Union members protested "right to work" in Wisconsin in 2015. MAGA Republicans have spread these anti-union laws across the Midwest. Photo: Glenn Schmidt
I worked hard to elect Sean O’Brien. He is the right president for the Teamsters union. Donald Trump is the wrong president for my country—and I will work like hell to defeat him.
Labor Notes has chronicled our union’s new militancy, including the UPS contract campaign, aggressive strike action, organizing at Amazon, and more.
A Trump victory imperils all of it.
In 2020, I was on the verge of losing my pension. Every single Republican Senator opposed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act. The election of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff with strong Teamster support saved my pension and the retirement of over 400,000 Teamsters across the Midwest and South.
MAGA Republicans have spread “right to work” like a cancer across the Midwest, backed NAFTA and job-killing so-called “free trade” deals, and gutted workers rights.
In my home state of Wisconsin, MAGA Republicans have made it illegal for elected local leaders to raise the minimum wage or to have project labor agreements that ensure that construction projects paid for with our tax dollars are done by union workers making living wages.
Organizing Amazon? Trump appointed union-busting attorneys to destroy the National Labor Relations Board and fought the joint employer rule that is giving workers the right to strike and picket Amazon for the first time.
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Trump’s demonization of immigrants isn’t just immoral; it also makes it more likely that immigrant workers will accept sweatshop conditions and less likely that they’ll organize. The result is a race to the bottom that hurts everyone.
The MAGA movement’s attacks on abortion rights, trans people, African Americans, and truth itself fuels division and weakens solidarity, the lifeblood of the labor movement and of any decent society. The labor movement must be against anything employers can use to divide workers and pit one group against another.
Sean O’Brien has been accused of helping Trump and MAGA politicians cover up this record and rebrand themselves as the party of the working class.
The sad reality is that many Teamsters and other union members already buy Trump’s populist persona and rhetoric. It’s our job to engage with them.
O’Brien’s speech in prime time reached millions of workers tuned into the Republican National Convention. As he railed on against the Chamber of Commerce, corporate terrorism, Amazon, and right-to-work laws, the normally raucous Republican convention crowd got awfully quiet. Their silence spoke volumes.
The RNC is over. The fight to defeat Trump is just beginning.
Dan Campbell has been a Teamster since 1972. He worked as a UPS driver and union representative for several locals and is a member of the Steering Committee of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). TDU is a non-partisan grassroots movement.
Unfortunately the teamsters have a lot of low information members that take OBriens being at the RNC convention as an endorsement of trump.
Whatever his motives were he helped trumps chances of being elected..
Joe Biden and the dems saved our pensions when every republican in the country including trump was hoping it would go bankrupt.
OBriens move was a big slap in the face to the democratic party.
Thanks for this very necessary viewpoint. Though I'm sure most Labor Notes readers, as well as thousands of the Teamster rank & file, know Trump's record and that of the Republicans. Certainly Sean O'Brien does. So what was gained by making this speech? An audience at the RNC that as you stated, was civil at best in their reaction or applause? The millions watching the broadcast? Teamsters and other working class Americans who may be "undecided" on the election? For all of these possible audiences, it seems to me that making this speech lends Trump and the Republicans far more credibility - than whatever O'Brien thought his message would convey. You say our task is to now defeat Trump. I strongly agree. But does O'Brien's speech help or hinder that effort? And what does it do, more importantly, for reviving a labor movement worthy of that name? We need leaders who understand that we're in a class war and who develop the perspectives, strategies and tactics for waging such a war. Trump and the Right have their plan, we need ours! I'm heartened that Sean O'Brien and the IBT are devoting very necessary resources and focus to eventually organize Amazon. I'm glad he mentioned Amazon in his speech, right to work, and other attacks on workers. But did O'Brien or the union conceive of this speech beyond his "historical moment"? I hope the IBT issued posts and press releases following the speech promoting Amazon organizing and other union efforts. I hope they use this "exposure" to encourage thousands to contact the union about organizing their workplaces. But given the references to Josh Hawley, JD Vance, Mike Lawler, and kudos for Trump, I think they had another focus. At best It's a salvo to gain access or engagement with a future Trump administration and a Republican congress, not just in 2024 but down the road as well. Kissing up to these forces is not what we need. As you say, what we need is to defeat Trump - and the Right. But it looks like O'Brien doesn't even understand that simple step. And he's made it a hell of a lot harder for the rest of us.
