Union leader's provocative RNC speech draws ire from some in organized labor

Teamster President Sean O'Brien's speech at the Republican National Convention has drawn backlash from both the union and its critics, who view his move as "two-faced."

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has kicked up controversy by breaking with tradition and speaking at the Republican National Convention, while his organization indicates it will endorse no presidential candidate during this campaign season.

"No final decision has been made," Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the Teamsters told Reuters, adding that any reports to the contrary are purely speculative. 

The Teamsters in the past few decades have consistently endorsed Democrats, starting with former President Clinton in 1992 and remaining staunchly blue through the years and up till the 2020 election. The move to remain neutral underscores the trouble President Biden has faced following his poor debate performance.

The organization did refrain from endorsing either candidate in the 1996 election, but the Biden campaign had reportedly viewed a Teamster endorsement as virtually assured. Last week, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain met with his union’s executive board to address fears that Biden might fail to beat former President Trump. 

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O’Brien’s keynote speech, while not an explicit endorsement, showed strong and surprising support from the otherwise left-leaning organization, but he highlighted the support Teamsters used to provide the GOP. 

"Now, when I won the presidency of the Teamsters in a national election two and a half years ago, we started reaching across the aisle," O’Brien said during his speech at the convention on Monday night. "In the past, the Teamsters have endorsed GOP candidates, including Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush."

"But over the last 40 years, the Republican Party has really pursued strong relationships with organized labor," O’Brien said. "There are some in the party who stand in active opposition to labor unions. This, too, must change."

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Despite these strong claims, O’Brien is the first Teamster in the organization’s 121-year history to speak at the RNC, something he noted when he insisted that "Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party."

O’Brien made headlines on Tuesday for labeling Trump "one tough SOB" for surviving the assassination attempt on his life over the weekend, and he unloaded on big business in what some have called one of the strongest speeches denouncing corporations in recent memory. 

"We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the business roundtables what they are: They are unions for big business," O’Brien said during his speech. 

"And here's another fact against a gigantic multinational corporation: an individual worker has zero power," he continued. "It's only when Americans band together and democratic unions that we win rail improvements on wages, benefits and working conditions … Remember, elites have no party. Elites have no nation. Their loyalty is to the balance sheet and the stock price at the expense of the American worker."

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O’Brien’s decision to speak at the convention has deeply upset some members of the Teamsters, who earlier this year criticized the union president for trying to court both the Democrats and Republicans and made $45,000 donations to both parties, Axios reported. 

Teamster Vice President At-Large John Palmer, a member of the union since 1987, lambasted O’Brien’s decision, calling it "unconscionable for any Labor leader to lend an air of legitimacy to a candidate and a political party, neither of which can be said to have done or can be expected to do anything to improve the lives of the workers we are pledged to represent." 

Anti-union groups also took aim at O’Brien ahead of his speech, accusing O’Brien of being "two-faced" and noting that "one speaking engagement doesn’t change the facts" that Teamsters by and large donate to "left-wing causes." 

The Republican Party and International Brotherhood of Teamsters did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by press time.