Teamsters decline to endorse for president — despite its members’ overwhelming support for Trump
DETROIT — One of America’s biggest labor unions has defied the will of its pro-Trump membership and declined to endorse a presidential candidate — for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien described 2024 as the union’s “most inclusive, democratic, and transparent Presidential endorsement process in the history of our 121-year-old organization.”
“Our final decision around a possible Presidential endorsement will not be made lightly, but you can be sure it will be driven directly by our diverse membership,” he said.
That was about an hour before he announced the Teamsters would endorse neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris — and at the same time the union revealed its 1.3 million members overwhelmingly support the former president.
An electronic poll found Trump led Harris 59.6% to 34% among numbers; a phone poll had Trump 58% to Harris’ 31%.
So much for the the most “democratic” endorsement process in the union’s history.
Those numbers are a big turnaround from when Harris’ boss led the ticket: Before President Biden withdrew, he had 44.3% to Trump’s 36.3%.
The union endorsed Democrats in the last two elections: Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020. The liberal Mother Jones magazine called this year’s non-endorsement “a win for Trump.”
Trump, in New York for a Wednesday rally on Long Island, said the non-endorsement is “a great honor.”
“They’re not going to endorse the Democrats,” Trump told The Post. “That’s a big thing.”
One Teamsters member, Christina Rohrer, said it’s time for the union to break with the past.
“Well Sean, I think you need to endorse a Republican for once,” she posted on Facebook. “You spoke strong words at the RNC just do it already.”
The Teamsters did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” O’Brien said Wednesday. “We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”
Vice President Harris met Monday with a panel of Teamsters, having long courted organized labor. Trump also met with a panel of Teamsters and even invited O’Brien to speak at the Republican National Convention, where the union leader railed against corporate greed.
The Teamsters’ choice to not endorse came just weeks ahead of the Nov. 5 election, far later than endorsements by other large unions such as the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the United Auto Workers that have chosen to back Harris.
The Teamsters detailed their objections to the candidates in a statement, starting with their objection to a contract implemented by Congress in 2022 on members working in the railroad sector.
The union wanted both candidates to commit to not deploying the Railway Labor Act to resolve contract disputes and avoid a shutdown of national infrastructure, but Harris and Trump both wanted to keep that option open though the Teamsters said it would reduce its bargaining power.
Harris has pledged to sign the Teamsters-supported PRO Act, which would strengthen union protections. She also criticized states that enact laws making it more difficult to unionize. Trump in his January roundtable with the Teamsters did not promise to veto a proposal to make it harder nationwide to unionize.
Other unions have shown trepidation about offering a presidential endorsement. The United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America endorsed Harris Friday with a caveat that “the manner in which party leaders engineered Biden’s replacement at the top of the ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris was thoroughly undemocratic.”
But the Teamsters’ lack of endorsement also suggests an indifference to the Biden-Harris administration, which signed into law a measure that saved the pensions of millions of union retirees, including many in the Teamsters.
As part of its 2021 pandemic aid, the administration included the Butch Lewis Act to save the underfunded pensions of more than 1 million union workers and retirees. The act was named after a retired Ohio trucker and Teamsters union leader who spent the last years of his life fighting to prevent massive cuts to the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund.
With Post wires and additional reporting by Diana Glebova.
