I worked hard to elect Sean O’Brien. He is the right president for the Teamsters union. Donald Trump is the wrong president for my country—and I will work like hell to defeat him.

Labor Notes has chronicled our union’s new militancy, including the UPS contract campaign,  aggressive strike action, organizing at Amazon, and more.

A Trump victory imperils all of it.

In 2020, I was on the verge of losing my pension. Every single Republican Senator opposed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act. The election of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff with strong Teamster support saved my pension and the retirement of over 400,000 Teamsters across the Midwest and South.

MAGA Republicans have spread “right to work” like a cancer across the Midwest, backed NAFTA and job-killing so-called “free trade” deals, and gutted workers rights.

In my home state of Wisconsin, MAGA Republicans have made it illegal for elected local leaders to raise the minimum wage or to have project labor agreements that ensure that construction projects paid for with our tax dollars are done by union workers making living wages.

Organizing Amazon? Trump appointed union-busting attorneys to destroy the National Labor Relations Board and fought the joint employer rule that is giving workers the right to strike and picket Amazon for the first time.

Trump’s demonization of immigrants isn’t just immoral; it also makes it more likely that immigrant workers will accept sweatshop conditions and less likely that they’ll organize. The result is a race to the bottom that hurts everyone.

The MAGA movement’s attacks on abortion rights, trans people, African Americans, and truth itself fuels division and weakens solidarity, the lifeblood of the labor movement and of any decent society. The labor movement must be against anything employers can use to divide workers and pit one group against another.

Sean O’Brien has been accused of helping Trump and MAGA politicians cover up this record and rebrand themselves as the party of the working class.

The sad reality is that many Teamsters and other union members already buy Trump’s populist persona and rhetoric. It’s our job to engage with them.

O’Brien’s speech in prime time reached millions of workers tuned into the Republican National Convention. As he railed on against the Chamber of Commerce, corporate terrorism, Amazon, and right-to-work laws, the normally raucous Republican convention crowd got awfully quiet. Their silence spoke volumes.

The RNC is over. The fight to defeat Trump is just beginning.

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