We learned yesterday that the Teamsters will not endorse any candidate for President. Some of you will remember that Teamster President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in July. The union also just released this poll:
Over at Jacobin, Dustin Guastella, the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia, questions these polls. But he also tries to explain why so many Teamsters might support Trump:
First, inflation. There is no getting around it. Levels of inflation have been historic. Whether they are the fault of the president and vice president is almost irrelevant. Voters, especially working-class voters, are blaming them.
Second, the Teamsters (and they are far from alone in this) have not made it a priority to educate and mobilize its membership on political issues. In the past four years, the union has rarely made an effort to explain or motivate its distinct political interest in the upcoming presidential election. Most local union presidents (and this is true in almost all unions) avoid talking politics for fear of offending their members or causing arguments among their membership. The need for unity is incredibly important for a union, and so it makes good sense to avoid topics that might cause division. Still, the failure of union leadership to really articulate what working-class interests are and how the parties help or harm those interests is a factor. Such political education should be a monthly part of the union’s activities and not relegated to a few short meetings in the year of a high-stakes presidential election.
Finally, and most important, the Democratic Party has done a miserable job of trying to identify with the working class. Many, if not most, on the Left will offer an exasperated reply to this charge, insisting that the Democrats are so much better for workers and for unions. Yes, that is obvious from a policy perspective. But leading liberals take for granted that workers are people, too.
It is no secret that the Democratic Party’s image, interests, and value system are far closer to that of upper-middle-class liberals than they are to that of the average working-class person. On cultural issues, too, it is the case that many workers feel deeply alienated from the liberal perspective. In conversations with Teamster members and officers, it’s clear that even among Democrats and Harris supporters, there is a frustration and wariness toward many of the cultural positions Democrats endorse and how those positions are defended. Until the party is able to change this image and truly identify with the working class (on economic as well as cultural terms), we should expect to see a continued deterioration of working-class support for Democratic candidates.
Read the entire piece here.
Indeed, Guastello’s third point is most important. I am pretty sure my immigrant grandfather–a Teamster–would not like members of his beloved Democratic Party telling him that he had white privilege or that there is no difference between a man and a woman. I know most workers–such as the people who live in my mixed-class neighborhood–would not like it either. If the Democratic Party wants to reach these people it needs to get its act together. It can’t rely on the anti-Trump vote forever.
In the meantime, local chapters in states are endorsing her. “All politics is local. ”
Meanwhile, local Teamsters unions in swing states rush to endorse Harris.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/09/19/teamsters-endorsement-harris-trump/
The problem with the Democrats is that, other than civil rights, they don’t really show any care for common people. They used to be the party of the working man, at least in Pittsburgh.