By Nathan Worcester
Contributing Writer
Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, capped off the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, warning of the threat of corporate power and speaking for American workers, “both union and non-union.”
“I refuse to keep doing the same thing my predecessors did,” he said, adding that he and his union “are not beholden to anyone or any party.”
“I don’t care about being criticized,” O’Brien said.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union originally created for freight drivers in the late 19th century that today represents everyone from construction workers to police officers.
The labor leader noted that his groundbreaking appearance, the first of a Teamsters president at any RNC, has been met with hostility from some quarters.
“Anti-union groups demanded the president rescind his invitation. The left called me a traitor,” he said.
O’Brien didn’t go as far as to endorse former President Donald Trump, who is now the GOP 2024 presidential nominee. And while his speech was generally met with strong cheers, particularly when he praised the former president’s toughness after an assassination attempt, it was also marred by some isolated heckling.
Yet the appearance marks a victory for at least some Republicans in the party of Trump, who has gained ground with working-class voters, even as many union leaders remain wary of the 45th president.
The union leader earlier appeared on Fox News, where he praised Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s newly announced 2024 running mate. He described the native Ohioan as “great on Teamster issues.”
O’Brien cited the 39-year-old lawmaker’s work against outsourcing, as well as his condemnation of Amazon’s treatment of independent contractors. Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, both known as economic populists, joined numerous Democrats in signing a letter earlier this year questioning the company’s labor practices.
But other labor leaders have condemned O’Brien’s choice to appear at the event, among them Teamsters Vice President John Palmer.
Palmer condemned the announced speech in a July 10 op-ed, describing Trump and the Republican Party as extremely opposed to unions.
Reuters has exclusively reported that the Teamsters may not issue a presidential endorsement this year after backing President Joe Biden in 2020.
The AFL-CIO, the United States’ largest union federation, endorsed Biden on July 10, just days ahead of the Republicans’ convention.
“The labor movement understands, as Joe Biden does, that solidarity is how we win,” a statement from the AFL-CIO read.
Although the Republican platform, guided by Trump, doesn’t mention unions, it argues for the Republican Party as a vehicle for “Industry, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Workers.”
Language in the 2016 platform on right-to-work laws and economic liberty does not appear in the 2024 document.
It also takes a neo-Hamiltonian approach to the economy, advocating stiffer tariffs, particularly, though not exclusively, in response to China, and policies intended to spur manufacturing growth in America.
The Monday program included more than a few speeches intended to underscore the Trump-as-pro-worker theme.
In one speech, Steamfitters Local member Robert “Bobby” Bartels told the crowd that “this union Democrat will be voting Trump.”
