The union chief made a historic look, saying he was there to talk for the employees and warn of company energy.
Sean O’Brien, the president of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, capped off the primary night time of the Republican Nationwide Conference (RNC) in Milwaukee, warning of the specter of company energy and talking for American employees, “each union and non-union.”
“I refuse to maintain doing the identical factor my predecessors did,” he mentioned, including that he and his union “should not beholden to anybody or any get together.”
“I don’t care about being criticized,” Mr. O’Brien mentioned.
The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union initially created for freight drivers within the late nineteenth century that at the moment represents everybody from building employees to law enforcement officials.
The labor chief famous that his groundbreaking look, the primary of a Teamsters president at any RNC, has been met with hostility from some quarters.
“Anti-union teams demanded the president rescind his invitation. The left known as me a traitor,” he mentioned.
Mr. O’Brien didn’t go so far as to endorse former President Donald Trump, who’s now the GOP 2024 presidential nominee. And whereas his speech was usually met with sturdy cheers, significantly when he praised the previous president’s toughness after an assassination try, it was additionally marred by some remoted heckling.
But the looks marks a victory for at the least some Republicans within the get together of former President Trump, who has gained floor with working-class voters, at the same time as many union leaders stay cautious of the forty fifth president.
The union chief earlier appeared on Fox Information, the place he praised Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), former President Trump’s newly introduced 2024 working mate. He described the native Ohioan as “nice on Teamster points.”
However different labor leaders have condemned Mr. O’Brien’s selection to look on the occasion, amongst them Teamsters Vice President John Palmer.
Mr. Palmer condemned the introduced speech in a July 10 op-ed, describing former President Trump and the Republican Get together as extraordinarily against unions.
Reuters has completely reported that the Teamsters might not problem a presidential endorsement this yr after backing President Joe Biden in 2020. The Epoch Instances has contacted the union for remark.
The AFL-CIO, the USA’ largest union federation, endorsed President Biden on July 10, simply days forward of the Republicans’ conference.
Though the Republican platform, guided by former President Trump, doesn’t point out unions, it argues for the Republican Get together as a car for “Trade, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Employees.”
Language within the 2016 platform on right-to-work legal guidelines and financial liberty doesn’t seem within the 2024 doc.
It additionally takes a neo-Hamiltonian method to the economic system, advocating stiffer tariffs, significantly, although not completely, in response to China, and insurance policies meant to spur manufacturing development in America.
The July 15 program included quite a lot of speeches meant to underscore the Trump-as-pro-worker theme.
In a single speech, Steamfitters Native member Robert “Bobby” Bartels advised the gang that “this union Democrat will likely be voting Trump.”
