After this week’s Democratic Convention, it remains an open question as to whether the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will endorse the party in the 2024 elections.
The Teamsters union said this week marks a crucial milestone in a highly anticipated endorsement schedule because in the past it has waited until after the party conventions to make endorsements, but there is no guarantee that it will join other large unions in backing Democratic candidates.
Teamsters spokeswoman Kara Dennis said the group is still working through the endorsement process, with union members voting through the end of the month and an unscheduled roundtable meeting with Vice President Harris planned.
“We’re going to be working on our schedule, not somebody else’s schedule, which means this is going to be a deliberate, thoughtful, involved process that will directly involve our members,” Dennis told The Hill.
Though the organization endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 and has supported Democrats in the past, Teamsters Chairman Sean O’Brien took the unprecedented step of lobbying both the Republican and Democratic national committees to request speaking slots at their rallies.
O’Brien faced much flak before taking the stage at the Republican National Convention last month, where he railed against elites whose “only loyalty is to the balance sheet.”
He also took issue with the idea that labor unions should defer to Democrats, saying “we have an obligation to do our due diligence” and “we shouldn’t automatically side with one side,” noting that labor union members are largely made up of Democrats, Republicans and independents.
His speech also prompted Teamsters officials to announce their intention to run against O’Brien for president when his current term ends in 2026. Teamsters Vice Chairman John Palmer said it was naive to believe that people who attended the Republican National Convention would support the union “in any way, shape, form or thing.”
A Fox News poll released last week showed Harris leading Trump.10 PointsAmong union households.
But according to a Democratic pollster hired by the Teamsters’ political arm, only 11 percent of Teamsters opposed O’Brien speaking at the Republican National Convention, while 68 percent thought it was important for him to speak at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
“So much of society these days is shaped from the ground up by far-left, far-right, pundit debates and opinions,” Dennis says. “It’s important that we can actually stop and listen and engage with what we need more of. [O’Brien] I firmly believe that.”
While O’Brien praised Trump as a “tough motherfucker” on stage at the Republican National Convention, the labor leader criticized the former president for floating the illegal suggestion of firing striking workers in an interview with Elon Musk, saying:Economic terrorism.”
O’Brien ended up not being included on the Democratic speaking schedule last week, and in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday he suggested that this was because of “corporate elites.”
However, O’Brien joked, “You can take it personally, but I honestly think the invitations may have gotten lost at the US Post Office. Next time, just send them through UPS and they’ll definitely get there.”
UPS is the Teamsters union’s largest employer, and during last year’s so-called “summer strike,” the union negotiated a “historic” agreement with the shipping giant, further raising the profile of the union and workers ahead of the upcoming election.
Dennis also said his support was “not driven by anything personal.”
“It depends on the issue and what our members want,” she said.
Key issues for the Teamsters include opposition to a national “right to work” bill and support for some version of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would strengthen workers’ ability to form unions and negotiate with employers.
The PRO Act currently has 217 co-sponsors in the House and 48 co-sponsors in the Senate. 3 Republicans The lawmakers who signed on as co-sponsors of the House version of the bill include: There are no Republican cosponsors. Regarding the Senate version.
Harris has supported the PRO Act throughout her campaign. Say it in Detroit “We believe in the freedom to associate and will pass the PRO Act to put an end to union busting for good,” he said earlier this month.
The Trump campaign declined to comment on his positions on the two policies.
Both Harris and former President Trump sought the support of labor unions and workers throughout their election campaigns, but their support has primarily leaned toward the Democratic Party.
An endorsement from the Teamsters, the nation’s largest labor union, could give Trump a competitive edge in the labor battle, while a backing from Harris could put an end to the fight.
Major unions and labor groups, including the United Auto Workers (UAW), the American Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO) and even the National Black Caucus of Teamsters, have endorsed Harris since Biden withdrew from the race last month.
But Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, told The Hill that Trump “has built lasting relationships with union leaders and is expanding the Republican base in historic ways.”
“The Republican National Committee was the only one to accept Sean O’Brien’s invitation to speak because the Republican Party is the party of working families,” Kelly said. “President Trump has always supported working class families with his America First policies, and we know that if we send him back to the White House, he’ll do so again.”
Indeed, even if union leaders endorse Harris, a majority of their members may still vote for Trump.
Exit polls for the 2020 election Found About 40% of voters with union members in the household voted for Trump, and polls show Biden had a narrower lead among union households than he did four years ago before he dropped out. Union households are one of several groups where Biden has struggled.
Democratic strategist Mike Micus said it made sense for O’Brien to reach out to both parties because unions are likely to be strongest when they have relationships with both parties, but he argued he made a “strategic error” about the scope of his approach to Republicans.
He said the Biden administration protection Cuts made under the American Rescue Plan will slash the pensions of 600,000 Teamsters.
“The old formula is to reward your friends and punish your enemies,” Mikus said. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have strengthened pension funds and shown they are friends.”
He said he wasn’t sure whether formally endorsing Harris would have much impact at this stage in the campaign, but he believed she was “well positioned” to win the support of not only union members but also union households, especially in her own state of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state that could determine the outcome of the election.
About 13% of wage and salary workers Member According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages in Pennsylvania last year were several percentage points higher than the national average.
Republican strategist Saul Anuzis agreed that it was wise to approach both parties as the head of an organization with diverse viewpoints, but said O’Brien’s speech was “far from an endorsement.”
“He challenged the Republican Party on a lot of issues, a lot of traditional issues that are important to conservatives and Republicans, but he made the case that Labor has a lot of members in both parties, so I think that’s a smart way to handle it,” he said.
He added that Democrats had made a mistake by not including him on the speaker list.
Anuzis, the Teamsters member, said the majority of members of his group’s particular union often support Republican candidates in presidential elections, even though, like other unions, its leadership tends to lean Democratic.
But he said a show of support would be more impactful if it was backed by funding and political organizing than a mere symbolic announcement.
“Recommendations become more functional when there’s money behind them, or when you’re actually doing political work,” Anuzis says, “and that changes things. But the recommendation itself is like checking a box.”
Whether an endorsement is just a checkbox for one side or a windfall, it is a tool the Teamsters can use to build coalitions around issues that matter to them and their members.
“As long as workers are in the news and their issues are being highlighted, that’s important and that’s the goal here,” Dennis said.
