I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!

Yes.

Fuckers.

Lauren Kaori GurleySeptember 18, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. EDT

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will not endorse a candidate in the presidential race, for the first time in nearly three decades, in a blow to the Democratic Party, which has reliably received the union’s approval for years, according to the union.

The Teamsters confirmed the decision not to endorse. The union’s executive board was meeting in Washington to consider an endorsement on Wednesday afternoon.

The non-endorsement comes two days after union leaders and members met privately with Vice President Kamala Harris and she laid out her case for an endorsement.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business," said Teamsters president Sean O’Brien in a statement, adding that the union had "sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

The decision arrives as the powerful transportation workers union, with its 1.3 million members, has forged inroads with the GOP. O’Brien addressed the Republican National Convention in July, becoming the first labor leader to do so and sending shock waves through Democratic circles.

The results of two polls released Wednesday by the Teamsters showed rank-and-file members strongly favoring a Trump endorsement over Harris.

The Teamsters have a strong presence in battleground states and could play an outsize role in the election.

“This election is likely to come down to a handful of votes in the ‘blue wall’ states,” said Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic political strategist in the labor movement for decades. “The Teamsters have a significant number of members in each of those states. … Their endorsement coupled with a program aimed at mobilizing their members could be a deciding factor.”

No endorsement “likely means the difference between their members voting 50 percent for Harris versus close to 60 percent,” he said, adding that “in a close race, that could be significant.”

Yet, the absence of an endorsement is unlikely to have a noticeable impact on Harris’s campaign financing given the substantial amount of donations her campaign has received, Democratic strategists say. The Harris campaign is flush with cash, raising $615 million in the first six weeks after she joined the race. The Teamsters have donated more than $800,000 so far this election cycle, with more than 92 percent going to Democratic PACs, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance.

This election cycle, many unions endorsed President Joe Biden much earlier than is typical, reflecting his administration’s efforts to champion labor. When Biden dropped out of the race in July, those unions swiftly rallied behind Harris, citing her role in the administration’s accomplishments for labor.

The Teamsters union typically waits to endorse until after both political conventions have taken place, and this year, O’Brien said the union would not stray from that tradition.

That decision has sparked an internal rift within the union.

“We’ve made a huge mistake,” John Palmer, a Teamsters executive board member and vice president at large who has been openly critical of the union’s burgeoning relationship with Republican nominee Donald Trump, said this week. “We’ve lost out on an opportunity to try to get our members to understand why they shouldn’t be voting for [Trump].”

After Monday’s meeting with Harris, O’Brien praised “her willingness to meet with rank-and-file Teamsters face-to-face,” and said the union was weighing its endorsement.

The Teamsters have endorsed the Democratic ticket in every presidential election since 1996, when they did not endorse a candidate. The union had closer ties to the GOP decades ago, endorsing Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

The Teamsters released the results of an electronic poll of Teamsters members, which showed 59.6 percent supporting a Trump endorsement compared to 34 percent supporting a Harris endorsement.

The Teamsters also conducted a separate poll of Teamsters members, by phone, which they reported also gave Trump a similar lead.

Both polls were conducted by a third-party union polling service, according to the Teamsters, which did not provide information on the polling size or methodology.

Teamsters leadership had taken a different approach to this presidential election, meeting with several candidates, including Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and academic and activist Cornel West. O’Brien met privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January and held a roundtable with the former president at the union’s headquarters. The union also donated $45,000 to both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention, the latter marking the first major contribution to the GOP in years.

The budding relationship between the Teamsters and the GOP drew an uproar from progressive Teamsters, highlighting political divisions within the union’s membership, as well as Democrats in Washington. But O’Brien had explained the union’s strategy as an effort to carefully assess its options, saying that his members’ votes “will not be taken for granted.”

The indignation culminated with O’Brien’s prime-time address at the RNC, where he both praised Trump days after an assassination attempt — calling him “one tough SOB” — and railed against corporate greed, pledging to work with anyone who would support union priorities. Critics of O’Brien said his RNC address gave conservative members tacit approval to vote for Trump. Supporters say O’Brien’s efforts could move the GOP, which has been flirting with right-wing populist ideas, to the left on labor issues.

O’Brien had also requested to speak at the DNC but did not receive an invitation, according to the union. Democrats invited rank-and-file Teamsters whose pensions were saved by the Biden-Harris administration to speak on the convention stage.

Since then, the Teamsters National Black Caucus, as well as six union locals, went ahead and endorsed Harris anyway, urging their members to vote for her.

Local Teamsters union leaders have sent scathing letters to O’Brien, demanding a Harris endorsement: “I am completely disappointed and appalled at your decision to court one of the most anti-union, anti-worker politicians in history, Donald Trump,” Josh Zivalich, president of Teamsters Local 769 in Miami, wrote to O’Brien on Aug. 14.

Some labor experts say O’Brien has adopted a more bipartisan approach under pressure to consider the membership’s diverse political leanings. He won the union’s top office in 2021 after running as a reform candidate who promised more member involvement in union decision-making. O’Brien is also aware that many rank-and-file Teamsters are Trump supporters, experts say.

The Biden-Harris administration is widely viewed as one of the most pro-union in modern U.S. history. The administration appointed a pro-labor leader to the National Labor Relations Board and has enacted three major spending bills with pro-union provisions. Plus, in a major victory for the Teamsters, the White House secured a pension bailout that restored retirement accounts for about 600,000 union members.

