Monday night, Teamster union president Sean O’Brien speaks at the Republican National Convention after former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s victory speech.
“I refuse to continue to do what my predecessors have done,” O’Brien said. “Today, the Teamsters are here to say, ‘We are not bound to anyone or any party.’”
O’Brien, president of the 1.3 million-member union, has proven willing to work with Republicans even as the rest of the labor movement rallies around Democrats. While the AFL-CIO, NEA and UAW have endorsed President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, O’Brien has met privately with Trump and donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee’s convention fund. ( Washington PostIt was the Teamsters’ first major contribution to a Republican in years, though they also gave $135,000 to the Democratic National Convention last December.) O’Brien’s appearance at the RNC further underscored his willingness to break with the Teamsters’ recent history: The union endorsed Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020.
But on the night of the economic conference, O’Brien did not endorse Trump, and his union is unlikely to back him. O’Brien praised his “backbone” for inviting Trump despite opposition from anti-labor Republicans. And after the attempted assassination of Trump, O’Brien said, “He’s proven to be a tough guy.”
The Teamsters leader, who describes himself as a “lifelong Democrat,” has faced criticism within the union over his budding relationship with Trump. Mother Jones Recently reported:
O’Brien’s critics within the union argue that his appearance at the RNC would set a dangerous precedent for a potential turning point in American labor. Teamsters Vice President John Palmer has repeatedly publicly criticized O’Brien’s association with Trump. In a recent editorial new politicsHe wrote that O’Brien’s Republican convention speech “only served to normalize and make acceptable the most anti-Labor party and president I have ever seen in my life.”
On Monday night, O’Brien acknowledged that the Teamsters and the GOP have little agreement on issues, but said a “growing group” is willing to consider the union’s perspective. He nominated Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential candidate. Hawley and Vance both showed up on the picket line despite their history of opposing pro-union policies. Both have said they oppose the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would strengthen collective bargaining rights.
Not all of O’Brien’s points resonated well with the convention audience. His call for both parties to “put the American worker first” drew cheers, but the crowd’s enthusiasm waned when he explained the need for legal protections for union workers and labor law reform. “The biggest beneficiaries of welfare in this country are corporations, and that’s the real corruption,” O’Brien said.
In particular, Trump has proven weak on pro-union policies. Mother Jones His administration has previously been reported to have struck a series of blows against organized labor.
(Trump) reorganized the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces labor laws and investigates unfair labor practices. Led by a Trump appointee, the National Labor Relations Board has made what the Economic Policy Institute described as an “unprecedented” number of decisions that “overturn existing worker protections.” The rulings have limited workers’ ability to form unions, organize on the job, and negotiate with management.
Trump’s Supreme Court appointees have upheld a series of anti-labor rulings. In 2018, the court struck down a legal precedent that allowed public-sector unions to collect mandatory fees from nonmembers to help pay for collective bargaining, a crucial source of revenue. Earlier this year, the court sided with Starbucks in a case involving workers who were fired while trying to unionize. The decision overturned an NLRB order to reinstate the workers.
It is unclear whether O’Brien will be given a chance to speak when Democrats meet in Chicago next month. O’Brien said Monday afternoon Fox News Anchor Neil Cavuto says he hasn’t heard back from a reporter who asked him to speak at the Democratic National Convention. He called Cavuto “crickets.”
Later that day, Reuters reported that Teamsters leaders were considering not endorsing anyone in the 2024 presidential election because of “deep internal divisions” within the union. Such a decision would be a rebuke to Biden, who campaigned on a record of support for labor. A Teamsters spokesperson told Reuters that no final decision had been made.
“At the end of the day, Teamsters don’t care if you have a D, an R or an I next to your name,” O’Brien told the crowd in Milwaukee. “We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help the American worker?”
