California Teamsters Council Backs Harris-Walz in Break With National Chapter

Two West Coast councils of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz presidential ticket late Wednesday. The endorsement was part of a rush by regional and local Teamsters to throw their support behind the Democratic ticket following a decision by the national leadership to forgo an endorsement altogether.

Workers “deserve a committed administration that will relentlessly advocate for their rights, ensure their safety, and prioritize the needs of working people,” said Chris Griswold, president of Joint Council 42. Together with Joint Council 7, the two unions represent about 300,000 workers in California, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

The decision by national leadership not to back the Democratic candidate is both a break from most other major unions and decades of Teamsters endorsements. The Harris-Walz ticket racked up Teamsters endorsements from joint councils in key swing states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, following the announcement.

For Bill Gould, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and professor of labor and employment law at Stanford University, the non-endorsement from national Teamsters leadership was “ludicrous” because Harris and former President Donald Trump’s records on labor stand in stark contrast to each other.

“Trump has been antagonistic towards organized labor and created the most anti-labor National Labor Relations Board ever,” Gould said. Meanwhile, the Joe Biden and Harris administration has been very pro-labor, he said.

Sean O’Brien, Teamsters president who made the recommendation to the executive board to forgo a presidential endorsement, is “an interesting character. We just don’t really know the entire background of how this all came about,” Gould said.

In a statement, Teamsters executive leadership said it had considered nationwide polling of its members that favored Trump over Harris but “found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee.” Earlier polling had favored Biden before he withdrew from the race.