The Teamsters on Wednesday declined to endorse a candidate for president, the primary time in a long time that the union hasn’t backed a candidate within the presidential election.
“Neither main candidate was capable of make severe commitments to our union to make sure the pursuits of working individuals are at all times put earlier than Huge Enterprise,” Teamsters Common President Sean O’Brien mentioned in a press release.
He added, “We sought commitments from each [former president Donald] Trump and [Vice President Kamala] Harris to not intrude in crucial union campaigns or core Teamsters industries—and to honor our members’ proper to strike—however had been unable to safe these pledges.”
The union’s determination comes two days after senior leaders met with Harris as they weighed whom to endorse.
The Teamsters, which represents truck drivers, freight employees and others, held comparable conferences with Trump and President Joe Biden when he was nonetheless searching for re-election.
The union, which at 1.3 million members is among the largest on this planet, collected enter on an endorsement from its members by way of straw polling and a QR ballot from a code printed on a union journal, a vice chairman at giant of the union, John Palmer, mentioned.
On Wednesday, the union released the results of its survey, which was carried out after Biden dropped out of the race. It discovered that just about 60% of rank-and-file union members most popular to endorse Trump, whereas 34% backed Harris, in keeping with an digital member ballot. A telephone ballot indicated comparable findings, with 58% supporting Trump and 31% supporting Harris.
The union has not launched the variety of ballot contributors or the margin of error.
The Teamsters have for many years endorsed Democratic presidential candidates. The union supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. It additionally backed Barack Obama in each of his presidential runs, John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
In an e mail Wednesday, the Trump marketing campaign highlighted the Teamsters polling.
“Whereas the Teamsters Government Board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear— they need President Trump again within the White Home!” mentioned marketing campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a press release. “These hardworking women and men are the spine of America and President Trump will strongly get up for them when he’s again within the White Home.”
Trump instructed reporters Wednesday that the union’s determination to not endorse a candidate was “an awesome honor.”
“The Teamsters carry numerous weight. The Democrats can’t imagine it,” Trump mentioned. “Look, it was at all times computerized that Democrats get the Teamsters, and so they mentioned, ‘We gained’t endorse the Democrats this 12 months,’ in order that was an honor for me.”
Harris marketing campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt pointed to native Teamsters chapters that endorsed the vice chairman.
“The Vice President’s robust union document is why Teamsters locals throughout the nation have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor,” Hitt mentioned in a press release. “Because the Vice President instructed the Teamsters on Monday, when she is elected president, she’s going to look out for the Teamsters rank-and-file it doesn’t matter what — as a result of they at all times have been and at all times would be the folks she fights for.”
Over the course of his presidency, Biden has promoted his assist for organized labor and has regularly weighed in on disputes between union employees and company leaders. In 2021, he expressed support for the right to unionize in a direct-to-camera video as Amazon employees in Alabama had been about to vote on whether or not to arrange.
Then-Teamsters President James P. Hoffa in 2021 credited Biden with together with an $83 billion pension-fund bailout within the American Rescue Plan Act, which boosted the Teamsters’ Central States pension fund.
In 2023, Biden became the first sitting president to join a picket line when he visited putting autoworkers in Michigan.
However regardless of calling himself “probably the most pro-union President main probably the most pro-union administration in American historical past,” Biden drew criticism from organized labor two years in the past when he labored with Congress to cross a legislation that averted an impending rail strike.
The legislation pressured union employees to simply accept a union contract that had been brokered by the Biden administration. On the time, 4 of the 12 unions concerned had rejected the deal.
As he signed the laws, Biden referred to as it “a troublesome [vote] for me,” however cited the necessity “to maintain the provision chains steady across the holidays.”
The Worldwide Affiliation of Fireplace Fighters is probably the most distinguished union that has not but endorsed a presidential candidate this 12 months. The union endorsed Biden in 2020.
The AFL-CIO, which represents dozens of unions and hundreds of thousands of employees, and the United Auto Employees union have every endorsed Harris.
