Posts tagged Teamsters
Op-ed: To High Praise and Hallelujahs, Trump Nominates Keith Sonderling for Secretary of Labor
June 30, 2026 // As Acting Secretary, Sonderling has strongly advocated for Trump's pro-business and pro-worker agenda, touting the manufacturing jobs that have been returned to the U.S., and has worked tirelessly to beef up and expand apprenticeships through the U.S. Department of Labor for small businesses and private-sector concerns. Under Biden's DOL, apprenticeships were issued through the major labor unions like the AFL-CIO and SEIU, effectively cutting out any private sector opportunities. Sonderling has also long been a champion for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to be able to use group annuities to protect pension benefits through pension risk transfers, and to allow employers to incorporate retirement plan options like cryptocurrency assets and private credit funds. But most pivotal, Sonderling is working hand-in-hand with the Fraud Task Force to eradicate the rampant unemployment insurance fraud.
Bert Nash employees vote to unionize with Teamsters Local 696
June 30, 2026 // Bert Nash workers had previously unionized under IBEW Local 304 with an overwhelming majority vote in 2024. After more than 100 hours of negotiations, the IBEW on May 22 filed a disclaimer of interest withdrawing their representation of Bert Nash workers, Watkins said last week.
Trump Gives Teamsters a Chance to Shed Oversight Meant to Curb Mob Ties
June 25, 2026 // Sean M. O’Brien, re-elected to a second term leading the union, has used a relationship with President Trump to end court-ordered corruption monitoring.
Exclusive: Republican blasts AI, endorses union agenda at Teamsters convention
June 23, 2026 // A Republican featured as a speaker at a Teamsters event serves as a stark illustration of how the political lines are blurring for Big Labor, once a dependable political ally for the left.
Sean O’Brien Re-elected Teamsters President
June 19, 2026 // O’Brien has also leaned on a weekly podcast, "Better Bad Ideas," to speak directly to members and shape the union’s message, according to Apple Podcasts. Episodes this year have mixed labor organizing talk with guests from across the political spectrum, giving the union chief an unfiltered venue to push priorities such as the Faster Labor Contracts Act and to outline strategy ahead of major contract battles.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley rips AI “cheerleaders,” backs Teamsters union agenda
June 18, 2026 // Hawley told the Teamsters that "mega corporations" have "lost their moral compass" and that he supports the labor movement because unionized workers deserve fair wages and "decent working conditions," according to a copy of his speech obtained by Axios. Hawley: Argued that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to "speed up first contracts for new unions" and said his Christian faith backs up his belief in unions. Endorsed the Teamsters' position that Congress should pass legislation barring self-driving trucks from replacing commercial drivers. Ripped Amazon as "the biggest monopolist in the country," saying it's treating workers as "indentured servants." Slammed "AI cheerleaders" as corporate goons who "want to replace every job they can with an algorithm" and said "we need to give workers rights over AI in the workplace."
US moves to end Teamsters union oversight
June 18, 2026 // “After 37 years, this filing marks an end to the longest monitorship of any union, corporation, nonprofit, or public entity in the history of the United States,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who won a reelection bid to lead the union on Tuesday, said in a statement. “Over the past four years, we have developed a system of internal controls and created a culture of vigilance in our union. Our efforts have proven that we can police our own, and the controls we have put in place are more stringent than any labor organization in the country,” he added. The union established a review board to address reports of corruption and has amended its election process to ensure it is “fair, democratic” and “member-driven.”
The Beverage Market provides update about ongoing talks with striking workers, Teamsters Local 175 union
June 16, 2026 // Beer distribution company The Beverage Market said it wants to continue negotiations “in good faith” with striking workers involved in the current dispute between the company and the Teamsters Local 175 union. The current contract between the company and the union expired in early May. 49 workers at The Beverage Market began their strike May 12, and have been on the picket line ever since. Union members have said the company is asking for “unfair concessionary proposals” related to wages, insurance, and retirement.
Gavin Newsom’s race to block a billionaire tax
June 13, 2026 // The growing coalition is tightening pressure on SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan, whose wealth-tax crusade has roiled California politics for months, to pull the measure. The message to Regan is blunt: Back down now, or risk going into a costly ballot fight increasingly alone. “Dave Regan is seeing very plainly what he’ll be up against if he goes through with this,” said a consultant working to defeat the measure who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive dynamics. The union downplayed the mounting pushback, arguing it was not representative of the groups’ members.
Faster Labor Contracts Act passes House after GOP rebels join Democrats
June 10, 2026 // The bill, though, exposed a trend of more populist Republicans bucking House leadership and free-market conservative groups that had been traditional allies of the GOP. Steven Bernstein, co-chair of the Fisher Phillips law firm’s labor relations practice group, said in a statement ahead of the vote that the legislation if enacted would “lead to a sea change in the country’s well-established labor dynamic by taking away the rights of employers and unions to decide for themselves what goes into their initial collective bargaining agreements.”