President Joe Biden met with leaders from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union on March 12 as he sought to secure its endorsement ahead of the November 2024 election.
The U.S. leader sat down with both senior and rank-and-file members of the 1.3 million-member union, including the Teamsters general president, general secretary-treasurer, and general executive board, at the Teamsters headquarters in Washington.
During the hour-long meeting, President Biden “discussed the importance of passing the PRO Act, protecting workers’ right to strike, preserving Social Security, curbing excessive executive compensation, and opposing dangerous ‘right to work,’” according to a statement from Teamsters.
He also emphasized his administration’s support of unions and the labor movement during his discussions with union leaders and shared his vision for the next four years, officials said.
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien thanked President Biden for attending the meeting with union leadership, noting the Democrat had “shared that he is committed to continuing to support workers and standing with labor if elected to a second term.”
However, Mr. O’Brien also stressed there is “still a lot of work to be done” to bolster unions.
“There’s always a threat to organized labor, so we want to be proactive and make certain every candidate—not just President Biden—understands how important our issues are,” he told reporters after meeting with the president.
No Endorsement Decision Made
With more than one million members—including UPS drivers, film and television workers, freight operators, members of law enforcement, and other government workers—the Teamsters union is one of the largest in the world. Its strong presence in several battleground states means its endorsement could prove to be critical in the general election.
Still, Mr. O’Brien noted the union has not yet made a decision regarding an endorsement and is keeping an open mind this cycle. He added that the union plans to conduct extensive polling over the next several weeks and will most likely make a decision after the Republican and Democratic party conventions in July and August.
“This decision will be made with a lot of due diligence, a lot of input from our members with the polling,” he said.
The Teamsters, under the leadership of Mr. O’Brien’s predecessor Jim Hoffa, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden in 2020.
However, under Mr. O’Brien, the union has agreed to meet with independent and Republican presidential candidates who are willing to meet with union members.
Trump Meets With Teamsters
President Biden’s meeting occurred just six weeks after his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, also sought the union’s endorsement, with the latter emerging from the meeting with high hopes.
“Stranger things have happened. Usually, a Republican wouldn’t get that endorsement,” President Trump told reporters following the meeting.
President Biden, who has marketed himself as the most pro-union president in history, has already secured the key endorsement of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. UAW President Shawn Fain noted President Biden was the first sitting president to walk alongside union members on a picket line during a strike in Michigan last year.
President Trump, meanwhile, has said the UAW is a “hopeless case” after it announced its endorsement of President Biden in 2024, resulting in a public back and forth with its leader.
“They’ve led their industry right into the poor house, and now they’ve finished it off because if Biden gets elected, you won’t have an autoworker working in the United States,” President Trump told Fox Business last month. “Everything’s going over to China and other countries outside.”
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
