{"id":36271,"date":"2024-09-19T12:14:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36271"},"modified":"2024-09-19T12:14:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:14:55","slug":"teamsters-decline-to-endorse-in-2024-us-presidential-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/19\/teamsters-decline-to-endorse-in-2024-us-presidential-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Teamsters Decline to Endorse in 2024 US Presidential Race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O\u2019Brien speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The vice president’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her\u2014alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor,” said a spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 18, 2024 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in decades\u2014and in a break with other major unions and many of its own local bargaining units\u2014the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday announced<\/a> it would not endorse a candidate in the U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union’s decision came two months after its general president, Sean O’Brien<\/a> was widely criticized<\/a> by labor proponents for speaking at the Republican National Convention, with advocates noting<\/a> that GOP candidate Donald Trump<\/a> had spent his presidential term from 2017-21 appointing anti-union federal judges and key agency leaders, undermining collective bargaining rights, and making it harder for workers to hold their employers accountable for unfair labor practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Teamsters General Executive Board said its 1.3 million members had expressed no majority support for Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> and no universal support for Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/Teamsters\/status\/1836463348269092918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1836463348269092918%7Ctwgr%5Ecd73f050bf24cb2f20001fe178a17cee89bc23d7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fteamsters-endorsement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to President Joe Biden’s announcement in July that he was stepping aside in the presidential race and endorsing Harris, the Teamsters’ rank-and-file members had backed Biden over Trump, 44.3% to 36.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris met with the union’s leadership earlier this week, reminding<\/a> officials that Trump had named anti-union members to the National Labor Relations Board, while the vice president had cast the Senate’s tie-breaking vote on the American Rescue Plan, which shored up<\/a> the Teamsters pension fund with $35.6 billion. She also pointed to Trump’s comments in an interview with billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk that striking workers should be fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Listen to the guy when he’s told you who he is,” she reportedly told union leaders.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O’Brien said Wednesday that the union “sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries\u2014and to honor our members’ right to strike\u2014but were unable to secure those pledges.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union objected to Harris “not preemptively saying the White House would play no role in settling the Teamsters’ dispute with [the United Postal Service],” according<\/a> to The New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a number of union locals<\/a> and the Teamsters National Black Caucus endorsed Harris before the union’s announcement Wednesday, and the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council announced its support for the vice president shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The 250,000 who work across California are fundamental to the American economy, not only producing and transporting goods, but also providing essential services throughout the private and public sectors,” said<\/a> Joint Council 42 president Chris Griswold. “They deserve an administration that will put working people first.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris has won endorsements <\/a>from the United Auto Workers, the Communications Workers of America, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and other key unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The vice president’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her\u2014alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor,” Harris campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said <\/a>Wednesday. “She will look out for the Teamsters rank-and-file no matter what\u2014because they always have been and always will be the people she fights for.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Palmer, a vice president at large for the union and member of its executive board, acknowledged that Harris had sent that message in her meeting with the Teamsters this week,\u00a0telling<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0that she said, “I want your endorsement, but if I don’t get it, I will treat you exactly as if I had gotten your endorsement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O\u2019Brien speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. \u00a0(Photo: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) “The vice president’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36272,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271\/revisions\/36272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}