Kamala Harris-Teamsters Roundtable Set for Sept. 16
Vice President Kamala Harris officially has a date with the Teamsters.
The Democratic presidential candidate will attend a Teamsters rank-and-file roundtable in Washington D.C. on Sept. 16, the union says.
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By taking the meeting, Harris follows in the footsteps of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, both of whom have attended roundtables with rank-and-file members earlier this year.
For the Teamsters, this meeting has been months in the making, with the union inviting all declared presidential candidates to participate in December 2023.
Last month, the Harris campaign and the Teamsters confirmed they would meet, but neither party had settled on a date.
Harris has committed to meet with union members, the Teamsters general executive board, general president Sean O’Brien, and general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman.
“We appreciate Vice President Harris taking the time to meet in person with rank-and file Teamsters. Our members are the backbone of this nation, working in all 50 states and representing every political background,” O’Brien said in a statement. “We look forward to having a conversation on the direction of the country and the issues that matter to working people.”
The meeting will be nearly two months before the 2024 presidential election held on Nov. 5, where Harris will face off against Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has not issued an endorsement in the 2024 race.
O’Brien said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation that the union had not yet issued an endorsement because he hasn’t yet met with Harris, and “you don’t hire someone unless you give them an interview.”
Of the major unions in the U.S., the Teamsters are the only one to not endorse Harris thus far. Harris has already received multiple high-profile labor endorsements including the United Auto Workers (UAW), the AFL-CIO and the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU).
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which won a six-year contract for dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports last summer, endorsed Harris for president, citing her history with the union as well as “her support for workers and the labor movement” as California Attorney General and state Senator.
A Biden cabinet member, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, held joint meetings last year to facilitate the new deal for the dockworkers.
Backing from the Teamsters would help bring in even more support from workers with direct hands in the U.S. logistics industry, whether it be UPS drivers or freight operators, for example.
The lack of endorsement thus far has fueled plenty of speculation of the direction the 1.3-million-member union will go ahead of the election.
While the Teamsters haven’t endorsed a Republican candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988 and endorsed Biden in the 2020 election, O’Brien appeared at the Republican National Convention in July. This marked the first time a Teamsters chief spoke at the convention in the union’s history. There, he called for reform in bankruptcy laws, corporate welfare and legal protections for workers seeking unionization or a new contract.
During the speech, O’Brien asserted that the Teamsters were “not beholden to anyone or any party.”
O’Brien did not get an invitation to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August despite requesting one. A group of retired Teamsters members took the stage of the convention during a speech from Sen. Gary Peters (D.-Mich.)
In the time since, O’Brien criticized former President Trump for suggesting during an interview with Elon Musk that workers who go on strike should be fired, calling the proposal “economic terrorism.”
The Teamsters’ awaited decision comes as Harris has unveiled proposals beyond her economic plan, which including a federal ban on price gouging, a plan to expand child tax credits and a blueprint to expand housing in the U.S. through the building of new homes and down-payment support for first-time buyers.
The Vice President is expected to unveil a $50,000 tax benefit for small businesses, which would expand an existing $5,000 deduction for startups.