The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday introduced it won’t formally endorse a candidate within the 2024 presidential election, ending months of hypothesis about whether or not the labor union would again Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris.
The union’s common government board stated in a assertion that its member polling confirmed no majority help for Harris, and no common help for Trump.
“The Teamsters thank all candidates for assembly with members face-to-face throughout our unprecedented roundtables. Sadly, neither main candidate was capable of make critical commitments to our union to make sure the pursuits of working persons are at all times put earlier than Massive Enterprise,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien stated within the assertion.
“We sought commitments from each Trump and Harris to not intrude in crucial union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ proper to strike — however have been unable to safe these pledges,” stated O’Brien.
With 1.3 million members, the Teamsters union is among the largest labor teams within the nation. The non-endorsement is a break from the union’s decadeslong custom of backing Democratic candidates. Nevertheless it’s not an entire shock.
O’Brien had signaled in July that the union was open to endorsing Trump when he delivered a speech on the primary evening of the Republican Nationwide Conference.
“Because the strongest and most democratic labor union in America, it was important for our members to drive this endorsement course of. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents proudly name our union residence, and we now have an obligation to symbolize and respect each one among them,” O’Brien wrote.
“We strongly encourage all our members to vote within the upcoming election, and to stay engaged within the political course of. However this yr, no candidate for President has earned the endorsement of the Teamsters’ Worldwide Union,” he wrote.
In a nationwide survey of Teamsters members carried out after the Sept. 10 presidential debate, union members overwhelmingly backed Trump over Harris, 58% to 31%, in keeping with outcomes printed by the union forward of its formal endorsement.
The newest outcomes are very completely different from these of surveys carried out when President Joe Biden was nonetheless the Democratic nominee. Earlier than Biden dropped out of the race July 21, the union’s rank-and-file members backed Biden over Trump, 44.3% to 36.3%.
The union on Wednesday stated neither Harris nor Trump would promise to not intervene to drive contracts like these allowed beneath the Railway Labor Act. Such intervention would undermine staff’ bargaining leverage, the assertion stated.
The union praised Harris for pledging to signal the PRO Act, which might strengthen union protections, and criticized Trump, who refused to decide to veto nationwide “proper to work” laws, the union stated.
“‘Proper to work’ legal guidelines solely exist to attempt to kill labor unions,” Teamsters Basic Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman stated within the assertion. “It’s a pink line for the Teamsters.”
The announcement got here simply days after union members and management met with Harris, who has obtained endorsements from a number of different labor unions.
Union leaders additionally featured prominently on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August, however the Teamsters — and O’Brien — have been conspicuously absent. After O’Brien appeared on the RNC, a spokesperson for the union confirmed to CNBC that O’Brien had not obtained an invite to talk on the Democratic conference.
“The Teamsters carry a variety of weight,” Trump stated at a marketing campaign cease in New York Metropolis Wednesday afternoon. “It was at all times automated that Democrats get the Teamsters, and so they stated we cannot endorse the Democrats this yr. In order that was an honor for me.”
Harris marketing campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, in response to the union’s determination, stated, “The Vice President’s sturdy union file is why Teamsters locals throughout the nation have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor.”
If Harris is elected president, “she’s going to look out for the Teamsters rank-and-file it doesn’t matter what — as a result of they at all times have been and at all times would be the folks she fights for,” stated Hitt.
