Posts tagged Sean O’Brien
In swing states that once went for Trump, unions organize to prevent a repeat
October 1, 2024 // This year, UNITE HERE says it is once again mobilizing its members and plans to knock on more than 3 million doors in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan “to ensure that Kamala Harris wins the presidency.” In Wisconsin, the Laborers are building political messaging into a union project to engage members more closely, “connecting union members with other union members,” Miller said, to explain how negotiations affect wages and health and retirement benefits, as well as the importance of increasing union representation.
Commentary: For Once, Trump Can Legitimately Argue an Elite Cabal Cheated Him of a Real Win
September 23, 2024 // Keep in mind, the Trump campaign already gave the union an unprecedented gift: Teamsters president Sean O’Brien gave the closing address on the first night of the Republican National Convention, serving up a 17-minute speech that spent a lot of time bragging about how effective the Teamsters are, denounced corporations for “economic terrorism,” and praised Missouri senator Josh Hawley for changing his position to oppose national “right to work” legislation. (Dominic Pino reminds us what the Teamsters Union actually is.) My Three Martini Lunch podcast co-host Greg Corombos and I spent the first segment on Tuesday discussing the rumors that the Teamsters were going to betray Trump and endorse Harris. Trump dodged the worst-case scenario, but . . . based on that poll, he earned the Teamsters endorsement, and the leadership of the union wouldn’t give it to him. A non-endorsement is a tie that really should have been a Trump win.
Teamsters turn their back on Kamala Harris
September 22, 2024 // For the first time in decades, the American union has not endorsed the Democrats.
The real impact of the Teamsters’ non-endorsement
September 20, 2024 // “Union endorsements are valuable because they usually come with access to resources, particularly volunteers to knock on doors and work phone banks,” Squire said. “Leadership may be able to persuade some members to vote the way they would like, but the real value is in campaign assistance.” Besides the setback of having fewer volunteers, there’s also some possibility that the non-endorsement could sway non-union voters sympathetic to labor issues.
Teamsters without endorsement as members back Trump over Harris
September 19, 2024 // Rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters back former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to a new poll, though the union says it will not back a candidate this election cycle. The Teamsters union, which represents truckers and UPS drivers, released internal polling of its membership Wednesday, finding that 58% of members support Trump compared to 31% who back Harris.
Commentary: The Rise of “Pro-Labor” Conservatism
September 9, 2024 // Yet O’Brien’s move has attracted the attention of commentators from both sides of the political spectrum who see it as a bellwether. It is what conservative commentator Sohrab Ahmari has called a “brave gambit” and veteran labor reporter Steven Greenhouse dubbed a “huge gamble.” “A glacier of hostility has divided the GOP from organized labor for two generations,” Ahmari wrote in Compact. But the Teamsters president “took a pickaxe to that glacier” by speaking at the RNC. Ahmari attributes the rise of this strain of pro-labor, anti-union conservatism to Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), a MAGA firebrand who has come out as perhaps the lone GOP senator to oppose right to work legislation, the anti-union laws on the books in 28 states.
Teamsters president said address to GOP convention was to highlight workers, not to endorse Republicans
September 3, 2024 // When asked on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” if he spoke at the convention because he feels former President Trump has been more pro-labor than any other GOP candidates, O’Brien said, “No, not at all.” “I spoke there because it was the ability to highlight how important we are. It was the ability to call out the people, the corporate elitist who forget who built this country, the American workers,” O’Brien continued. “You know, people like to, you know, have their own opinions on why we were there, but I was there to talk about the American workers.”
Union members aren’t just voting on labor this year
August 27, 2024 // She believes Harris can deliver for her and fellow union members, calling the Democratic nominee a “breath of fresh air” for whom she’s canvassing alongside UNITE HERE colleagues. Gangwer, meanwhile, said he has struggled to grapple with recent inflation. He pushed off “must-do’s” on his home, like a partial roof replacement, because it’s too expensive. His co-workers have become more willing to vote for Republicans in recent years, he said, citing the party’s commitments to cut taxes and an emphasis on law and order.
US labor regulator says Amazon is a joint employer of subcontracted delivery drivers in California
August 27, 2024 // Prosecutors at a federal labor agency have determined that Amazon is a joint employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered packages for the company in California, pushing back on claims from the online retailer that they are not its employees. The decision, made by a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles, came after the agency investigated unfair labor practice charges filed against the company by the Teamsters union.
Presidents from 6 labor unions throw support behind Kamala Harris at DNC: Watch speech
August 23, 2024 // "We are going to build a younger, darker, hipper, fresher, sneaker wearing labor movement," Verrett said. "A movement that is going to be more inclusive and built for the middle class. And we are going to end poverty-wage work once and for all”