Teamsters union president Sean O'Brien will speak at the Republican National Convention, with Democrats touting his speech as evidence that Republicans support the anti-worker policies of big unions.
Democrats are doing the exact opposite: Rank-and-file union members vote Republican not because the GOP supports the anti-labor policies of the big unions, but because of former President Donald Trump's pro-labor policies.
As president, Trump improved the lives of American workers. O'Brien They've spent billions trying to undermine his platform of worker freedom: The Teamsters spent $9 million on politics between 2019 and 2022, according to a new report from the Labor Union Fact Center, first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Of that, a whopping 99% went to pro-Democrat organizations and anti-Trump media. More than $2.6 million of the Teamsters' political donations went to registered Democrats and Democratic campaign organizations. The Teamsters also funded anti-Trump activist groups that are trying to bury President Trump's second term through lawsuits.
Given that nearly all of the Teamsters' political funds have gone to Democrats and far-left causes, it would be reasonable to assume that rank-and-file members uniformly vote Democratic. But that is not the case. In 2020, 40% The percentage of households with union members who voted for Trump.
Why is nearly 100% of the big unions' political money going to the Democrats, even though a large and growing segment of their membership is voting for Trump? The answer is simple: a widening political rift between union leadership and rank-and-file members.
Labor unions have been one of the Democratic Party's largest donors for a century. In return, the Democratic Party promotes policies that force workers to join unions. Then, union leaders take money from rank-and-file members in the form of union dues and spend it on the Democratic Party. And they do it again and again.
Trump's 2016 presidential campaign upended the smooth-running political machinery of the big labor unions. He ran on a platform of championing American workers, not the union bosses who funnel money into Democratic political campaigns. Rank-and-file union members in former Democratic strongholds like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin catapulted him to the presidency for the first time in generations.
As President, Trump defended American workers, but not the big union organizations that stole their money and spent it on the Democratic Party. Trump allowed American workers to keep more of their hard-earned money by drastically cutting taxes. Trump cut red tape, allowing businesses to create jobs and grow the economy. Trump rolled back burdensome Obama-era regulations on independent contracting and franchising, giving workers and small businesses more freedom and flexibility. Trump supported right-to-work laws that prohibit employers from forcing employees to join a union as a condition of employment.
Biden, by contrast, has run his administration on behalf of union leaders, not union members: All of Biden's labor policies have been funded and led by union leaders like O'Brien.
Biden would reinstate Obama's independent contractor restrictions. Franchise,and approved Workplace harassment by union organizers. Biden Claims They are seeking bills that would repeal right-to-work laws nationwide, ban independent contractors and force employers to turn over employees' confidential contact information to union organizers.
Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office and continues his attacks on the oil and gas industry, which supports hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
Despite Biden's best efforts to get workers to unionize, private sector union membership rates are Lowest in history During his presidency, workers will continue to flee unions in droves because they will no longer accept what the big unions are selling.
Big union leaders like O'Brien know that the only way they can stay in power is if the government forces workers to unionize. O'Brien wants the Republicans to do the bidding of the big unions, so he pretends to be in league with them. Instead of relying solely on the Democrats to force workers to unionize, O'Brien wants both parties to force workers to unionize.
Republicans who support big union policies are making a grave political miscalculation. Union members, wanting more freedom in the workplace and more money in their pockets, have rebelled against union leaders and have leaned toward the Republican Party since 2016. President Trump exploited this sentiment in 2016, governed based on it throughout his presidency, and continues to double down on worker freedoms in 2024.
Making the Republican labor platform identical to the Democratic labor platform will only undermine Trump's hard-won gains and alienate new Republican voters.
If O'Brien and his union leaders were serious about supporting Trump, they would not have spent more than $9 million in union funds in recent years attacking Trump and promoting the Democratic Party. Republicans should continue to campaign on Trump's freedom for workers agenda and win the support of their union members, rather than trusting that union leaders are on their side.
Tom Hebert is director of competition and regulatory policy at the American Tax Reform Institute and executive director of the Center for Open Competition.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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