Let's Talk Teamsters
My Message to Teamsters Union President Sean O'Brien
In the late 1960s, my grandfather became the leader of National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 15 in Providence, Rhode Island. Just a few years later, Branch 36 (in New York City) launched what later became the postal strike of 1970.
It was a risky move. At the time, all federal employees signed an oath that they “would not assert the right to strike against the government” (Capitol City News, Merged Branch 86, March 2020 Edition). Violating that oath—later ruled unconstitutional—could have cost union leaders and members “their jobs and pensions.” Worse, it could have also “[brought] jail sentences and fines.” Despite all that, NALC union leaders decided to support their workers’ demands for better treatment. They channeled the frustrations of their rank-and-file, and eventually secured a historic agreement with President Richard Nixon. It represented all the best of union organizing and the results it achieved.
So when I heard the recent news about Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien, I must say I was a little disappointed. According to The New York Times, O’Brien has asked for speaking slots “at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions.” Meanwhile, some people within Trump’s inner circle have suggested that O’Brien has “a developing relationship with the former president.”
If I could speak to Mr. O’Brien directly, I would say this: you have a unique opportunity. As the reporters at The New York Times have written, “[t]he Teamsters is one of the country’s largest labor unions.” Please, don’t waste the chance to continue to give the labor movement new life.
Look around you. For the first time in history, a president of the United States has walked the picket line with the U.A.W, (which without a doubt helped them secure their historic wage increases). For the first time in 40 years, a president of the United States is actively working to reverse the damage of the Reagan age. The years and years of declining union membership, corporate raiding, and “right-to-work” laws are finally coming to an end. Which president was the one to stand up for the workers time and time again?
It was not Donald Trump. The day after Biden stood with the U.A.W., Trump staged a rally at one of Michigan’s non-union plants. Even now, he is just too busy taking in the love and support of top CEOs. Ultimately, whatever they think of Trump’s personality, the leaders of JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America know what they want. They want 4 more years of Republican policies—tax cuts for the rich, deregulation for big and powerful corporations, and less and less power for the working man and woman. The only question now is, what do you want?
Or better yet, what do your members want? Haven’t your members had enough of the Republican Party’s broken promises? Ronald Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Since the 1980s, we have seen the consequences of that type of talk. We saw Reagan union-bust more than 11,000 air traffic controllers. Then, we watched as Republicans and even Democrats like Bill and Hillary Clinton abandoned the values of FDR’s Democratic Party. Government has not been here to help. In its place, our corporate overlords have swooped in like vultures.
Yet at long last, we are moving the pendulum. To rework the old saying, “the business of America is labor.” Unregulated capital is out, the workers are in. Lina Khan is in her rightful place as chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Senators like Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey are leading the charge against greedflation, shrinkflation, and the many other examples of corporate price-gouging. Trump may want us all to think otherwise, but it is Democrats who are bringing populism back to the people.
(By contrast, the conservative Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Starbucks and against its employees).
You have the power to keep the pro-labor momentum going. Now is the time to lead, just as NALC Branch 36 did more than 50 years ago. Yes, I understand you are in a uniquely uncomfortable position. Your formidable union coalition includes many people who may be pressing you to either support Donald Trump or play both sides. I get it. Many of your fellow peers—such as U.A.W. President Shawn Fain—do not have to be nearly so careful.
But caution is not always the answer to these difficult problems. Sometimes, a leader has to show their members the way forward. That almost always means channeling their legitimate complaints into a movement that can shake the halls of those in power. Like I said, “the business of America is labor,” and you are one of its biggest CEOs. Labor has transformed America once; with your help, it can do it again.
