Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of America’s largest trade unions, is furious with Donald Trump. During the GOP nominee’s Monday X-space interview with Elon Musk, Trump praised Musk’s willingness to fire workers who threaten to strike. “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in and say, ‘You want to quit?’ … That’s OK. You’re all gone.'”
On Tuesday, O’Brien responded: “Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism.” The United Auto Workers union, meanwhile, wants a federal labor rights investigation of the comments by Musk and Trump.
In years past, a union boss blasting a GOP presidential candidate wouldn’t surprise anyone. But this is the same Sean O’Brien that Trump warmly welcomed to July’s Republican National Convention, where the union boss accused business leaders of “waging a war against American workers.”
Trump’s pro-manufacturing, anti-immigration messaging has resonated with rank-and-file union voters since 2016, even if union bosses still lean Democrat. All the largest American labor unions have endorsed Kamala Harris, except O’Brien’s Teamsters, which hasn’t endorsed anyone. Will Trump’s loose talk with a fellow one-percenter hurt him on the factory floor?
