Miranda Alam/Special to the Sun
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden hugs a volunteer during a campaign event at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 396 in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 20, 2019.
Sunday, July 14, 2024 | 2 a.m.
President Joe Biden unabashedly touts himself as the “most pro-union president” in the history of the country.
But that’s not stopping the president of one of the country’s largest labor unions from speaking this week in Milwaukee to the Republican National Convention, which is poised to nominate Donald Trump as the party’s nominee to face Biden in November.
In Nevada, many rank-and-file union workers continue to support the current president — showing up to Biden-Harris campaign events in matching T-shirts and rallying against Trump. And while local union workers have expressed their opposition to Trump, they aren’t holding any grudges against Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for his upcoming speaking role at the Republican convention — though the decision has inflamed some, but not all, of the 1.3 million Teamsters members.
In the local Teamsters chapter, Secretary-Treasurer Tommy Blitsch said members were satisfied with the international’s decision to have a presence at the RNC.
“Our general president makes it a point to make sure all our members’ voices and issues are heard,” Blitsch wrote in an email to the Sun. “The working class was built by unions and there needs to be a voice for the working class at both conventions.”
Vince Saavedra, executive secretary-treasurer to the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union, said O’Brien’s decision could represent union members who don’t identify with the Democratic Party.
“We represent people on aisles and nonpartisans. I feel like he’s doing the due diligence to some of his membership that are Republicans,” said Saavedra, who added there was no question about Biden’s support for unions.
The SNBT is among unions endorsing the Biden-Harris campaign.
“Both of these men have been president, only one of them has shown us who the real pro-union president is, and that’s Joe Biden,” Saavedra said.
Saavedra, though, says he believes Trump sees the value organized labor brings to elections.
Trump has been widely criticized in the past for his treatment of unions, with local rank-and-file citing tax cuts that benefited billionaires and appointees in federal positions that hindered unionizing efforts.
The former president lauds himself for being pro-worker, once telling a crowd of auto workers that the United Automobile Workers union leadership would be “committing suicide” by not endorsing him.
Ronald Young, head of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Political Action Committee, said he recognized that union concerns were not one-party issues. He added that he hoped O’Brien’s RNC speech “doesn’t fall on deaf ears.”
Saavedra echoed Young’s sentiments. He said he believes O’Brien’s speech can go well or poorly, but he hopes the Teamsters president is able to enlighten and open a door for some Republicans who may have a negative view of unions.
“Hopefully, some of the middle-of-the-road Republicans, that are open-minded and not hardcore-leaning MAGA folks that will never change their mind about unionism, hopefully, they’ll get educated,” he said.
While other local unions have not yet endorsed a presidential candidate, they supported predominantly Democratic candidates in the primaries. Those include the Nevada State Education Association, Nevada State AFL-CIO, and Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165.
In 2020, Teamsters endorsed Biden, announcing their support in the midst of the Democratic National Convention. The Teamsters have not endorsed a candidate yet this year.
O’Brien’s RNC speech will ask political leaders “to stand with American workers above the interests of Corporate America,” wrote the union’s assistant director of strategic initiatives, Kara Deniz, in an email to the Sun.
The Teamsters met with both Trump and Biden this year as a part of an ongoing roundtable to hear from all presidential candidates on their plans for working people.
During Trump’s visit to the Teamsters headquarters, one member of the Teamsters’ leadership sat out in protest: John Palmer, one of the Teamsters’ seven vice presidents at-large.
Palmer said the union should have no part in the RNC, regardless of what O’Brien’s message will be, because such an appearance only normalizes the behavior of what he calls the most antiunion president he has seen in his life.
Palmer said he may have taken a different approach in the past, but he believes the current GOP is defined by far-right extremism and Trump’s ideologies.
“If we were dealing with a party of rational people, I would say, ‘Absolutely, we want to work both sides of the aisle,’ ” he added.
Saavedra emphasized the importance of the work union members do.
“We’re just middle-class people that wake up every day and go to work to provide for families, and we want to live the American dream,” Saavedra said.
[email protected] / 702-990-8923 / @haajrahgilani
