The State Of Workers’ Rights Is Disputed At The Republican National Convention – CleanTechnica

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Thousands of delegates and alternates from the 56 US states and territories traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the July 15-18 Republican Convention to choose their party’s nominee for President. Of the over 80 speakers who took the podium to support the Trump party nomination, one made a real ripple: Sean O’Brien, Teamsters President.

With 1.3 million members, the Teamsters is one of the largest labor unions in the US. O’Brien’s Republican National Convention appearance sparked criticism from members of his own union, members of other labor unions, and many Democrats.

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O’Brien’s speech was called “fiery yet centrist” and “a betrayal of the administration’s support for many of the Teamsters’ top priorities.” Many labor leaders and members claimed that O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National convention contradicted the actual base of the Republicans, who represents an anti-union, big business platform.

What did O’Brien say to Republicans about US labor? “I want to be clear at the end of the day: The Teamsters are not interested in whether you have a D, R, or an I next to your name,” he explained. “We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?”

O’Brien used his stump to advocate for labor law and corporate welfare reform. He decried Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Walmart for the lack of benefits offered to their employees. He said the corporations don’t take responsibility for their workers. “Never forget, American workers own this nation,” he reminded listeners.

Democratic Congressional concern: Democrats on Capitol Hill rebelled at O’Brien’s appearance at the Republican National Convention, describing how, for example, the Teamsters have received financial and communication support from Democrats to launch campaigns against Amazon’s labor practices. “The Democratic Party is pro-labor union and pro-worker,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), the son of a Teamster, responding to O’Brien’s address. “Every single Democrat in Congress voted to save the pensions of hundreds of thousands of Teamsters workers. And every Republican voted against it.”

White House reaction to O’Brien’s sentiments: White House aides were particularly furious over O’Brien’s appearance, which they viewed as a betrayal of the administration’s support for many of the Teamsters’ top priorities, according to reports from the Washington Post. The pissed-off tenor at the White House was a reminder how the Biden-Harris administration secured a pension bailout that restored retirement accounts for about 350,000 Teamsters members with the American Rescue Plan, appointed staunchly pro-labor allies to the National Labor Relations Board, and instituted labor requirements for federal contracts.

How, White House aides asked, could the Teamsters fail to endorse the most pro-labor president in history?“

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson reminded the usually pro-Democratic labor base that the Biden-Harris administration has “fought for higher wages, better working conditions, and has already protected more than 1 million union pensions while in office — including for more than half a million Teamsters.”

After the speech O’Brien conceded in a CNN interview that “Joe Biden is the most pro-union President we’ve ever had.”

Teamsters’ members respond in disgust: The Teamsters’ social media account attacked its own president on Wednesday, saying “unions gain nothing from endorsing the racist, misogynistic, and anti-trans politics of the far right,” two days after O’Brien addressed the Republican National convention.

John Palmer, a Teamsters executive board member and vice president at large, said Tuesday that he was “embarrassed” by O’Brien’s convention speech. “Without Joe Biden, myself and many other Teamsters would lose our pensions. So this is really disrespectful,” Palmer apologized.

Other labor unions reject O’Brien’s counter-narrative: Illuminating the high stakes of the 2024 presidential election for the nation’s labor movement, many pro-labor advocates fears Trump will undo Biden-Harris worker policies.

“It’s disappointing to see a national labor leader speak like that at the GOP convention,” said Matthew Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which has 90,000 members. “Make no mistake about it, their intent is to crush federal unions and have mass firings of federal employees and turn the government into an at-will employer where people are hired and fired based on their political leanings.”

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) released a statement condemning Republicans’ labor practices, zeroing in on Trump’s announcement of JD Vance as vice presidential candidate. Saying that “Senator Vance’s loyalties lie with the Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley billionaires who have bankrolled his political career,” the Republicans seek to protect the wealthy and corporations “while enacting their insidious Project 2025 agenda. There’s a stark contrast between Biden-Harris, who have backed workers and taken action to lower prices and raise wages, and Trump-Vance, who side with price-gouging, union-busting corporations.”

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler also criticized Vance, who Shuler said “likes to play union supporter on the picket line, but his record proves that to be a sham. He has introduced legislation to allow bosses to bypass their workers’ unions with phony corporate-run unions, disparaged striking UAW members while collecting hefty donations from one of the major auto companies, and opposed the landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would end union-busting “right to work” laws and make it easier for workers to form unions and win strong contracts.”

Progressive group demands that Teamsters endorse Democrats: After Republicans spent decades undermining workers and unions, Democrats during the Biden-Harris administration have had the strongest pro-union record in generations. As a result, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee argues that Trump’s Project 2025 agenda would ban some unions and strip rights from others. They calculate that 50,000 civil servants could be fired and replaced by “political Trump lackeys;” the Committee calls this “a hostile takeover of the government.”

The Committee rejects the notion that the Teamsters should stay neutral in 2024 “if Donald Trump and Republicans won’t publicly match the Democratic Party’s strong pro-worker agenda.” They are asking Teamsters’ members to sign a petition to Teamsters President Sean O’Brien that states there will be “no neutrality when Democrats are the clear pro-worker party.”

Who is O’Brien, anyway? Hailing from Charlestown, MA, O’Brien is the union’s youngest president in its 128-year history. He is a fourth-generation member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and joined Local 25 at age 18 as a heavy-equipment driver. He promised stronger contracts at UPS and an aggressive approach toward organizing the vast landscape of nonunion Amazon warehouses that now dominate the logistics space.

O’Brien has requested to speak at the Democratic convention but has yet to receive an invitation.