Definitely — Leon can't be trusted. Just another major screw-upper.

If You Only Newshttps://polinews.org/in-less-than-a-minute-tim-walz.../...

POLINEWS.ORGIn Less Than A Minute, Tim Walz Demolishes Trump During Rally Speech


They are as spineless as the Reps. party for the most part.

ASAP

The announcement came minutes after the national Teamsters declined to make a presidential endorsement.

“Teamster members work and live in cities as well as in rural communities, come from diverse backgrounds, and have different views, but Joint Council 7 and 42 Teamsters refuse to be divided by extremist political forces or greedy corporations that want to see us fail,” said Teamsters Joint Council 7 President Peter Finn. “As Teamsters we will stand together to have a strong voice on the job, provide for our families, and serve the communities where we work.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said the national union declined to endorse after it hadn’t secured pledges from either campaign to not interfere in “in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries.”

Neither candidate “was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” he wrote in a statement.

The powerful union has deep roots in the automotive, warehouse and other blue-collar industries critical to battleground states in places like the Midwest. Harris had in recent days met with the Teamsters to shore up support among the historically Democratic-leaning bloc, which had made an appeal to both campaigns to support a union-friendly overhaul of federal labor law, bankruptcy reform and antitrust policies.

The union has opposed California policies on autonomous vehicles over concerns about job losses. Finn recently compared Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support of the industry to Trump’s policies.

“The reality is now Newsom is turning into Trump,” he said. “He’s acting like a dictator that bullies and disrespects the legislature, and he’s consistently siding with his rich friends and big tech instead of looking out for who he was elected to look out for.”

Ryan Deto

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a speech to union members on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024 at the IBEW Union Hall in Pittsburgh.

The council representing 35,000 Teamsters across Western Pennsylvania endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, breaking with the decision by its parent union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to not endorse a candidate in the race for president.

Teamsters Joint Council #40 covers more than a dozen locals across Pittsburgh, Jeannette, Cambria County, State College, Erie, New Castle, Washington and Uniontown.

Carl Bailey, the joint council’s board president, said the vote by board members to back Harris, the Democratic candidate, over GOP nominee Donald Trump, was unanimous.

He said Western Pennsylvania Teamsters endorsed Harris because “she is the best for our locals and the best for unions.”

He cited Harris’ support for the PRO Act, a bill to expand labor protections to workers across the country, even in states with anti-labor organizing laws.

Bailey also praised Harris and President Joe Biden for helping save the pensions of Teamsters, including those of local members, as part of federal aid during the pandemic.

“We will never forget that,” Bailey told TribLive Wednesday.

The Western Pennsylvania Teamsters endorsement stands in contrast to the national Teamsters union, which represents 1.3 million members, and announced its lack of an endorsement earlier Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.

Other major unions such as the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the United Auto Workers are backing Harris.

O’Brien has become a polarizing figure in the labor world. He spoke at the Republican National Convention, and has hinted at support for Trump. He met with both Trump and Harris before issuing the non-endorsement decision.

Bailey said he had no comment on O’Brien.

Trump took the non-endorsement as a win, and his campaign Wednesday highlighted polling released by the Teamsters that showed rank-and-file members supported the former president over Harris.

“President Trump fights for America’s working men and women,” Kush Desai, Team Trump’s spokesman in Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “President Trump’s agenda will bring tax relief and reverse the inflation that hurts working families the most.”

Bailey, however, tore into Trump and ripped the former president’s record on organized labor.

“I think if Trump wins again he will go after us even more,” Bailey said. “I don’t think he cares about working people. He used to brag about having people fired. My job is to keep people from being fired.”

Bailey also criticized Trump’s temperament, calling him an “egotistical bully.”

Bailey, a retired McKeesport Police detective, said Joint Council #40 represents over 50 local police departments. He lambasted Trump for his treatment of U.S. Capitol police officers following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Other police unions, like the Fraternal Order of Police, have backed Trump, but Bailey said he was proud of the joint council for endorsing Harris.

The Joint Council #40 endorsements, which included dozens of other races up and down the ballot, skewed Democratic but included some Republicans.

Bailey said the Joint Council #40 board is meeting with rank-and-file members Wednesday night, and urging them to back Harris and other endorsed candidates.

Teamster councils and locals around the country have also backed Harris, despite the national union’s call for no endorsement.

Joint Councils 7 and 42 — which cover 300,000 members across 39 unions in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam — endorsed Harris Wednesday, as did the council representing 200,000-plus Teamsters in Michigan.

Earlier this year, Harris was endorsed by about 10 Teamsters locals in Philadelphia, Miami, Boston, and Washington state.

Speaking on behalf of the Harris campaign, Conor Lamb, a former Democratic congressman from Mt. Lebanon, said the Joint Council #40 endorsement is significant because local Teamsters represent a broad range of members, from police officers to transportation workers and delivery drivers.

“The Western PA teamsters understand that Biden and Harris kept their promises,” Lamb said, referring to keeping pension funds solvent.

“Their endorsement shows they trust Harris will do even more for them, like bring back the child tax credit and expand the right to organize,” Lamb said. “Those aren’t just words, and I think [Bailey] and his members recognize that.”