Why didn’t Sean O’Brien speak at the Democratic Convention?
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Organized labor was out in force at the Democratic National Convention Monday night.
“Trump is a scab, Vote Harris,” read a shirt that United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain wore at the podium.
“I’m proud to have been the first president to walk the picket line and be labeled the most pro-union president in history,” President Joe Biden said, in the final, headlining speech of the night, as the crowd waved signs that said, “Union Yes!”
Six other major union presidents took the stage that night, including Lee Saunders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, April Verrett of the Service Employees International Union, Brent Booker of the Laborer’s International Union of North America, Ken Cooper of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Claude Cummings Jr. of the Communication Workers of America and Liz Shuler of the AFL-CIO.
Conspicuously absent, though, was another significant player in American labor — Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.
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O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention last month, in a move that frustrated many Democrats, though he did not endorse Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
A Teamsters spokesperson told the Associated Press that O’Brien never heard back from the Democrats.
Other Teamsters members were, however, in attendance at the convention, which you can live stream here.
Who is Sean O’Brien?
In 2022, O’Brien was elected the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a large and influential labor union of 1.3 million members.
O’Brien is perhaps most widely known for his high-profile encounter with U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-OK, in a 2023 labor committee hearing, when the two skirted physical confrontation over social media posts O’Brien had made about Mullin.
O’Brien reportedly requested to speak at the Democratic National Convention at the same time that he asked the Republicans.
The Teamsters haven’t made a presidential endorsement yet and O’Brien has rallied alongside left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, in the past, though recently he seems to have been wary of reflexively throwing his weight behind the Democrats.
“That’s why I’m here today,” O’Brien said in his speech at the Republican Convention last month. “I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did. Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party.”
A Teamsters spokesperson told The Hill that a Teamsters president has never addressed the RNC before.
Why did so many labor leaders speak at the Democratic Convention?
The Democratic Party has long relied on union votes while the Republican Party has generally had a contentious relationship with organized labor.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s enthusiastic support for the idea of summarily firing striking workers — in an interview last week with Elon Musk, who agreed — might be the most recent and striking example of this tendency.
“Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism,” O’Brien said in a statement responding to Trump’s comment.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is supposed to meet soon with Teamsters at a roundtable campaign event but a date has not yet been set.
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