Democrats lean on labor leaders to beat back union shift to Trump

Democrats are working to keep a critical voting bloc in their camp come November, and they are increasingly relying on union leaders for help.

Former President Donald Trump is hoping to build on gains he made with rank-and-file members of organized labor through his protectionist policies and attempts to paint the Democrats as out-of-touch elites.

But Democrats are seeking to counter those efforts by giving a big platform to the heads of unions, while seemingly punishing those who express openness to the GOP’s populist shift.

The strategy could be seen at the Democratic National Convention, where Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, led the crowd in calling Trump a “scab” and “lapdog of the billionaire class.”

“Kamala Harris is one of us,” Fain said in a Monday night speech. “She’s a fighter for the working class. And Donald Trump is a scab.”

Meanwhile, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was apparently snubbed from speaking at the convention, a decision largely attributed to his openness to Trump. He made waves in July for agreeing to speak at the Republican National Convention.

“I could take it personally, but I honestly think maybe my invitation got lost in the U.S. Postal Service,” O’Brien quipped to Fox News this week. “Next time they should try to ship with UPS — it’ll guarantee delivery.”

The Teamsters are a largely male union of 1.3 million members consisting of truckers and UPS drivers, a more Trump-friendly bunch than labor groups representing teachers or service workers.

While almost all non-law enforcement unions have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Trump campaign still believes it has an opportunity to make inroads by highlighting illegal immigration and the Biden administration’s rules on electric vehicles.

“Look, I think that my message to Shawn Fain and any other leader of the labor movement — who is the campaign, which campaign is actually going to protect the jobs of American workers, union and nonunion alike?” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) said Tuesday in response to a question from the Washington Examiner. “It’s the campaign of Donald J. Trump.”

Fain has become a bigger thorn in Trump’s side in recent weeks. His organization filed labor charges after the former president appeared to speak approvingly of X CEO Elon Musk’s reputation as a ruthless job cutter.

The feud has prompted a back-and-forth with Trump, who maintains that the union membership is with him even if the leaders are not.

“I watched this union head. He’s an incompetent guy,” Trump said on Tuesday at an event in Michigan. “Every auto worker here will be out of a job within three years if I’m not elected.”

Trump has an uphill battle to win over union support, but even marginal inroads could prove pivotal to the outcome of the election. His entrance onto the political scene has prompted lawmakers including Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) to take a populist turn. Both have both joined union picket lines over the last year.

“Some of Trump’s policies, like increasing tariffs, may appeal to some blue-collar voters in places like Pennsylvania, but could risk turning off middle-class voters who will pay higher prices for imported goods,” said Alex Conant, communications manager for Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) 2016 campaign. “If Trump can win union voters while not losing conservatives and swing voters, he will likely win a second term.”

Christian Ferry, deputy campaign manager for John McCain, similarly saw an opportunity for Republicans.

“The populist shift in the Republican Party has definitely made the fight for union members more competitive,” he said. “Democrats have shown through their convention programming that the union vote is not one they are taking for granted.”

The DNC did have other Teamsters members take the stage Tuesday night, with a big group pledging their support to Harris. Still, Dan Bowling, who teaches labor courses at Georgia State University, said the Democrats cannot take the union vote for granted given Harris does not have the same blue-collar appeal as President Joe Biden.

The Teamsters are reportedly considering not backing either major party candidate in the election.

“Refusing to let the Teamsters president speak is a major diss, and probably not a wise one,” Bowling said. “Attracting union voters for a California lawyer (Harris) is very different than for a Scranton Joe with a union background.”

Nonetheless, left-leaning groups believe Democrats still have the upper hand. The Center for American Progress released a report at the end of July finding that union support has only increased for the party since 2020.

O’Brien’s speech at the RNC has threatened to make him a pariah of the Left. He said at the convention that he was considered a “traitor” for the move. But he maintained in his remarks that he’s looking for support for his union members, not from any particular political party.

“The Teamsters are not interested in whether you have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ beside your name,” O’Brien said. “We want to know one thing — what are you doing to help American workers?”