The Republican national convention, which runs until Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been the scene of a small union revolution. The presence of Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters (International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with a presence in the US and Canada), on the first day of the conference highlights the importance of the working-class vote in swing or undecided states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin itself. But his speech, which closed Monday’s session, not only made his hosts, who reserved prime time and the longest stretch of time for his speech, look ugly. It also made the Democrats nervous, who consider themselves to have a monopoly on union support. In a potential realignment of loyalties, O’Brien, who represents 1.3 million members, made it clear that his union will not support either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, to whom the rest of the major unions adhere, in November. The presidential elections are also taking place after a period of strikes and mass mobilisations unprecedented in decades.
If the forgotten workers of the rust belt (Rust Belt) from nine Midwestern and Eastern US states that contributed to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, before handing over to Joe Biden in 2020, the presence of the prominent union leader marked a milestone on Monday, especially since the content of his speech seemed more appropriate for a Democratic or union forum. O’Brien lashed out at big business and corporate lobbyists for “waging war on American workers.” His fiery speech was, to put it bluntly, unfriendly to the interests defended by many big donors to the Republican Party.
O’Brien went further, calling for bipartisan consensus on labor reform, a notable move at the political convention of a party that has traditionally opposed unions. This disdain came across as a clear rebuke to the party that had lent him a loudspeaker.
While the Teamsters have previously endorsed Republican presidential candidates — including Joe Biden in 2020 — never before had a union president spoken at one of their conventions. “It’s an honor to be the first Teamster in our 121-year history to address the Republican National Convention,” O’Brien said. “Labor law must be reformed. Americans vote for a union, but they never get a union contract,” he continued. “Companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind laws that purport to protect them but are manipulated to benefit corporations. This is economic terrorism at its finest — an individual cannot resist such an assault.”
“There are some in the party who are actively opposed to unions,” O’Brien stressed. “This must also change, and I want to be clear, to the [afiliados] Teamsters don’t care if you have a D [demócrata]a R [republicano] or an I[independiente] “Next to your name, we want to know just one thing: what are you doing to help American workers?”
O’Brien’s uncompromising intervention stands out even more as nearly every other major union, including the AFL-CIO, has officially endorsed Biden, who boasts of being the most pro-union president in U.S. history. O’Brien has faced harsh criticism within his organization for courting both parties — he donated $45,000 to the convention funds earlier this year. He has also requested a speaking slot at the Democratic national convention, but it is unclear whether he will be given a nod after his open flirtation with Republicans.
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The gap opened by the Teamsters on the union front, in a country where union membership is at historic lows — below 10% of the working population — seems difficult to close less than four months before the elections. But the fact that the union has not officially endorsed any of the candidates for the first time since 1996, more than a Republican disgrace, is a serious blow to Biden, who is in such need of the votes of that mass of workers. blue collar (workers) like his Republican rival.
O’Brien’s intervention came on the day dedicated to presenting the Republican economic program, which, like the rest of the issues that will be debated at the convention (immigration, this Tuesday; security, etc.), mixes truths, half-truths and falsehoods. Republicans blame Joe Biden for inflation, but prefer to ignore the strength of the labor market and the buoyant and sustained growth of the economy as it recovered from the pandemic and the supply problems that followed. The argument is a key message for voters who may have doubts about Trump’s ethics, but still trust his economic judgment and, above all, his performance during his presidency (2017-2021), in a radically different context than the current one.
The vaguely worded economic program’s goal, with points like “ending inflation and making America affordable again” and nothing more, is also intended to serve as a rallying point for voters of all persuasions, avowed Republicans but also independents and undecideds, who share the frustration at the previous highs, barely contained by the fall of the CPI to 3% last month. However, despite the concern about the economy, and the widespread popular feeling that the situation has not improved as the indicators suggest, O’Brien’s speech did not receive the biggest applause of the night, but rather the speeches attacking trans rights. Despite Trump’s call for moderation, the culture wars show no sign of abating.
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