Teamsters union declines to endorse in presidential election, breaking decades of precedent

www.nbcnews.com

politics @lemmy.world

return2ozma @lemmy.world

10mo ago

Teamsters union declines to endorse in presidential election, breaking decades of precedent

www.nbcnews.com /politics/2024-election/teamsters-union-declines-endorse-presidential-election-breaking-decade-rcna171711

11 comments

Ok for real though, was this a union leadership call, or was it a vote? Because I’d be a bit shocked if this was achieved by a vote. And if it was a leadership call, I’d expect new leadership shortly.
Edit:
On Wednesday, the union released the results of their survey, which was conducted after Biden dropped out of the race. It found that almost 60% of rank-and-file union members preferred to endorse Trump, while 34% backed Harris.
Jesus christ. The aggregate idiocy is shocking.
- This is what we get from unions purged of socialists: workers lacking class consciousness.
Finally a major union shows some backbone to the party that’s taken them for granted for a generation.
"Neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement.
He added, "We sought commitments from both [former president Donald] Trump and [Vice President Kamala] Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries—and to honor our members’ right to strike—but were unable to secure those pledges."
The union, which at 1.3 million members is one of the largest in the world, collected input on an endorsement from its members through straw polling and a QR poll from a code printed on a union magazine, a vice president at large of the union, John Palmer, said.
The Teamsters have for decades endorsed Democratic presidential candidates. The union supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. They also backed Barack Obama in both of his presidential runs, John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
Clearly we need better worker protections because 60% of that crowd has dain bramage.
- Take an upvote, not just dain but also brain damage!!
  
  Omg I just realized your dislexia has inception levels. Just a quick FYI brain damage isn’t a cuz word…you can just like say that without being cryptic
If your union leaders haven't figured out by now that Trump is bad for unions, then they are either idiots, or they are working for someone else (not YOU). Either way, you need new leadership.
- This isn't a union leader problem. On the contrary, quite a few unions are close to 50% conservative voters. The leaders recognize this and are representing their membership by not endorsing either candidate. Not a good thing in my opinion but a fact right now. The trades are often filled with folks who don't pay the most attention to politics even if it should matter to them. They hear tax cut and that motivates more than anything.
- Reminder that the Teamsters president spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.
- They figured out Harris is bad for Unions too.
The 1st anti-union union. So do they know they are actively committing suicide to their union and eventually others? Why trust a shady, liar, rapist, racist billionaire businessman/conman to be president, who WILL kill the NLRB immediately? Conservatives need to opt out of the union. They don't believe in it and they think they're unconstitutional. So why don't they "stand for what they believe in" and opt-out?
And for those telling me "its stronger/better with more people", it's more like there's turds in a punchbowl spoiling the whole product. If they don't like it they can and should leave it to preserve it for those that actually want to be represented.

11 comments