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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTeamsters: No Endorsement for U.S. President
Teamsters: No Endorsement for U.S. PresidentWhat BS. Full press release below:
Press Contact: Kara Deniz Phone: (202) 497-6610 Email: kdeniz@teamster.org
(WASHINGTON) The General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday elected not to endorse any candidate for U.S. President.
After reviewing six months of nationwide member polling and wrapping up nearly a year of rank-and-file roundtable interviews with all major candidates for the presidency, the union was left with few commitments on top Teamsters issues from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harrisand found no definitive support among members for either partys nominee.
In data publicly released earlier in the day, President Joe Biden won the support of Teamsters voting in straw polls at local unions between April-July prior to his exit from the race. But in independent electronic and phone polling from July-September, a majority of voting members twice selected Trump for a possible Teamsters endorsement over Harris.
The unions extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump.
The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables. 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. We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industriesand to honor our members right to strikebut were unable to secure those pledges, said Teamsters General President Sean M. OBrien.
Our mission as union representatives is clear: to be honest and upfront, to be inclusive and, above all, to be transparent with our membership. As the strongest and most democratic labor union in America, it was vital for our members to drive this endorsement process. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect every one of them. We strongly encourage all our members to vote in the upcoming election, and to remain engaged in the political process. But this year, no candidate for President has earned the endorsement of the Teamsters International Union.
During the Teamsters Rank-and-file Presidential Roundtables, the union shared feedback from members in the railroad and airline industries who work under the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and are at the mercy of government intervention that often prevents work stoppages. While 10,000 Teamsters at United Airlines are currently negotiating a new agreement, tens of thousands of railroad Teamsters were forced to accept a new contract implemented by Congress without member support in 2022. In roundtable discussions with Trump in January and Harris this month, neither candidate promised not to intervene to force similar RLA contracts, which undermines workers bargaining leverage.
While Harris pledged, if elected, to sign the PRO Act, an essential piece of labor legislation strengthening union protections, and criticized dangerous right to work laws that are enacted to bankrupt unions, Trump would not commit to veto national right to work legislation if he returned to the White House.
Right to work laws only exist to try to kill labor unions, said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. It is a red line for the Teamsters and must be for any union when a candidate for elected office does not oppose such anti-worker legislation. Its too important an issue for the labor movement as a whole to be left up to state legislatures.
jimfields33
(17,984 posts)Mad_Machine76
(24,707 posts)Midnight Writer
(22,687 posts)One candidate strongly supports unions. One candidate wants to destroy them with extreme prejudice.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Deminpenn
(15,862 posts)did speak at the RNC convention presaging a Teamsters Trump endorsement.
Think. Again.
(15,639 posts)...and although Harris gave them much more pro-union responses than trump, she did not promise anything, and rightfully so.
WhiskeyGrinder
(23,372 posts)Oopsie Daisy
(4,039 posts)Oh well. Be irrelevant, then. See what it gets ya.
Basso8vb
(84 posts)Thanks for nothing, Teamsters.
Think. Again.
(15,639 posts)...IF he somehow gets in the White House.
dsc
(52,486 posts)if not, if we get unified control we should help them by taking away the money.
WhiskeyGrinder
(23,372 posts)Think. Again.
(15,639 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(151,973 posts)Link to tweet
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/18/west-coast-teamsters-endorse-harris-00179923
The move represents a sharp break within the powerful unions membership in liberal states like California, where former President Donald Trump remains a widely unpopular political figure. The unions national headquarters released internal survey results earlier in the day that showed close to 60 percent of its members backed Trump.
Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and 42 which are made up of 39 local unions representing 300,000 members in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam wrote in a statement that Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have a history of supporting expanded labor protections for workers, like the proposed Protect the Right to Organize Act and a Minnesota law that will ban employers from forcing workers to attend anti-labor meetings.
Teamster members work and live in cities as well as in rural communities, come from diverse backgrounds, and have different views, but Joint Council 7 and 42 Teamsters refuse to be divided by extremist political forces or greedy corporations that want to see us fail, said Teamsters Joint Council 7 President Peter Finn. As Teamsters we will stand together to have a strong voice on the job, provide for our families, and serve the communities where we work.
