Kamala Harris struggles to preserve Joe Biden’s political capital with labor unions – Technologist

It’s a slap in the face for the US Democratic party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT, or Teamsters) labor union has decided not to give her their support for the November presidential election. This is a first for an organization that, since 2000, has systematically called for its members to vote for Democratic candidates. The union is widely known for its legendary president, Jimmy Hoffa, who was linked to the Mafia and who mysteriously disappeared in 1975 – he was, undoubtedly, assassinated. Above all, the union, with its 1.3 million members, will have a major influence on the election.

“Unfortunately, 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,” said its president, Sean O’Brien, on Wednesday, September 18. O’Brien was particularly upset with President Joe Biden’s administration, as well as Congress, for forcing through the signature of an agreement to prevent a rail strike at the end of 2022, which had threatened to paralyze the country.

The union leader had been ceremoniously invited to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July, at which he thanked the former president and Republican Party presidential candidate, Donald Trump. He later snubbed the Democratic convention in Chicago, Illinois, which ran from August 19 to 22. A meeting with Harris on Monday, September 16, had failed to save the day, whereas Trump triumphed. Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote: “While the Teamsters Executive Board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear – they want President Trump back in the White House!” A poll released by the Teamsters, the methodology of which was left unexplained, alleged that 59% of its members supported Trump and 34% Harris. To temper this disappointment, that evening Harris drew up a list of public supporters and Black Teamsters, the Black Caucus, attesting to divisions within the union.

Trump might have landed an endorsement from O’Brien had he not made violently anti-union remarks in his mid-August talk with Elon Musk, praising the billionaire’s massive layoffs at X, without mentioning the company by name:  “I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in, you say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike, I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say: ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone. You’re all gone,'” said Trump. The Teamsters leader was indignant: “Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism.”

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