The International Union of Truck Drivers could endorse a candidate for the presidential election as early as Wednesday.
The Teamsters are one of the largest labor unions in the country, and their ratification process has been closely watched since President Sean O'Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention for the first time in the union's 121-year history.
“We will be conducting a survey-based poll and presenting those three polling models to the executive committee on Wednesday, after which we will deliberate and make a decision,” O'Brien told reporters on Monday after a roundtable discussion with Vice President Harris.
A Teamsters spokesman confirmed that a decision could be made as early as Wednesday.
O'Brien called Harris “a very sophisticated person” and said she discussed issues important to the Teamsters, including the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) and national right-to-work vetoes.
The Teamsters held roundtable discussions with former President Trump in January and President Biden in March.
When asked how Harris' roundtable would be different from Biden's, O'Brien said, “There's not a lot of difference.”
“Joe Biden has been great for the union. You know, Joe Biden has done a lot of work, and we want to make sure that that work is carried over to whoever it is,” O'Brien said.
The Teamsters union supported Biden in the 2020 election before O'Brien was elected president in 2021 and has historically supported Democratic presidential candidates.
But O'Brien had opposed the idea that unions should automatically endorse the Democratic candidate even before Biden dropped out of the race in mid-July due to concerns about his age and mental health.
“We represent not only registered Democrats, but registered Republicans and independents, too. [that] “It's something that will be considered,” O'Brien said Monday.
O'Brien called Trump a “tough motherfucker” during his speech at the Republican National Convention, but a few weeks later he called the former president's comments “Economic terrorism“After President Trump suggested firing striking workers during an interview with Elon Musk.”
“There's no question that the former president's comments clearly required a response from me, and it was a pretty strong response and message,” O'Brien said Monday.
Just as O'Brien sent a message from the Republican National Convention stage that his union is not tied to any particular party or ideology, his endorsement will send a message about the ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans for support of workers.
Trump's endorsement signals a break with precedent and is likely to raise eyebrows and anger among labor leaders who quickly endorsed Harris after she launched her campaign in July.
As part of the endorsement process, the Teamsters are conducting extensive polling of their members, which O'Brien said will be a “critical” factor in the endorsement, and he promised to make the results public “so that there is no doubt as to the outcome of the membership vote.”
