Pinkerton: The Teamsters’ SOB and Donald Trump’s GOP: Where Workers Go from Here

Former President Donald Trump and his new running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), will appear on Saturday together in Michigan — historic home to the United Auto Workers (UAW), a citadel of private-sector unionism, as well as Democrat Party activism.

But, now, Trump and Vance, with a semi-assist from the Teamsters, threaten that UAW-Democrat orthodoxy. A headline in the Detroit Free Press captures this dynamic moment: “Teamsters break with tradition—and UAW’s approach—in speech at RNC.”

That’s a reference, of course, to Teamster chief Sean O’Brien’s July 15 speech to the Republican National Convention. O’Brien, general president of the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is, for sure, his own man and a strong one, at that. After all, shrinking violets don’t flourish within the Teamsters, and pansies don’t go against the wishes of the hard-knucklers at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

But O’Brien is a tough hombre. His Twitter/X handle includes the letters “SOB,” which, of course, is a play on his name. But, with this double entendre, he is also identifying as a tough hombre. And, as a self-styled SOB, It takes one to know one. 

In his remarkable speech in Milwaukee, O’Brien spoke admiringly of Trump: “proven to be one tough SOB.” The audience loved it. 

O’Brien is, in fact, the first Teamster leader ever to speak to the GOP conclave (although other Teamster leaders have endorsed Republican presidents in the past). With more admiration, O’Brien said the 45th president “had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican convention, and that’s unprecedented.” 

Then, O’Brien let loose with a fiery attack on Corporate America: 

Companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations. This is economic terrorism at its best; an individual cannot withstand such an assault.

Companies practicing “economic terrorism?” That’s not the usual fare at a GOP convention, and it remains to be seen how many Republicans agree. 

In the meantime, O’Brien’s appearance in Milwaukee was rich with symbolism and controversy. Yet, unlike the other major speakers, he did not, in fact, endorse Trump. Still, he praised Trump’s toughness and openness, and he also lauded Vance, who “truly cares about working people.”

Reuters reports that the Teamsters chief has requested time to speak to the Democrat convention in Chicago but has not yet heard a firm response, yea or nay. It’s possible that the Teamsters might not endorse any presidential candidate, which would be a blow to President Joe Biden, who received their endorsement four years ago. 

Jen Psaki — the Biden spokeswoman at the White House, turned Biden spokeswoman at MSNBC — said of O’Brien’s RNC appearance, “This one stings a bit.” And, on July 17, the headline in the Washington Post read, “‘Betrayed’: Unions, White House irate over Teamsters president’s RNC speech.” According to the story, O’Brien’s appearance “sent shock waves through labor and Democratic circles.”

Still, the Teamsters are not a Republican outfit. Under O’Brien’s leadership, the union is seeking to navigate a middle path, mindful of the interests of its members, not of political parties. So far in 2024, the Teamsters have donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee — and $150,000 to the Democrats. 

O’Brien was open about his quest for the best possible deal for his Teamsters, telling the GOP delegates:

Wherever we can find common ground, our focus must always be on protecting American workers. If we’re going to accomplish big things for labor and truly hold employers across the country accountable to the workforce, we need as many people as possible moving in the same direction to get the job done.

A look at O’Brien’s Twitter/X feed tells us much about his search. On July 16, for example, he praised the Massachusetts State Police, who had been detailed to the Republican convention. He also denounced Amazon for its anti-union tactics (a topic that this author, as well as others at Breitbart News, have chronicled; in fact, the Teamsters have set up a special unit dedicated to unionizing the e-commerce colossus). In addition, O’Brien cited Teamster organizing victories in eight states, including two “right to work” states, Arkansas and Oklahoma — more on that below. 

Intriguingly, O’Brien praised Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for a July 16 piece in Compact titled “The Promise of Pro-Labor Conservatism.”

Hawley wrote: “As O’Brien’s appearance Monday night suggested, this is a watershed moment. Thanks to Donald Trump, there is much that Republicans and labor can already agree on.” Compact, by the way, is an interesting new publication, striving for the sort of politics espoused back in 1890 by Pope Leo XIII and manifested in the European Christian Democratic parties and in the American New Deal of the 1930s. Hawley continued, covering the waterfront from trade protection to electric vehicles to earned entitlements:

China is ripping us off, and strong tariffs must be maintained and expanded. We ought to support our auto workers with an America First energy policy, rather than kneecapping that storied industry with idiotic electric-vehicle mandates. We should renegotiate trade deals, protect Social Security and Medicare, and initiate antitrust suits against the most egregious corporate abuses.

Indeed, Hawley sounded SOB-like (Sean O’Brien) as he ripped Corporate America: “The C-suite long ago sold out the United States, shuttering factories in the homeland and gutting American jobs, while using the profits to push diversity, equity, and inclusion and the religion of the trans flag.”

Then the Missouri lawmaker went even further, making a bit o’ news: “Republicans can even get to work on what O’Brien teased could be a signature accomplishment: bipartisan labor reform.”

There’s been more than a century of labor legislation, and, so, exactly what might be reformed is unclear. Yet, the two most important labor bills have been, first, the Wagner Act of 1935 — the so-called “Magna Carta” of the labor movement — and, second, the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 — which partially undid Wagner by permitting a state-based “right to work” option. This right to work provision, mentioned earlier, is loved by business and hated by labor. For 77 years now, Taft-Hartley has coincided with the dramatic shrinkage of private-sector unionization (public sector unionization, by contrast, has flourished). In Milwaukee, O’Brien, true to union thinking, singled out right to work for scorn. 

For most Republicans, to contemplate a change in the labor status quo is a shuddering prospect. Yet, we’ve seen a lot of shuddering inside the GOP in the last decade, haven’t we? Indeed, we’ve seen even more shuddering this week in Milwaukee, as Republicans gathered and were not hearing from such former party leaders as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan. Most likely, the shuddering — or, if one prefers, the transforming — will continue. 

Here at Breitbart News, this author has speculated about the GOP as the conscious party of cops, nurses, and other workers. Yes, it would be interesting to see if and how the GOP could reach an accommodation for both Sean O’Brien and, say, Elon Musk, the latter man being no fan of unions. We can also wonder about the accommodation needed to reconcile labor unions with such developments as apps, blockchain, artificial intelligence, gig work, and working from home.

The guiding lights of any new plan should be, of course, a rising standard of living for workers, along with dignity in the workplace (however defined) and the encouragement of strong families and communities.

Can Trump, Vance, Hawley, and O’Brien find that sort of common ground? As we wait and watch we can be tantalized by the closing line in Hawley’s Compact essay: “Maybe in years to come, a Teamsters president speaking at the RNC won’t be such a surprise after all.”