Teamsters union rejects support for Harris or Trump

America's largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has refused to endorse a U.S. president for the first time since 1996.

The union, which has around 1.3 million members in the US and Canada, said it had received “few commitments on the Teamsters' most important issues” from either Democratic candidate Kamala Harris or Republican candidate Donald Trump.

She also claimed that polls among her rank-and-file members showed “no clear support” for either candidate, even though two of her recent polls indicated one-sided support for Trump.

The move is a major blow to Harris' campaign efforts to appeal to working-class voters less than 50 days before the election.

Support would have enabled the mobilization of thousands of Teamsters who live, work and vote in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

In a statement, Harris' campaign noted that it had the support of the “overwhelming majority of organized labor” and noted that many local Teamsters supported her candidacy.

“While Donald Trump says striking workers need to be fired, Vice President Harris has literally walked the picket lines and advocated for unions her entire career,” said campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.

The union's base – a coalition of members that includes truck drivers, warehouse workers and pilots – has long been considered politically diverse.

General President Sean O'Brien has tried to gain a foothold with Republicans since taking over as board chair in 2022.

He has reached out to more populist figures within the party, such as U.S. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and JD Vance of Ohio, who is now Trump's vice presidential candidate.

Mr. O'Brien also met privately with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January, shortly before the former president attended a roundtable discussion with the union's executive committee at its headquarters in Washington, DC.

Following that meeting, Trump said he believed he had a “good chance” of getting the union's support.

The board also met with President Joe Biden before he stepped down as the Democratic nominee, as well as with third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West.

But the union alarmed Democrats when it made its first financial donation to its opponents in years: it donated $45,000 (£34,000) to both the Democratic and Republican conventions in February – the maximum allowed.

Mr. O'Brien was also the first Teamsters leader ever to address the Republican National Convention (RNC).

The union leader was invited to speak at the prime-time event in Milwaukee. He praised Trump as a “tough motherfucker” but declined to endorse him.

He later also criticized Trump and top campaign official and billionaire Elon Musk for comments in which the two discussed firing workers who threaten to strike.

Following his decision to speak at the RNC, Mr. O'Brien did not receive an invitation from the Democrats to speak at their convention last month.

Instead, the party invited rank-and-file members to represent the organization and speak on the convention stage.

Some Teamsters members have expressed anger at Mr. O'Brien and his right-wing views.

Last month, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and six local union chapters defied national leadership by endorsing Harris on their own and urging their members to support her.

On Monday, Harris met with the Teamsters executive committee for a long-delayed round of talks that lasted an hour and a half.

A New York Times report described the meeting as “at times tense,” but a Teamsters spokesman disputed that characterization when asked by the BBC.

During their meeting, the Times continued, Harris told Teamster leaders, “I'm confident I'm going to win this. I want your support, but if I don't get it, I'm going to treat you just as if I had your support.”

Speaking to reporters after Harris's speech, O'Brien noted that there was “not much difference” between the answers she and her predecessor Biden gave.

Biden has regularly described himself as the “most pro-worker president ever,” pointing to policies that have made it easier for U.S. workers to organize and given unions preferential treatment on federal government projects.

Last September, he made history when he became the first U.S. president to picket when he joined the United Autoworkers union in Michigan in a strike against the three major U.S. auto companies: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

The Biden administration also boosted the Teamsters' pension fund with $36 billion, preventing what it said were cuts to the retirement benefits of more than 600,000 members.

Mr. O'Brien and other leaders have also repeatedly acknowledged that Biden has been “great for unions.”

But before he dropped out in July, some reports suggested that the Teamsters had no plans to support Biden's re-election bid.

On Wednesday, the union released poll data from its members before announcing that it would not support Harris or Trump.

In an electronic poll conducted after the RNC, 59.6% of rank-and-file Teamsters said Trump would support the union, compared to 34% for Harris.

A separate poll commissioned last week found the Teamsters again supporting Trump by an overwhelming margin of 58 percent to 31 percent.

Despite these results, the union said in a statement that its “comprehensive polling of its members has shown no majority support for Vice President Harris and no overall member support for President Trump.”

The Trump team immediately praised the poll numbers on Wednesday.

“Although the Teamsters Board of Directors has not expressed formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have made it clear loud and clear that they want President Trump back in the White House,” said campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.