SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Neither former President Donald Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris will have the support of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters going into the presidential election this November.
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“After reviewing six months of nationwide member polling and wrapping up nearly a year of rank-and-file roundtable interviews with all major candidates for the presidency, the union was left with few commitments on top Teamsters issues from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris – and found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee,” said a Wednesday press release from the labor union.
Founded in 1903 to represent workers who drove teams of draft animals, the IBT now represents around 1.3 million blue- and white-collar workers from a variety of fields. According to NPR, its decision not to endorse a candidate for president breaks with decades of precedent and sets them apart from other unions.
For example, the United Auto Workers union endorsed Harris, as well as the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Trump got an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police.
So, why aren’t the Teamsters backing a candidate?
Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race this summer, Teamsters voting in straw polls voted in support of the president, said the union. Then, in independent electronic and phone polling from July through September a majority of voting members twice selected Trump for a possible Teamsters endorsement over Harris.
“The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump,” said the IBT press release.
In another Wednesday press release, the IBT revealed six months of membership polling data on the union’s possible endorsement for the next U.S. president that showed Biden edged out both Trump and Harris. Nearly 300 Teamsters local unions nationwide conducted first-of-their-kind Presidential town halls before the president dropped out of the race.
“The Teamsters’ polling data shows members backed Biden 44.3% Trump’s 36.3%,” said the release.
Following Biden’s exit results of an electronic poll open from July 24 to Sept. 15 showed that rank-and-file Teamsters voted 59.6% for the union to endorse Trump, compared to 34% for Harris. Another final survey conducted by Lake Research Partners that ended Sept. 15 found that Teamsters selected Trump by 58% for endorsement over 31% for Harris.
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said that both candidates met with members face-to-face during “unprecedented roundtables,” and thanked both. However, he said neither candidate “was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”
Specifically, O’Brien said the Teamsters sought commitments from Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries, as well as a commitment to honor members’ right to strike.
He said they were unable to secure those pledges.
Union members in the railroad and airline industries who work under the Railway Labor Act (RLA) are at the mercy of government intervention that often prevents work stoppages, IBT explained. In 2022, tens of thousands of railroad Teamsters were “forced to accept a new contract implemented by Congress without member support,” the union said, adding that neither Trump nor Harris promised not to intervene and force similar contracts.
“While Harris pledged, if elected, to sign the PRO Act, an essential piece of labor legislation strengthening union protections, and criticized dangerous ‘right to work’ laws that are enacted to bankrupt unions, Trump would not commit to veto national ‘right to work’ legislation if he returned to the White House,” said the union.
“Our mission as union representatives is clear: to be honest and upfront, to be inclusive and, above all, to be transparent with our membership. As the strongest and most democratic labor union in America, it was vital for our members to drive this endorsement process,” said O’Brien. “Democrats, Republicans, and Independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect every one of them. We strongly encourage all our members to vote in the upcoming election, and to remain engaged in the political process. But this year, no candidate for President has earned the endorsement of the Teamsters’ International Union.”
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