are this: individuals have no power against these huge multinational corporations. Only when Americans unite in democratic unions can we win real improvements. About wages, benefits, and working conditions. [Emphasis added]
Since the speech, Politico ReportsThe Harris campaign ignored the Teamsters.
“The union said Harris has yet to respond to a request for a roundtable discussion with Teamsters leaders and that O’Brien has not accepted an invitation from Democrats to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.” Politico Report:
O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention revealed tensions in the labor movement in recent years. Labor leaders are grappling with the challenges of Trump-supporting rank-and-file members and a new populist leaning toward the Republican Party.The speech served as a reminder to Democrats that they cannot take union support for granted in November. [Emphasis added]
…
“We’re going to support elected leaders who are supporting workers,” said Kara Dennis of the Teamsters. “We are not going to blindly support candidates based on their past performance. If they don’t do something for us at this point.” [Emphasis added]
In July, sources told Reuters the Teamsters union was even considering withholding its support in the 2024 presidential election, a move that would essentially give the green light for its members to back Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
Vance, in particular, has built his political career around reorienting the Republican Party away from Wall Street and Chamber of Commerce bigwigs and toward its working- and middle-class roots.
“[Republicans] “We need to become less adversarial with the unions,” Vance told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview in 2022. “… I think we need to pass legislation that gives more power to union members and a little less power to the current union leadership, because they’re still supporting the Democrats.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
