In a strategic move ahead of the November elections, President Joe Biden convened with leaders from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday. The president is vying for the union’s endorsement against his political rival, former President Donald Trump.
The Teamsters Union, boasting over a million members, is one of the world’s largest labor organizations. It holds significant influence in several battleground states, making its endorsement a coveted prize for presidential candidates.
The Biden campaign expressed gratitude for the opportunity to discuss the president’s robust pro-union record with the Teamsters. The parties concurred on the necessity of safeguarding Social Security and Medicare, ensuring that workers who have contributed throughout their careers can retire with dignity.
Earlier this year, Trump also met with the Teamsters, a group that has previously endorsed against him in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020. However, the union has yet to announce its endorsement for the 2024 election.
Trump’s strategy to win over working-class voters, particularly in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, heavily relies on appealing to union members, a traditionally Democratic voting bloc. These three states, which supported Trump in 2016, swung in favor of Biden in the 2020 election.
Biden has already secured a critical endorsement from the United Auto Workers (UAW) during their meeting in Washington in January. UAW President Shawn Fain praised Biden for standing with union members during a Michigan strike last year, asserting that Biden had earned the group’s endorsement.
Despite Biden’s self-proclaimed status as “the most pro-union president ever,” an endorsement from union leadership does not guarantee support from rank-and-file members. Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with the Teamsters, the Biden campaign highlighted the president’s historic support for organized labor and his administration’s victories for unions.
The campaign also underscored actions under Trump that allegedly undermined federal workers’ ability to organize. “The president is proud to have strengthened union protections and created millions of union jobs, and he appreciates the opportunity to discuss his historic record with the Teamsters and earn their support,” a Biden campaign spokesperson stated.
The Biden administration has also celebrated “historic” wins for unions, including new contracts from the Longshoreman’s unions, the WGA, and Teamster’s union contracts with Anheuser-Busch.
Interestingly, the Teamsters’ political committee donated $45,000 each to the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee in January, around the same time Trump met with the union’s leadership. FEC records also show that Trump met with Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien at Mar-a-Lago late last year.