Biden Bailed out Teamsters’ Pension Fund. They Still Won’t Endorse Harris.

When Sean O’Brien, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, attended the Republican National Convention in July as the first union leader to speak at the event, he hinted at what was to come.
“The Teamsters are doing something correct if the extremes in both parties think I shouldn’t be on this stage,” he said.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the union announced it would not endorse any presidential candidate in the 2024 election, citing internal polls among its 1.3 million members showing they were divided on whom to support. Although the union, the largest in the U.S., did not explicitly back the Republican candidate, the former president viewed the lack of any endorsement as a victory.
“It’s a great honor,” he said. “They’re not going to endorse the Democrats. That’s a big deal.”
Polls conducted by the union found that roughly 60 percent of members favored Trump, while about 34 percent backed Vice President Kamala Harris. This marks a significant shift for a union that has historically supported Democratic candidates, including backing Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
The Teamsters’ decision reflected a labor union divided over political identity and policy, despite its members having directly benefited from the Biden administration. It was Biden who, soon after taking office, signed into law a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that included $86 billion for multiemployer pension plans. Tens of billions of those dollars went to a pension fund owned by about 350,000 members of the Teamsters union.
While in office, Biden also became the first sitting president to walk a picket line when he joined striking UAW autoworkers in Michigan a year ago in a show of support. He nominated labor-friendly lawyers to the National Labor Relations Board and appointed Harris to run a task force promoting union organizing and collective bargaining.
Trump, meanwhile, applauded the practice of firing employees who were threatening to strike in a recent interview with Elon Musk, which is a violation of federal labor law (the UAW has since filed a grievance over those remarks).
Following the expected Democratic backlash to the Teamsters’ nonendorsement, O’Brien told CNN on Thursday that while he acknowledged President Biden as “the most pro-union president” and was “truly appreciative” of his efforts, the union’s decision was meant to serve as “a wake-up call” for this campaign, specifically directed at the Democrats.
“I am a Democrat. But we need to hold them accountable. This is an opportunity as well for both parties to take a hard look, and for the Democrats to refocus and say something’s wrong. We’ve got to recapture American workers,” he said.
The timing of the Teamsters’ decision comes during what should have been an economic high point for the administration, and by extension, Harris’ campaign. The Federal Reserve just cut interest rates, economic growth remains strong, unemployment is still low, and inflation has eased considerably since its high.
Yet the question remains whether these gains will be felt by union workers by November, as Professor Todd Belt from George Washington University explained to Newsweek.
“Prices are still high, and many union members with contract work are seeing wages that haven’t kept up with the consumer price index. As a result, people are still feeling economic pain.”
For Belt, the challenge facing Harris is her difficulty in distancing herself from “Bidenomics,” a factor that could explain the growing disconnect between the leadership and rank-and-file members of unions like the Teamsters. Unlike Biden, Harris doesn’t have the same deep, personal relationship with labor, which could hurt her in states like Pennsylvania.
“While Trump couldn’t pull the endorsement away from Biden in 2020 because of his long-standing ties with the union, Harris faces a bigger challenge. She doesn’t have that history and will need to work harder to win over this group,” Belt said.
Marick Masters, business professor emeritus at Wayne State University in Detroit who follows labor issues, said the Teamsters’ lack of endorsement suggests a realignment within the union’s membership.
For many of those workers, issues such as gun control, abortion and border security override Trump’s expressions of hostility toward organized labor, Masters said.
Union members are usually viewed as a core Democratic voting bloc, but Trump has been working this election cycle to win over rank-and-file members. Belt said Trump’s messaging on immigration and trade is resonating with many working-class voters, pulling white working-class union members away from Democrats by casting them as elites out of touch with workers’ needs.
Still, for some experts, the decision is nakedly political. With O’Brien facing a backlash from some Teamsters members after speaking at the RNC—and with other labor leaders actively supporting Trump—it’s no surprise that the Teamsters decided not to make an endorsement, said Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University.
“If the leaders of the Teamsters decided to go against what their members wanted, they would lose their positions. Every leader depends on the legitimacy of the people they lead,” echoed Belt.
The Teamsters staying neutral in November could play a pivotal role in several swing states with significant union membership, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, where union votes could tip the balance. The lack of an endorsement leaves the door open for both candidates to continue courting rank-and-file members as November approaches.
While the union as a whole decided to withhold an endorsement, local chapters in some battleground states like Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin have already pledged their support for Harris. Meanwhile, factions like the Teamsters National Black Caucus broke with O’Brien earlier in the year, also voicing their support for the vice president.
Other unions have shown trepidation about endorsing either presidential candidate. The United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) on Friday ultimately endorsed Harris—but with a caveat sure to have raised eyebrows among Democratic leadership.
“The manner in which party leaders engineered Biden’s replacement at the top of the ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris was thoroughly undemocratic,” the UE leadership said in a statement.