The Teamsters union on Wednesday said polling shows most of its members back Republican former President Donald Trump’s bid for a new term in the White House over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

The 1.3 million-member union said its executive board plans to announce later on Wednesday who it is endorsing in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The union said a national electronic poll of its members from July 24-Sept. 15 showed rank-and-file Teamsters voted 59.6% to endorse Trump compared with 34% for Harris.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      The billionaire who inherited millions from his dad and lived in a gold-plated penthouse in NYC and has been sued multiple times for not paying his contract work really understands the plight of the working man, you know?

      • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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        22 days ago

        They lap it up, too. It’s ridiculous that they push for a candidate that will actively work to create a world where these guys are paid less, but the greatest consequence these guys can get for their votes is his winning.

    • bamfic@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Because it is not about economics. It has never been about economics. Not in 2016, not in 2020, and not now.

      It is about misogyny and racism. And has been long before Trump too.

  • ganksy@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    …before Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race on July 21, members backed Biden 44.3% to Trump’s 36.3%.

    Now:

    …voted 59.6% to endorse Trump compared with 34% for Harris.

    Uh what??

    Sounds like they made up their mind at the RNC when Teamsters President Sean O’Brien gave his address. Hmm…

    Edit for clarity in the quote

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      23 days ago

      Can’t/won’t be led by a black woman (or any woman for that matter).

      I worked in a unionized saw mill previously and you have no idea how misogynistic places like that are … still … in the 21st fucking century.

      • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
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        22 days ago

        I think Hilary Clinton said it:

        The worst man is still favoured over the best woman.

        It’s something like that.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        23 days ago

        Yes I can, and just because it’s more concentrated in my area doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist everywhere else. I’ll say it again: civil rights are human rights.

  • halyk.the.red@lemmy.ml
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    23 days ago

    Interesting how this poll comes out at the same time as all these articles saying how the Teamsters Union has broken years of precident by not officially endorsing a presidential candidate.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    From what reporting I’ve heard, it’s an informal poll. If I had to guess, probably some google form that was emailed out to members. Given the leadership of the union spoke at RNC and praised Trump, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

    That said, still very possible uneducated, mostly male members support Trump for personal reasons, and honestly I don’t know how much that should matter. The endorsement actually should reflect whatever candidate has the unions interest in mind, which is why most other unions are supporting the obvious, pro-union candidate.

  • johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    Isn’t a party realignment spurred by culture war stuff exactly what trump’s broad strategy has been all along? I’m gonna guess that if you removed the fact that they are in a union, many teamsters members probably look a lot like typical trump voters.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      23 days ago

      The union did not immediately include other details about the polling, including how many members participated. Source

    • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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      23 days ago

      Historically, union workers were assured dem voters. This changed as the dems left organized labor out to dry.

  • Steve@communick.news
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    23 days ago

    Not surprised. Dems haven’t done enough lately for workers. They used to be THE worker party. But since Clinton, they’ve been nearly as deep into corpo pockets as Republicans.

    Even Biden sided with the railroad corpo’s over the union.

    I’ve said it before. Many Trump votes, are votes to blow up the system hoping for something new. Because it’s not working for the average person anymore.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      I’ve said it before. Many Trump votes, are votes to blow up the system hoping for something new.

      How did that work out in 2016?

      • DharkStare@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        They think when the chaos hits they’ll be the ones climbing the ladder instead of the ones being used as a ladder.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          One of the great collective sins of America is believing the lie that everyone can end up rich and successful and influential if they just try hard enough. Or just wish hard enough in some people’s cases.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        23 days ago

        Not well. But nobody (including Trump) ever expected him to win, and there was no real plan. Now they have Project 2025. This time things will go real bad if he gets elected.

      • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        Oh c’mon, he just said he would be dictator for a day! He didn’t mean it! Or he did and you should have known better. Whichever one is applicable come November.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        23 days ago

        The worse system is the blowing up. When things get bad enough, people will revolt to build a better system. The Jan 6th protesters imagined that’s what they were doing. But they were deluded or dumb or both. We’re not there yet. I hope we can avoid it.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      Even Biden sided with the railroad corpo’s over the union.

