Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where I am getting ready to take a short vacation down towards New River Gorge in West Virginia. We will have a lot more next week, but wanted to give yinz a quick look at what’s happening this week at the RNC.
Teamsters Refusing to Back Biden
On Monday, Reuters broke the news that the 1.3 million-member Teamsters union is holding off on endorsing Biden for now. The decision was seen as President O’Brien “hedging his bets” in case Biden loses and hoping to have a sympathetic ear.
Reuters reports that O’Brien was upset about Biden’s denying a meeting with the union to discuss the Yellow Corp Trucking company bankruptcy with Biden, which could lead to a layoff of 30,000 union members.
The announcement came as Teamsters President Sean O’Brien made a controversial speech at the RNC as Donald Trump accepted the nomination.
“I don’t care about getting criticized. It’s an honor to be the first Teamster in our 121-year history to address the Republican National Convention,” O’Brien told naysayers in the labor movement as he took the podium at the RNC on Monday.
O’Brien is facing criticism within his union over donating money to the RNC. In January, the Teamsters gave their first donation in 20 years to the Republican National Committee’s convention fund.
“It legitimizes Donald Trump in the eyes of workers,” Tom Leedham, a retired Teamsters leader who ran for union president against Jimmy Hoffa Jr., told Politico. “He’s claiming that he is the president of working people. It helps him with that image.”
When Teamsters union members began to complain on the site, Teamsters Link, owned by Leedham and two longtime Teamsters operatives, O’Brien threatened to sue the website for copyright infringement for using the Teamsters name. O’Brien used an anti-union law firm to make the threat.
“Nixon Peabody is a law firm that brags about their ability to bust unions. They have impressive clients, including Donald J Trump, a list of union-hating corporations, anti-union politicians and Sean O’Brien and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,” wrote the angered owners.
“Nixon Peabody on behalf of the IBT is claiming ownership of the word Teamster and virtually any extension of that word,” wrote the site’s owners. “On behalf of the IBT they’re demanding Teamsterlink cease and desist, threatening legal action knowing we could never match the resources of the IBT. This claim is being made now even though there are literally dozens of examples of the word “Teamster” and the Teamster logo being used for decades throughout the US and Canada.”
O’Brien campaigned as a reformer but has been a maverick, cutting deals with Republicans. He angered many in labor when he praised Trump’s selection of Senator JD Vance for Vice President.
“He has been right there on all of our issues,” said O’Brien on Fox News, praising Trump’s VP pick of Vance.
Watch O’Brein’s interview praising Vance on Fox News.
AFL-CEO Prez Say Vance Pretends to be Pr-union
In 2023, a clip of JD Vance showing up to a picket line at Chrysler in Toledo went viral when 78 Toledo Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur asked him if it was his first time showing up to a picket line. (Watch Kaptur’s picket line joke on JD Vance here).
However, nearly all unions were unanimous in denouncing Vance.
“Sen. JD Vance likes to play union supporter on the picket line, but his record proves that to be a sham,” wrote AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in a statement full of hyperlinks. “He has introduced legislation to allow bosses to bypass their workers’ unions with phony corporate-run unions, disparaged striking UAW members while collecting hefty donations from one of the major auto companies, and opposed the landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.”
For more, check out the AFL-CIO’s breakdown of how JD Vance is no fan of organized labor.
All right, folks, I’m going on vacation this week. We will be back next week. Sending story ideas, tip comments, and hiking trails for New River Gorge to melk@paydayreport.com
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
