Former President Donald Trump will meet with both leadership and rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday in a bid to expand union support.
The meeting is part of a presidential roundtable with a few Teamsters members, the union executive board, the General President Sean O’Brien and the General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman at the union’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., according to an announcement from the union. The visit by Trump follows another visit on Jan. 4 with O’Brien as the former president seeks to gain the support of union workers, bolstering his chances to flip states like Michigan and Wisconsin in 2024 that he won in 2016. (RELATED: Shipping Giant To Lay Off Thousands Of Employees As Union Deal Hampers Profits)
“Our members want to hear from all candidates of all parties about what they plan to do for working people as president,” O’Brien said in the announcement. “Teamsters are essential to every trade industry in this country. Our members are working in all 50 states and represent every political background, including no affiliation. Our union wants every candidate to know that there are 1.3 million Teamsters nationwide whose votes will not be taken for granted. Workers’ voices must be heard.”
President Joe Biden has committed to attend a roundtable with the Teamsters, but a schedule is still being worked out, the union told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The union has not issued an endorsement for the 2024 election but did endorse Biden in August 2020, before the last presidential election.
Teamsters President @TeamsterSOB to Neil on @FoxBusiness: Trump will come to the Teamsters building next Wednesday; it’s important to meet with all of the candidates. pic.twitter.com/bDVO8pcuSM
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) January 24, 2024
Roundtable discussion topics at the meeting include “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.”
Teamsters’ decision to meet with Trump departs from the enthusiastic support for Biden that other unions have exhibited. The AFL-CIO, a group of over 60 unions with more than 12.5 million collective members, made the earliest endorsement in the group’s history of Biden in June 2023.
Another top union, the United Auto Workers (UAW), endorsed Biden on Jan. 24, despite Trump’s express calls for the union to endorse him while attacking the president’s policies on electric vehicles that could potentially harm UAW member jobs. UAW members have spoken out about the endorsement, noting that the union’s support for Biden does not speak for them.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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