Teamsters union declines to endorse in presidential election, breaking decades of precedent

The Teamsters on Wednesday did not indicate their interest to support any of the candidates for president, the first time in several years the workforce union had ever shunned the presidential election. 
 
According to the Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, both primary contenders failed to time-bound obligations to the union that would make sure working people’s interests always come before Big Business. 
 
He said further, “We asked for assurances from both Trump and Harris not to meddle with important union organising or core areas of the Teamsters- there was no guarantee on members’ right to strike. ” 
 
The union’s decision comes two days after senior leaders have sat down with Harris while identifying whom to support. 
 
The Teamsters, which has members of truck drivers, freight workers and other workers, also had similar meetings with Trump and Biden before final elections. 
 
The union, which at 1 percent for white collar employees, means that white collar employees have realized that even though they were recognized by the government, they cannot work alone without joining a union. The union has over 3million members which makes it one of the biggest unions in the world, Palmer, a vice president at large of the union said that the association collected input on an endorsement from its members through straw polling and a QR poll from a code printed on a union magazine. 
 
On Wednesday, the union published the outcome of its poll which was administered after Biden dropped out of the race. This revealed that 57% of the followers of the union wanted to endorse Trump in the election while 34% wanted to endorse Harris as showed by an Electronic member poll done by the union. Another poll that was via phone yielded the similar results where 58% of people supported Trump while only 31% of the people supported Harris. 
 
The union has not disclosed the number of people it polled and the error margin in the survey as well. 
 
The Teamsters have for example upheld Democratic candidates to the presidency for many years. The union voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election as well as Joe Biden in the 2020 election. It also supported Barack Obama in both his presidential campaigns for the White House; John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000. 
 
In an email Wednesday, the Trump campaign pointed to the Teamsters polling. 
 
Regarding the Teamsters Executive Board’s lack of official endorsement, the teamsters hard workers have been clear, loud and enthusiastic insisting on the return of President Trump in the White House the spokeswoman of Trump’s campaign Karoline Leavitt pointed out. ”These are hardworking individuals the core of our economy and President Trump will fully support them as he resumes his leadership in the White House. ” 
 
‘The Teamsters are mighty,’ Trump quoted and ‘the Democrats cannot believe it. ’ “Well of course right, it was always automatic that Democrats get the Teamsters, those f- got together and said, ‘We won’t endorse the Democrats this year,’ so that was an honor for me. ” 
 
Harris campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt cited other local chapters of Teamsters which endorsed the vice president. 
 
“This is why Teamsters locals across the nation have already endorsed the Vice President for her union record — as has the vast majority of the entirety of organized labor,” Hitt said in a statement. “As the Vice President pointed out on Monday to the Teamsters, when she becomes the president, she will always work for the best for the rank-and-file members of the Teamsters because that is precisely who the Vice President will always stand for — the working people of America. ” 
 
Biden has stood for the labor unions during his presidency and has actively commented on many cases of struggle between the employees and employers. In 2021 he made a straight-to-camera speech in support of the right to unionize just before the Amazon workers in Alabama were preparing to vote whether to do so. 
 
Ex-Teamsters President James R. Hoffa in 2021 said that Biden helped regarding their influence by including an $83B pension-fund bailout in the American Rescue Plan Act which helped out the Teamsters’ Central States pension fund. 
 
In 2023, Biden went on a picket line becoming the first sitting president since Franklin Roosevelt to do that when he brought in striking autoworkers in Michigan. 
 
Yet, while taking office as the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in the American history, Biden faulted by the organized labor two years prior to this for collaborating with Congress to enact a law that precluded an impending rail strike. 
 
The law compelled members of organized labour to sign to a union contract which had been negotiated under the Biden administration. As it was, four of the 12 unions that they engaged in the strike had rejected it when it was signed. 
 
Before the bill was signed into law by Biden, he said it was a “tough vote for me, ” but added: “To keep the supply chains stable around the holidays. ” 
 
IAFF now remains as the leading union that has no endorsement for any presidential aspirant this year. Indeed, UAW endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. 
 
Both the AFL-CIO that is affiliated to dozens of unions and has millions of members and the United Auto Workers union have endorsed Harris.