Teamsters withhold endorsement as ballot reveals members favour Donald Trump

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The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters has determined to not endorse a candidate in November’s US presidential election, signalling {that a} as soon as essential a part of the Democrats’ assist could also be shifting in direction of Donald Trump.

The highly effective union introduced its surprising determination after reporting {that a} cellphone ballot had discovered that 58 per cent of its members needed it to endorse the Republican former president — virtually twice the quantity favouring vice-president Kamala Harris. It was unclear what share of the union’s 1.3mn members, which embrace UPS drivers, railroad employees and nurses, had been polled.

“Sadly, neither main candidate was in a position to make severe commitments to our union to make sure the pursuits of working individuals are at all times put earlier than Large Enterprise,” union president Sean O’Brien mentioned in a press release. “We sought commitments from each Trump and Harris to not intrude in crucial union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honour our members’ proper to strike — however had been unable to safe these pledges.”

Different main unions, together with the United Auto Staff, United Steelworkers and American Federation of Academics, endorsed Harris quickly after she launched her marketing campaign. Against this, Teamsters leaders opted for an uncommon sequence of roundtable-style conferences with candidates and inside polls, saying the method would make the group’s political actions extra democratic. 

It’s the first time that the union has not made an endorsement in 28 years. The Teamsters endorsed Joe Biden and Harris in 2020 and final supported a Republican in 1988.

The choice got here simply two days after Harris held a closed-door assembly with the union’s management in Washington. Trump had met Teamsters leaders earlier in hopes of touchdown a high-profile endorsement that may win over extra union members, who’re closely concentrated within the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Teamsters’ determination comes amid considerations amongst Democrats and different labour leaders concerning the inroads Trump has made with working-class voters.

Union leaders broadly see Trump as an enemy of the labour motion, however polls present that rank-and-file union members are extra open to the previous president than they had been in 2020, when NBC’s exit polling confirmed they favoured Biden over Trump by 16 proportion factors.

The most recent Monetary Occasions-College of Michigan Ross Faculty of Enterprise ballot discovered 45 per cent of registered voters mentioned Harris higher represented union members’ pursuits, in contrast with 35 per cent who mentioned Trump did.

The Teamsters’ inside endorsement course of divided the union, with some members additionally criticising O’Brien’s determination to talk on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July, meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property and make the union’s first large donation to Republicans in 20 years.

John Palmer, the Teamsters’ worldwide vice-president, mentioned its common government board overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to not endorse, at O’Brien’s suggestion. Palmer mentioned solely he and two different board members voted in favour of the vice-president.

“It was a cowardly political transfer by individuals who needed to pander to the membership as an alternative of taking on what would have been successful by telling the reality,” mentioned Palmer, referencing Trump’s historical past of animosity with labour unions.

Wednesday’s announcement amounted to a “tacit endorsement” of Trump, mentioned Palmer, who’s difficult O’Brien within the union’s 2026 management election.

The Trump marketing campaign claimed a victory, with Karoline Leavitt, its nationwide press secretary, saying: “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!”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris marketing campaign, mentioned the vice-president had “actually walked the picket line and stood sturdy with organised labour for her whole profession”.

“The vice-president’s sturdy union document is why Teamsters locals throughout the nation have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organised labour,” Hitt added.

The White Home declined to touch upon whether or not the Teamsters’ polling was a referendum on the administration, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying solely that Biden and Harris had “fought arduous for unions”.

The union’s Nationwide Black Caucus endorsed Harris in August, calling her “a key accomplice in main essentially the most pro-labour administration in our lifetimes” whereas denouncing Trump as “a scab masquerading as a pro-union advocate”.