Posts tagged Sean O’Brien
‘Trump and Musk are setting the example’: how companies are becoming emboldened to be more anti-union
April 10, 2025 // That tougher behavior under former president Ronald Reagan sped the decline of private sector unions. Today, just 6% of private sector workers are in unions, while 32% of public sector workers are. Anti-union ideologues are increasingly targeting public sector unions, which often support Democrats. “Because almost half of the labor movement is now in the public sector, the assault that we’re seeing now is really focused on the public sector,” McCartin said. “That really threatens to break the spine of the labor movement.”
California: The Lost Report
April 1, 2025 // On December 3, 2020, almost a year after California’s freelance-busting law, Assembly Bill 5, went into effect, the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was created to study AB5’s civil rights implications. The committee’s officially designated term ended December 4, 2024. There were hours and hours of testimony, much of it recorded on video. But the committee never issued a report based on all this testimony its members heard. Members of the committee say they were told that if they issued individual statements in the absence of any committee report, they would be failing to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the rules of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien’s mission to chart a new political path
March 11, 2025 // The Teamsters president may not claim any vindication, but his approach is encouraging some copycats among his counterparts in other major unions. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and aggressively campaigned for Democrats up and down the ticket while labeling Trump an anti-union “scab,” has suddenly found a soft spot for the GOP and taken steps to engage with Republican senators.
Teamsters’ President O’Brien Shares ‘Inside Baseball’ Into NLRB and PRO Act Machinations in Washington “The PRO Act was going to be used as a political pawn.”
March 6, 2025 // When Williamson goes after Trump for “destroying” the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by firing Gwynne Wilcox, O’Brien explains the “inside baseball” being played inside Washington, explaining to Williamson how the “PRO Act was going to be used as a political pawn” (by Democrats). O’Brien then explains how the Teamsters are working with Democrats and Republicans to enact a “version” of the PRO Act and how his union avoids using the NLRB.
Scoop: Hawley leads bipartisan pro-labor push
March 4, 2025 // "Greedy corporations will stop at nothing to keep workers from getting a fair first contract," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement to Axios. "Teamsters are proud to support the Faster Labor Contracts Act—real labor law reform that forces employers to bargain in good faith and holds them accountable when they don't," O'Brien continued.
Cincinnati UPS Employee Slams Teamsters Local 100 With Federal Charges for Seizing Dues Illegally From Paycheck
February 19, 2025 // Union officials took money for union expenditures – including union politics – without informing worker of their rights
Sanders and Hawley’s Interest Rate Cap Would Ban Their Union Allies’ Credit Cards
February 10, 2025 // They should have checked with their union boss pals before taking such a position. Many major labor unions have deals with banks to offer branded credit cards as a member benefit. Some of them can charge interest rates in excess of the 25 percent rate Sanders finds extortionate, and nearly all of them charge higher than 10 percent. One of the most common credit card partnerships for unions is with Capital One, which offers a Union Plus Mastercard. It is marketed as “Built for Union Members. Backed by Union Members,” and accounts are limited to active or retired union members or their families.
While Sean O’Brien Attacks Credit Card Companies, Teamsters Make Millions from High-Interest Card
February 5, 2025 // O’Brien is likely fine with this apparent hypocrisy because the Teamsters get paid handsomely by Capital One to promote the card. Disclosure forms filed with the Department of Labor show that the Teamsters received from Capital One $1.28 million in 2023, $1.52 million in 2022, and $1.5 million in 2021.
Commentary: Who Is Big Labor, Anyway?
February 5, 2025 // If the Current American Plurality wants to hold together, it will need to find ways to support workers as a whole, not cheaply chase the union members that BLS and other data reveal to be unripe for recruitment by throwing more traditional members of the coalition under the bus. The Taft-Hartley Consensus approach to labor relations, which Republicans have advanced for 80 years, offers the opportunity for those workers who freely choose to organize unions to continue to do so while protecting the rights of workers who choose not to form unions or choose to work independently. It should not be cheaply abandoned in service to myths about whom the conservative movement is seeking to court.
Costco, Teamsters, reach ‘tentative agreement’ likely averting strike as company’s DEI controversy rages on
February 3, 2025 // The Teamsters are accusing the grocery club of not sharing its record 2024 profits – which doubled since 2019 - with its workers and have claimed Costco has engaged in "illegal and reckless behavior," including kicking union reps out of stores, preventing employees from wearing Teamster buttons and changing the locks on union bulletin boards. Talks broke down in January when Costco refused to reach a card check agreement. Card checks would make it easier for workers to join unions by eliminating secret ballots. About 85% of Costco's unionized employees voted to authorize a strike.