Was Teamster boss' RNC speech a watershed moment for unions or betrayal of labor?

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is often seen as one of the most influential labor unions in the United States, and with good reason; With more than 1.3 million members, and a purview that covers one of the lynchpins of American industry, the Teamsters union occupies a near-mythological place in this country's rich — if oftentimes fraught — labor history. 

When Sean O'Brien took the stage at this week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, it was in this same context of rich and fraught history  — one he invoked directly when he acknowledged the unprecedented nature of his speech, the first ever delivered by a Teamster boss to a political party that is often criticized as hostile to labor unions. "I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did," O'Brien said. "Today the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party. We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition ready to accomplish something real for the American worker."

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Though not "beholden" to any political party, the Teamsters — and labor unions at large — have long been one of the tentpoles in the broad coalition of left-leaning, Democrat-associated groups. And while O'Brien's RNC address included plenty of barbs aimed at the many corporate powers central to the GOP, his very presence at the conservative confab has not only surprised many across the political spectrum but rankled many of his allies as well.

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'President Trump had the backbone to open the doors'

Although O'Brien's speech was not an "explicit endorsement" of Donald Trump or the GOP, it nevertheless showed "strong and surprising support from the otherwise left-leaning organization," Fox News said. O'Brien is "arguably an outlier among labor leaders" whose RNC appearance "could be seen as a simple gambit to erode a key Democratic constituency and steal voters," The Chicago Tribune said. But given the Union's breadth and strength, "there was more to it than that," with his speech serving as an "indicator of how much the traditional constituencies of the two major parties have flipped."

By speaking at the RNC, and hailing Trump for having the "backbone to open the doors" to a union official, O'Brien "sends a signal to union members that voting for Trump is OK," The Boston Herald said. O'Brien "paid no heed to Trump's anti-labor record," and instead focused on "flattering Trump with the hope that Trump, if elected, would be nicer to the Teamsters and to all of labor," Slate said. As such, his appearance was a "huge gamble" which "more likely" has "done Trump a huge favor by seemingly giving his union's seal of approval to the GOP."

'It is unconscionable for any Labor leader'

Despite his calls for pro-union bipartisanship, O'Brien's RNC appearance has angered many within his own International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and across the Democratic-left. There is seemingly hope that a "second Trump term returns the NLRB to being a union-busting agency and the federal judiciary, armed with new Trump nominees, continues to support the billionaires and prevent union organizing from making any real difference," said former Communications Workers of America president and Democratic National Committee member Larry Cohen at The Nation. 

Perhaps most damning has been the criticism from within the Teamsters union, of which the "majority of members chose not to support Trump," union Vice President at Large John Palmer said in an op-ed for the Las Vegas Sun ahead of O'Brien's speech. "It is unconscionable for any Labor leader to lend an air of legitimacy to a candidate and a political party" like Trump and the GOP for both their history of anti-labor politics, and broader policies targeting marginalized communities.

Ultimately, while O'Brien may have scored in-person plaudits early in his speech — "particularly as he talked about the criticism he would receive from Democrats for speaking at the convention," The New York Times said — his later remarks earned "crickets. These were Republicans, after all," said The New Republic.