The head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the nation’s most powerful labor organizations, sat down for dinner with former President Donald Trump this week, as the million-member strong union considers which candidate to back in 2024 and Trump works to secure the support of the working class.
The General President of the Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, and Trump, the leading contender for the Republican nomination, apparently met for a one-on-one meal Wednesday evening, during which the pair discussed the plight of workers in uncertain economic times, according to a Teamsters spokesperson.
“O’Brien and Trump talked about a number of topics, including ‘right to work,’ antitrust, and trade,” a Teamsters spokesperson told the Herald following their meeting.
On social media, the union described the meeting as an “in-depth and productive discussion on worker issues most important to the Teamsters Union.”
According to the Teamsters, during the meeting O’Brien was able to secure a commitment from the former president to join O’Brien, Teamsters’ General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, and “rank-and-file Teamster members from across the country in Washington, D.C.” sometime this January to hold a roundtable discussion. The exact date has not yet been determined, according to a Teamsters spokesperson.
“There are serious issues that need to be addressed to improve the lives of working people across the country, and the Teamsters Union is making sure our members’ voices are heard as we head into a critical election year,” O’Brien said via the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “We thank the former President for taking time during this private meeting to listen to the Teamsters’ top priorities. And we are eager to bring together the rank-and-file for an important and necessary roundtable with President Trump this month.”
O’BRIEN, TRUMP DISCUSS TEAMSTER ISSUES AHEAD OF RANK-AND-FILE ROUNDTABLE
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien met privately with President Donald Trump on Wednesday for an in-depth and productive discussion on worker issues most important to the Teamsters Union.
The… pic.twitter.com/LL6dWqJKF6
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) January 4, 2024
The Teamsters invited “all declared candidates” to meet with leadership and have already held roundtable discussions with five White House hopefuls, though not with any candidates who have made any real traction among the polled electorate.
In mid-December, the union heard from independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, author Marianne Williamson, philosopher Cornel West, and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips.
The goal of meeting with candidates, according to the union, is “to discuss how the next President and the Teamsters can work together to empower and protect workers, promote high labor standards, and strengthen the middle class to build a stronger America.”
Trump shared an image of him and O’Brien together on his Truth Social Media platform late Wednesday, in which the pair are seen dressed in suits, smiling, and giving the camera a thumbs up. Trump described his dinner meeting with the union chief as “great.”
A Trump campaign spokesman did not return a request for more details about the pairs’ conversation.
“Looking forward to more discussions about important issues in the near future,” Trump wrote.
Trump may need the union’s support if he hopes to win in 2024.
Polling shows he’s got a slight edge on President Joe Biden in what will likely be their second electoral matchup, but the surveys show them enough that securing the vote of the union’s 1.3 million members could tip the scales in either direction. Biden, the first sitting U.S. president to ever join striking union workers on a picket line, earned the union’s endorsement in 2020.
Charlestown-native O’Brien was most recently in the news after publicly sparring with Oklahoma’s U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin. The Sooner state congressman, a former mixed martial artist, took issue with O’Brien’s social media posts and challenged him to a fight.
The November shouting match between Mullin and O’Brien never turned physical, but it led to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders getting in the middle of the battle as he started yelling and banging his gavel.