      Yes, because at that time further supply chain disruptions would have been disastrous for Americans.

      And what happened after that? The White House continued to work with the Union until they reached an acceptable compromise.

      The economy didn’t take another hit, the union is happy, and Internet commenters can cry “Corpo Biden!” with no included context as to what happened.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        23 days ago

        And that temporary disaster would have forced permanent improvements to pay and working conditions. Some pain now, for gains later. That’s how most everything works.

        Labor day is a holiday for all the people who died fighting for better working conditions.

          • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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            23 days ago

            Not everything.

            On Feb. 8, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote a letter to the leaders of six Class I railroads, urging them to guarantee at least seven paid sick days for all of their workers.

            “Last year, the companies you lead made over $22 billion in profits,” Sanders wrote, noting that they had cut 30% of the workforce over the last six years. “Guaranteeing seven paid sick days to rail workers would cost your industry just $321 million.”

            Russo is grateful that Sanders stepped in. “We truly compliment his effort to bring dignity to workers in the rail industry,” he said. “Without it, we very likely would not have gotten what we have gained today.”

            • Billiam@lemmy.world
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              23 days ago

              The union and the railroad reached an agreement they both found acceptable.

              The IBEW and BNSF Railway reached an agreement April 20 to grant members four short-notice, paid sick days, with the ability to also convert up to three personal days to sick days.

              They asked for seven sick days, they got four plus three convertible personal days for an annual total of seven. That’s a reasonable compromise.

          • Steve@communick.news
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            23 days ago

            Yah. Eventually they got a raise, and 4 whole days of paid sick leave. They still work skeleton crews on unsafe trains, with no power over their own schedule.

            Again. It’s not enough.

            Rather than taking another several months it could have taken a few weeks, and they likely could’ve gotten much more.

            • Billiam@lemmy.world
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              23 days ago

              So you’re not mad at Biden for continuing to work with the Union to get a deal both sides would find acceptable, you’re really mad at the union for voting to accept that particular deal?

              • Steve@communick.news
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                23 days ago

                I can be mad about more than one thing at a time.

                But Biden trying to help some after fucking them over. That’s kind of the bare minimum. I’d say I’m only a little disappointed in that.

                • Billiam@lemmy.world
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                  23 days ago

                  So to recap this sequence of events:

                  You’re mad at Biden because:

                  1. A bill that Congress passed preventing railroad workers from going on strike, because it put the good of the nation ahead of the good of the railroad workers.

                  2. Biden continuing to negotiate with the railroad unions for months afterwards.

                  3. The White House and the railroad unions agreeing to a compromise.

                  4. The unions voting to approve that compromise.

                  That about sum it up?

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      23 days ago

      What the hell are you talking about? The Inflation Reduction Act has tons of spending that goes to union labor. Biden’s tariffs also protect industries that have tons of union labor. What the fuck has Trump ever done to help unions?

      • enkers@sh.itjust.works
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        23 days ago

        I think what stands out to me is the growing use of legislative power to stop strikes and remove negotiating power from unions. The most recent major example being the then pending rail strike back in 2022.

        Sure Trump will be 10x worse, but the Dems really haven’t done enough to address the health and safety of these people, and to protect them from growing corporate exploitation.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        23 days ago

        I said “enough” not “nothing”. The Inflation Reduction Act goes to corpos first. Then whatever they can’t manage to skim off for themselves, will go to workers. It’s still a corpo first policy.

        Replacing the parliamentarian to push through the $15 minimum wage would have been better.

    • K3zi4@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      I would be surprised at the absolute stupidity of that, voting for the absolute corpo party in some bizarre protest, but you guys already voted him in for a first term so nothing is really surprising when it comes to the US anymore.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
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      23 days ago

      It’s sad that people are so myopic, they can neither see nor appreciate the plain truth when it’s in front of them. And I was one, and maybe in many ways still am. Regular people have no one representing their interests.