The Teamsters president's decision to speak at the Republican National Convention where Donald Trump is expected to win his party's nomination has outraged a large swath of members within the powerful union, the New York Times reports.
President Sean O’Brien's argument that his appearance in Milwaukee represents a "savvy" political maneuver reportedly has International Brotherhood of Teamsters leadership muttering union members' most deplored four-letter word: "Scab."
Teamster Vice President John Palmer went so far as to publish a scathing editorial Wednesday condemning O'Brien as a disgrace and Trump as an authoritarian leader comparable to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
"It is no surprise that Trump echoes language used by Hitler in Mein Kampf," writes Palmer. "Nor should we forget that labor unions and their leaders were among the early targets for elimination by the Nazi regime...If O’Brien is going to satisfy his ego, if he’s going to pander and beg for the Republicans to abandon their anti-union policies, then the Teamsters’ membership would be better served if O’Brien stayed home."
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Nor is Palmer alone in his condemnation of O'Brien's decision.
James Curbeam, the national chairman of the Teamsters National Black Caucus, has reportedly said, "We will not allow the working-class labor movement to be destroyed by a scab masquerading as a pro-union advocate after doing everything in his power to destroy the very fabric of unions."
But Teamsters spokeswoman Kara Deniz defended to the Times what the news outlet dubbed O'Brien's "open flirtation" with Trump.
“The Teamsters have never been afraid of democracy," Deniz reportedly said. "But self-interested ideologues — on the left and the right, within and outside the union — are terrified of democracy."
The Teamsters have not yet thrown official support behind either candidate, which O'Brien has argued is the normal procedure for the 1.3 million-member group.
“Historically the Teamsters union do not make an endorsement until after the respective conventions,” O’Brien told reporters after meeting with President Joe Biden in March.
But Politico describes the Teamsters as "a pillar of the Democratic coalition" and it was only under O'Brien that the union opened its doors to independent and Republican presidential candidates.
In his New Politics editorial, Palmer notes a recent poll found Teamsters still swing left and a majority do not support Trump.
"Trump openly attacks immigrants as criminals, an attack on many hardworking and loyal American citizens whom we as the Teamsters Union are proud to represent," Palmer writes.
"His party and his Supreme Court have struck down the rights women have had to control their own bodies and protect their own health and wellbeing. Trump and his party have endangered the physical and medical safety of the LBGTQ community by turning a blind eye to repressive state legislation. As Teamsters, we owe a continued commitment to these communities, especially to those who are our members."
