The International Teamsters union announced Wednesday that it will not formally endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, ending months of speculation over whether the union would back Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris.
The Executive Committee of the Union: Statement Polls of the party’s members have shown that Harris does not receive a majority of support, nor does she have the full backing of Trump.
“The Teamsters thank all the candidates for meeting face-to-face with our members during this unprecedented roundtable discussion. Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make a serious commitment to our union to always put workers’ interests above those of big corporations,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement.
“We asked both Trump and Harris for commitments to not interfere in important union causes and the Teamsters’ core industries, and to respect our members’ right to strike, but we did not get those commitments,” O’Brien said.
With 1.3 million members, the Teamsters are one of the largest labor unions in the country, and the decision marks a break from the union’s decades-long tradition of backing Democratic candidates, but it’s not entirely unexpected.
O’Brien signaled the union’s intention to support Trump in a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention in July.
“As America’s strongest, most democratic labor union, it was vitally important to our members to move forward with this recognition process. Democrats, Republicans and independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect them all,” O’Brien wrote.
“We urge all of our members to vote in the upcoming election and remain engaged in the political process, but this year no presidential candidate has received the endorsement of the Teamsters International union,” he wrote.
A national survey of Teamsters members conducted after the September 10 presidential debate showed they overwhelmingly supported Trump over Harris. 58% to 31%According to the results announced by the union ahead of formal recognition.
The latest results are a stark difference from surveys conducted when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee. Before Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, rank-and-file union members favored him over Trump, 44.3% to 36.3%.
The union said Wednesday that neither Harris nor Trump would promise not to intervene to enforce the contract as allowed by the Railroad Labor Act, saying in a statement that such intervention would weaken workers’ bargaining power.
The union said it praised Harris for pledging to sign the PRO Act, which would provide stronger protections for labor unions, and criticized Trump for not promising to veto the national “right to work” bill.
“‘Right to Work’ laws exist only to crush unions,” Teamsters Executive Director and Treasurer Fred Zuckerman said in a statement. “This is a red line for the Teamsters.”
The announcement came days after union members and leaders met with Harris, who said: Recommendation and from several other labor unions.
Labor leaders were also prominent at the Democratic National Convention in August, but the Teamsters and O’Brien were conspicuously absent. After O’Brien attended the Republican National Convention, a union spokesman confirmed to CNBC that O’Brien had not accepted an invitation to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
“The Teamsters have a lot of influence,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon while campaigning in New York City. “It was always an automatic thing that the Democrats were going to get the Teamsters, and they said they’re not going to endorse the Democrats this year. So it was an honor for me.”
“The Vice President’s strong union record is why Teamsters chapters across the country have already endorsed her, along with the overwhelming majority of union members,” Harris campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in response to the union’s decision.
If Harris is elected president, “she will look after the rank and file Teamsters no matter what, because they are what she has always fought for and always will be,” Hitt said.
