Trump, meeting with the Teamsters, denies criticizing possible border deal over politics. He’s trying to get some union imagery going on a trucker protest weekend
But the overture captured the challenge he faces in convincing voters to look past his own record as a businessman, when he said he preferred nonunion labor, and as president, when his appointees to the National Labor Relations Board consistently sided with management. Trump’s attendance on Wednesday — in response to an invitation that the Teamsters extended to all presidential candidates — drew backlash from some union members. One executive board member refused to attend and called Trump a “known union buster, scab and insurrectionist.”
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Trump’s sanguine account of the meeting was undercut in remarks that immediately followed from Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who praised President Biden even as he left open the question of an endorsement to be decided by members later in the year. O’Brien said the meeting did not include any concessions, commitments or surprising answers from Trump. He was joined by two members who identified their top priority as opposing “right-to-work” laws, putting them at odds with Trump’s support of laws that allow employees in a unionized workplace to opt out of financially supporting the union.
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Former President Donald Trump is making a push to shore up support from a historically Democratic voting bloc: union workers.
On Wednesday, Trump met with members of the Teamsters union's leadership as well as rank-and-file members in a roundtable discussion at their headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The group, which represents 1.3 million workers including technicians, film and television workers and law enforcement officials, has yet to endorse in the 2024 election but backed President Joe Biden in 2020.
Speaking with reporters after the closed-door meeting, Trump said he had a "productive" meeting with the union.
"We had a very strong meeting with the Teamsters," he said, adding that he's employed thousands of Teamsters union workers and that he's had "great relationships" with Teamsters leadership including President Sean O'Brien, praising them as "great leaders."
Trump stopped short of saying he expects an immediate endorsement, as "they never do that," but still expressed confidence: "I think we have a good shot at them.
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