The Teamsters are one of the most powerful unions in America, and for decades they’ve endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominees for president. They have yet to endorse a candidate for 2024, but recently they’ve raised some eyebrows by getting cozy with former President Donald Trump.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien met with Trump twice in January, including a private visit to Mar-a-Lago, after which the union posted a photo of the pair. Then news came out that the Teamsters donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee’s convention fund — the maximum amount allowed from the union’s political action committee. It appears to be the most significant contribution that the Teamsters have made to the RNC in two decades.
What’s going on?
Organized labor experts say that O’Brien appears to be strategically positioning himself, both for internal political reasons and because he could be trying to put a good word in with Trump in case he wins the election. That maneuvering raises two concerning questions. One, is a major union playing footsie with Trump because it views President Joe Biden as particularly weak in this election cycle? Second, could this process result in the union effectively nudging some on-the-fence union members and their communities to think of Trump as anything but the foe of labor he really is?
O’Brien rubbing elbows with Trump as a tactical maneuver could be costly.
The Teamsters are a massive, politically diverse union, with 1.3 million members, including UPS drivers and many other kinds of transportation workers. Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at UC Santa Barbara, estimates that around 40%-45% of its membership leans Republican. Though the Teamsters have, like other labor unions, largely backed Democrats during their history, they were one of the few unions to back Ronald Reagan, and the only major labor outfit to support George H.W. Bush in his 1988 campaign. This political spread is partially why it makes…
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