Teamsters Chairman Sean O’Brien, who broke with tradition and caused controversy by speaking at the Republican National Convention, has said the organization will not endorse any presidential candidate during the election cycle.
“A final decision has yet to be made,” The Teamsters told Reuters.He added that reports to the contrary were mere speculation.
The Teamsters have consistently supported Democrats over the past few decades, beginning with former President Clinton in 1992 and continuing through the 2020 election. Their move to remain neutral highlights the challenges facing President Biden following his poor performance in the debates.
The organization didn’t endorse either candidate in the 1996 election, but the Biden campaign reportedly viewed the Teamsters’ support as a near certainty. Last week, United Auto Workers President Sean Fain met with the union’s executive committee to address concerns that Biden might not be able to beat former President Trump.
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While O’Brien’s keynote speech did not explicitly endorse the group, it did show strong and surprising support from left-leaning organizations and highlighted the support the Teamsters were providing to the Republican Party.
Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, speaks on the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
“Since I was nationally elected chairman of the Teamsters two and a half years ago, we have begun to work together across party lines,” O’Brien said in his convention speech Monday night. “In the past, the Teamsters have supported Republican candidates including Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush.”
“But for the last 40 years, the Republican Party has really pursued a strong relationship with labor unions,” O’Brien said. “There are some in the party who are actively opposed to labor unions. That has to change, too.”
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Despite these strong claims, O’Brien is the first Teamster in the organization’s 121-year history to speak at the Republican National Convention, and he stressed that “Teamsters are trying to say we are not tied to anybody, to any party.”
O’Brien said on Tuesday. Describing Trump as a “tough guy” President Trump celebrated surviving an assassination attempt over the weekend and unleashed a tirade against big business in what was described as one of the most scathing anti-corporate speeches of recent years.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, took to the podium to speak after meeting with leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 31, 2024. The United Auto Workers union endorsed President Biden’s reelection campaign a week ago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“We need to properly call the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable the labor unions that they are, the unions that serve big business,” O’Brien said in his speech.
“And another fact about the big multinational corporations is that individual workers have no power,” he continued. “Only by uniting Americans and forming democratic labor unions can we win better wages, benefits, and working conditions. … Remember, the elites have no political parties. They have no nations. Their loyalty is to their balance sheets and their stock prices, at the expense of the American worker.”
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O’Brien’s decision to speak at the convention has deeply upset some Teamsters members, who earlier this year criticized the union for its leader’s attempt to court both Democrats and Republicans and donated $45,000 to both parties, Axios reported.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump met with leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters in Washington, DC on January 31, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Teamsters Vice President John Palmer, a union member since 1987, blasted O’Brien’s decision, saying it “suffers conscience for the leadership of the labor party to give legitimacy to a candidate and a party that has done nothing, and can do nothing, to improve the lives of the working people we are sworn to represent.”
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Anti-union groups also attacked O’Brien ahead of the speech, accusing him of being “two-faced” and pointing out that “one speech does not change the fact that the Teamsters generally donate to ‘left-wing causes.'”
The Republican Party and the International Federation of Trucking Associations did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital by press time.
