Teamsters will sit out the election, but one local supports Harris

After the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Wednesday that it would not endorse a presidential campaign, a Chicago-based joint council of the Teamsters said its board would meet in the coming days to decide whether or not to issue a presidential endorsement of its own. A Chicago-area chapter endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Teamsters' decision to forgo support represents a break with tradition: the union has supported Democrats in presidential elections for years.

Before the Teamsters announced their decision to sit out the election, they released polling data showing that in practice ballots, rank-and-file Teamsters members supported President Joe Biden by 44.3%, while former President Donald Trump was running at 36.3% before Biden dropped out of the race. But after Biden dropped out of the race, electronic polls showed nearly 60% of Teamsters members voted for Trump, while 34% supported Harris. In polls after the presidential debate, the Teamsters supported Trump by 58% and Harris by 31%, according to the union.

On Wednesday, Park Ridge-based Local 727, which represents about 10,000 Teamsters, including bus drivers and pharmacists, said it supported Harris.

“I am proud that our members care about the issues that matter most to all working people,” John Coli Jr., treasurer of the local chapter, said in a statement. Coli said a test vote taken in May, before Biden dropped out of the race, showed “overwhelming” support from the local chapter for the Democrat.

Pasquale Gianni, director of government affairs for Teamsters Joint Council 25 – an umbrella organization for local Teamsters in Illinois and northwest Indiana – said members of the council's board of directors will meet in the coming days to decide whether or not to voice their own endorsement. The Teamsters National Black Caucus has endorsed Harris, as have several other local Teamsters organizations.

Gianni said local poll data from town hall meetings conducted before Biden dropped out of the race showed an expected “deeper Democratic bias” in the Chicago area, with some locals in the south of the state leaning more toward Trump.

In total, the Joint Council includes two dozen local Teamsters unions, which together represent about 100,000 members, Gianni said.

“Of course we will listen to the views of our members,” Gianni said. “We will also consider whose agenda is better for our members and better supports working people.”

The international union's announcement that it would not support the initiative came after a union board meeting early Wednesday. The board had met with Harris earlier in the week.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate has been able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure that the interests of working people are always put ahead of those of big business,” Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement.

“We have demanded commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in key union campaigns or in core Teamsters industries – and to respect our members' right to strike – but we have not been able to achieve those commitments,” he said.

Most other major U.S. unions had already endorsed Biden before shifting their support to Harris. The Teamsters held off, a move that has divided the union. O'Brien spoke at the Republican convention in July but not the Democratic convention last month in Chicago; the union said he had asked to speak at both conventions, according to The Associated Press.

Trump's campaign team celebrated the rejection as a success. Karoline Leavitt, Trump's national press secretary, said in a statement: “The hard-working members of the Teamsters have made it loud and clear: They want President Trump back in the White House!”

Bret Curlin, a union official with Teamsters Local 705 who has worked with the grassroots organization Teamsters Against Trump, said he would vote for Harris. Curlin, an assistant trade representative for the union who has been a Teamster for 37 years, said workers' rights were the most important issue he considered in his voting decision. Still, he felt it was right for the union to officially suspend the election because he didn't think an endorsement would make much of a difference.

Curlin said he has watched the National Labor Relations Board – which is responsible for enforcing labor laws across the U.S. – become more aggressive under Biden and hopes a Harris administration will advance workers' concerns in the same way he believes it has under Biden.

“With Trump, things are going backwards,” he said. “My brothers and sisters don't realize that.”