WASHINGTON: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of America’s most influential labor unions has refused to issue a US presidential endorsement for the first time since 1996.
The union, which has some 1.3 million members across the US and Canada, said it would not endorse either Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump.
It said that polling among members found no definitive support for each candidate. The move gives a major dent to the Harris campaign’s efforts to secure working-class voters with less than 50 days before the election.
An endorsement could mobilize thousands of Teamsters who live, work and vote in the vital battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
After the announcement, Some Teamsters regional councils representing more than half a million members in California, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said they would be endorsing Harris.
“While Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice-President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career,” campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said.
General president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien has also sought to build ties with Republicans since he took over leadership of the executive board in 2022. O’Brien has also met privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January.
After that meeting, Trump said he believed he had a good chance of receiving the union’s endorsement. The board also held a meeting with President Joe Biden before he withdrew as the Democratic nominee, as well as third-party candidates Robert F Kennedy Jr and Cornel West.
The Teamsters National Black Caucus and six union locals last month defied national leadership by endorsing Harris on their own. On Monday, Harris met with the Teamsters board which lasted an hour and a half.
During their meeting, Harris told Teamsters leaders: “I’m confident I’m going to win this. I want your endorsement, but if I don’t get it, I will treat you exactly as if I had gotten your endorsement.”
The Biden administration also increased the Teamsters pension fund to $36bn, which it says prevented cuts to the retirement incomes of over 600,000 members.