LetMyPeopleVote
(151,973 posts)bottomofthehill
(8,628 posts)Donald Trump will fuck Unions every chance he gets and has in the past. The Democrats in the House and Senate bailed their failed pension plan out. No republicans voted to save them then they do not endorse... Fuck Them.
LetMyPeopleVote
(151,973 posts)Link to tweet
✊ United Auto Workers
✊ AFL-CIO
✊ IBEW
✊ National Education Association
✊ Postal Workers Union
✊ Communication Workers of America
✊ SMART Union
✊ SEIU
✊ United Food and Commercial Workers
✊ Actors' Equity Association
✊ Arizona AFL-CIO
✊ Connecticut AFL-CIO
Kentucky AFL-CIO
Maine AFL-CIO
Massachusetts AFL-CIO
Nevada AFL-CIO
New Jersey AFL-CIO
New York State AFL-CIO
New York City Central Labor Council
Oregon AFLCIO
Pennsylvania AFLCIO
Washington State Labor Council
King County Labor Council
Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Amalgamated Transit Union
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689
American Federation of Government Employees
AFGE Council 238
American Federation of School Administrators
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
District Council 37
American Federation of Musicians
AFM Local 802
American Federation of Teachers
AFT of Maryland
AFT of Massachusetts
Chicago Teachers Union
Ohio Federation of Teachers
United Federation of Teachers New York City, New York
American Guild of Musical Artists
American Postal Workers Union
American Train Dispatchers Association
Association of Flight Attendants
California School Employees Association
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists[896]
Communication Workers of America[897]
Culinary Workers Union[898]
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees[899]
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers[900]
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers[901]
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers[902]
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers[903]
Local 11[904]
Local 103[905][906]
Local 292[907]
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 28[908]
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 186[909]
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 572[910]
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers[911]
International Longshore and Warehouse Union[912]
International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots[913]
International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers[914]
International Union of Elevator Constructors[915]
International Union of Operating Engineers[916]
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades[917]
Laborers' International Union of North America[918]
National Air Traffic Controllers Association[919]
National Association of Letter Carriers[920]
National Education Association[921]
Ohio Education Association[922]
Oregon Education Association[923]
Texas State Teachers Association[924]
Wisconsin Education Association Council[925]
National Nurses United[926]
Washington State Nurses Association[927]
National Union of Healthcare Workers[928]
North America's Building Trades Unions[929]
Office and Professional Employees International Union[930]
Orange County Labor Federation[931]
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union[932]
Seafarers International Union of North America[933]
Service Employees International Union[934]
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East[935]
SEIU 721[936]
SEIU CALIFORNIA[937]
SEIU Pennsylvania council[938]
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West[937]
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society[939]
UNITE HERE[940]
UNITE HERE Local 11[941]
United Association[942]
United Auto Workers[943]
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America[944]
United Farm Workers[688][945]
United Food and Commercial Workers[946]
UFCW Local 99[947]
UFCW 880[948]
UFCW Local 1776[949]
UFCW 3000[950]
United Steelworkers[951]
Utility Workers Union of America[952]
Writers Guild of America West PAC[953]
iemanja
(54,050 posts)They supported Biden but suddenly they can't support Harris? I wonder what changed?
bigtree
(88,849 posts)WASHINGTON Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that lawmakers plan to intervene this week in the deepening labor dispute between rail companies and their unionized workers, voting on whether to impose an agreement that could avert a shutdown of the nations freight trains just before Christmas.
The announcement came shortly after President Biden called on Congress to act, saying the dispute cannot be allowed to hurl this nation into a devastating rail freight shutdown.
In a statement, Mr. Biden urged the House and Senate to swiftly pass legislation to impose a compromise labor agreement that his administration helped broker but that has failed to win the support of all the rail labor unions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/us/politics/biden-rail-strike-congress.html
..pretty stupid demand, knowing no president is going to give up the ability to keep essential services operating.
Most pro-union candidates, and Pres. and VP in history, and they're acting like little punks..