Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday privately met with the head of the Teamsters, the latest round of what the labor union called the endorsement roundtable interviews.
Sean O'Brien, president of the 1.3 million-member strong union, said he and the former president had an “in-depth and productive” conversation on issues that concern his organization the most.
The conversation, according to Teamster’s website, covers a range of topics such as the shrinking American middle class, workers’ wages, corporate bankruptcy reform, antitrust enforcement in the warehouse and package delivery industries, and the freedom to form and join a union.
“There are serious issues that need to addressed to improve the lives of working people across the country, and the Teamsters union is making sure our members’ voices are heard as we head into a critical election year,” Mr. O'Brien said in a statement.
“We thank the former president for taking time during this private meeting to listen to the Teamsters’ top priorities,” he continued, noting that the Republican presidential frontrunner has made plans to met with General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman and rank-and-file members later this month at the union’s headquarters in Washington D.C.
Over the past month, the union boss has held roundtable interviews with candidates from both Democratic and Republican parties. Among the invites are President Joe Biden; his long-shot presidential primary challengers Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.); as well as former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is polling at 0.5 percent in Iowa with less than two weeks before the critical caucus.
As part of Teamster’s endorsement process, independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West have also been invited to make their case in meetings.
“Candidates will have the opportunity to discuss how the next president and the Teamsters can work together to empower and protect workers, promote high labor standards, and strengthen the American economy while expanding the middle class,” the Teamsters said in December, adding that they aim to host more roundtables in 2024 with every candidate running for president.
The Teamsters, under the leadership of Mr. O'Brien’s predecessor Jim Hoffa, endorsed the Democrat ticket in the 2020 election. President Biden, who launched his 2020 White House run at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh, picked up contributions totaling $27.5 million from labor organizations, according to an analysis by campaign finance tracker Open Secrets. President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, meanwhile, received less than $360,000 from those with union ties.
Presidents Biden and Trump have been courting the union vote separately in their bids for a second term in the White House.
Styling himself as the most pro-union president in history, President Biden in September visited a picket line in Detroit in a show of solidarity to striking union members of the United Auto Workers (UAW). The UAW strike, which lasted more than six weeks and caused an estimated economic loss of $9.3 billon, remains a dilemma for President Biden because a part of the workers’ concerns were caused by his administration’s push for a massive transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric alternatives that require fewer people to manufacture.
The Democrat president has already earned endorsements from a number of private and public sector unions, including the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions representing 12.5 million workers across the nation; and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 750,000 federal workers.
President Trump also skipped the second Republican primary debate to speak to autoworkers in Detroit during last year’s UAW strike, although the rally was hosted by a non-unionized auto parts plant. He called President Biden’s visit “nothing more than a PR stunt” meant to “distract and gaslight” citizens from his handling of the national economy.
In his successful 2016 run, President Trump received significant support from rank-and-file union members, if not union leaders. According to exit poll numbers released by the AFL-CIO, he only lost union households by 43 percent to 51 percent, a performance that was solid enough for him to flip traditionally blue Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
