What’s Eating Sean O’Brien? The Teamsters’ Non-Endorsement Stunt

by | Sep 24, 2024 | IBT, Kamala Harris, Labor Relations Ink, Labor Relations Insight, Leadership, News, Politics, Sean O'Brien, Trending, Union Leaders, Union Leaders, Unions

By now, you have probably heard about how the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced that they will not endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race. This pronouncement came following backlash against union chief Sean O’Brien speaking at the RNC and after a “tense meeting” with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, who is VP to the “most pro-union president in history” and is endorsed by every other major union – including the UAW USW, NEA, and AFL-CIO.

Something doesn’t add up, and we aren’t talking about politics. Instead, it sounds like Sean O’Brien is stomping his feet and holding a grudge.

The “official” union reasoning: Upon releasing their non-endorsement news, the Teamsters cited an internal poll of 21,000 rank-and-file members, nearly 60% of whom supported endorsing Trump. It should be noted that some union board members reportedly pushed back against the results of an unscientific phone poll.

O’Brien stood firm and called the results “a wake-up call” for Democrats.

A wake-up call for what, exactly? We’ll get to that in a moment.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reacted to the non-endorsement by blasting O’Brien over his habit of turning to Democrats for help, including Biden’s recent bailout of the union’s pension fund. That rescue added up to $36 billion, the largest private pension bailout in history.

About that grudge: If it feels like O’Brien chose an endorsement stance and used the poll to justify the decision, that seems entirely possible. Just look at part of O’Brien’s official statement: “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.”

He makes it sound like he was willing to endorse the candidate who agreed to never interfere with a Teamsters strike without regard for consequences.

Also, consider O’Brien’s recent tantrum against the Canada Industrial Relations Board for shutting down a Teamsters rail strike to prevent economic catastrophe. O’Brien hasn’t forgotten how, two years ago, Biden blocked a strike from multiple unions representing U.S. rail workers. It’s not a stretch to conclude that O’Brien wants a presidential green light to knee-cap employers while causing collateral damage to the economy.

Neither Harris nor Trump told O’Brien that they would allow him to cripple the transportation industry, which would cause a domino effect into other industries and also hurt Teamsters members, and a union president is pouting.

A pattern is becoming clear: O’Brien keeps telling union members who he is. He declined to accept responsibility for UPS’ layoffs in the wake of the new Teamsters contract which drastically cranked up labor costs. O’Brien even power walked away when a member asked questions on the topic.

For this non-endorsement stunt, O’Brien also drew a public rebuke from his predecessor, James P. Hoffa, who called this a “critical error and, frankly, a failure of leadership by Sean O’Brien.” This perhaps suggests a suspicion that O’Brien encouraged the poll’s results by addressing the RNC.

Teamsters locals push back: Many local chapters and the National Black Caucus, representing over one million of the Teamsters’ members, disregarded O’Brien’s decision and endorsed Harris anyway. Of course, the impact of non-endorsement on the election might not matter at all, yet it’s possible that backlash against O’Brien will ultimately count for more with his members.

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