Teamsters chief's RNC speech turned heads. Here's the take from union nemesis Scott Walker
It was onstage in Wisconsin's largest city last week that Teamsters president Sean O'Brien delivered a rousing speech to the Republican National Convention — the first time the union's leader had done so in its 121-year history.
It was 80 miles to the west, in the state's Capitol, that Wisconsin was catapulted into international focus less than 15 years ago — the result of bombshell legislation from Republican then-Gov. Scott Walker called Act 10, effectively gutting public employees' collective bargaining powers.
But Walker, now president of Young America's Foundation, sees a home for union workers in today's Republican Party, likening them to the "Reagan Democrats" of the 1980s. In fact, he noted, one of former President Ronald Reagan's biggest rallies was at Milwaukee's Serb Hall.
"Reagan Democrats are very much like blue-collar, working-class Americans who, today, feel forgotten, and they see a champion now, not only in Donald Trump, but particularly after hearing about JD Vance's life — a guy who, like sadly, a lot of people in this state, have family members dealing with addiction to drugs, living in poverty. These are the people who feel forgotten," Walker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"So to see someone like the Teamsters head, whether I agree with everything he says or every prescription he has for the future, is irrelevant to the fact that he's identified that his workers feel forgotten, and Donald Trump can appeal to them," Walker said.
O'Brien's speech in Milwaukee was among the most talked about among convention attendees — one of several convention speakers to represent voting blocs that have not traditionally supported Republicans.
Neither the union nor O'Brien has endorsed a candidate. O'Brien emphasized in his speech, which anchored the first night's program, that the union is not beholden to any political party. He noted, however, that it has previously supported Republican candidates.
"I want to be clear at the end of the day: The Teamsters are not interested in whether you have a D, R, or an I next to your name," he said in his speech. "We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?"
Some elements of O'Brien's speech were better received by the GOP crowd than others. His characterization of the Chamber of Commerce as a union for "big business," criticism of companies like Amazon and Walmart and calls for changes to labor law were met with less enthusiastic applause than, for example, his praise of former President Donald Trump's response to surviving an assassination attempt (calling him "one tough S.O.B.") and for Republican lawmakers (including Trump's since-announced running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance) who support policies benefiting workers.
Vance, for his part, said in his Wednesday night speech accepting the party's nomination that the country needs "a leader who’s not in the pocket of big business, but answers to the working man, union and nonunion alike. A leader who won’t sell out to multinational corporations, but will stand up for American companies and American industry."
Trump, in his Thursday night acceptance speech, mentioned unions twice, first accusing "illegal aliens" of taking jobs away from Black Americans, Hispanic Americans and union workers.
"The unions are suffering because of it," Trump said.
Later in the evening, Trump said United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain should be fired for letting carmakers build factories outside the country.
"Every single autoworker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump because we’re going to bring back car manufacturing and we’re going to bring it back fast," the former president said.
O'Brien drew criticism from other union members, including from within the Teamsters, for speaking at the convention.
John Palmer, a Teamsters Vice Preisdent At-Large from Local 657 in Texas, wrote ahead of the speech that O'Brien's appearance at the RNC "only normalizes and makes the most anti-union party and President I’ve seen in my lifetime seem palatable."
"It is unconscionable for any Labor leader to lend an air of legitimacy to a candidate and a political party, neither of which can be said to have done, or can be expected to do, anything to improve the lives of the workers we are pledged to represent," Palmer wrote.
Others were less strident in their responses. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten wrote on X that she was glad O'Brien addressed the convention "and glad that he savaged big business for their greed."
AFL-CIO president accuses GOP of 'window dressing' with Sean O'Brien speech
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said she thought O'Brien was trying to show politicians that unions will stand with candidates who support their workers.
"If you note, he pivoted hard to corporate greed, which made the whole place feel extremely uncomfortable. And that was right," Shuler said. "I think they needed to have their attention called to the fact that Trump's policies enrich corporations and are rewarding his billionaire friends with tax cuts, and the fact that people can't form a union freely because corporations will harass and intimidate people at every turn."
Shuler described Republicans' invitation to O'Brien as "window dressing" and "a political strategy that someone's cooking up to try to cause confusion."
"The choice is clear: we support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, because they've supported us," said Shuler, who spoke before Biden's blockbuster announcement Sunday that he was withdrawing from the race and throwing his support to Harris to lead the ticket.
Bernie Sanders calls Joe Biden 'strongest pro-union president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt'
Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, held three events in Wisconsin geared toward union members.
In an interview at the time with the Journal Sentinel, Sanders noted Biden made history as the first president in the country's history to walk a picket line, joining United Auto Workers in their strike outside Detroit last year.
Stephanie Soucek, a first-time delegate from Sturgeon Bay, first got involved in politics during the 2012 attempted recall of Walker in the wake of Act 10, the law that severely curbed unions' power in Wisconsin.
"I actually really appreciated (O'Brien) being willing to come and speak," Soucek said. "I'm one of those people that, if I disagree with someone on a few areas, that's OK with me. I don't need to agree 100%. So I might not have totally agreed with everything he said, but overall, I appreciated his message, and we certainly want people to be able to be successful at their jobs and have those certain protections in place for workers."
The convention highlighted the party's efforts to reach voters who haven't traditionally supported Republicans, Soucek said.
Dane County Republican Party chair Brandon Maly noted that, in addition to O'Brien, influencer Amber Rose spoke during the first night of the convention.
"Name a Republican Party convention where two individuals like that would have spoken," Maly said. "I think we need voices like that that broaden the tent of this party. It was really great to see."
Democratic National Committee spokesperson Addy Toevs in a statement said Trump and Vance are "out only for themselves and their wealthy friends and donors while pushing their Project 2025 agenda."
Project 2025 is a series of policy plans to dismantle and reconstruct the federal government, developed by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. Trump in recent weeks has sought to distance his campaign from Project 2025, though a number of officials with ties to Trump's presidential administration have been involved in crafting the document.
"While President Biden has fought to reduce costs, Trump's Project 2025 agenda will only raise prices for working families," Toevs said. "The contrast is as clear as night and day."
Act 10 saved the state billions of dollars and took away much of the say government employees had in their workplaces, kicking off a rapid decline in union participation. Four years after the law passed, Republicans also approved a right-to-work law that limited the power of private-sector unions.
The law's passage launched a wave of recall elections. Walker, its architect, became the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall challenge, and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch became the first lieutenant governor to face one, as well as the first to survive one.
A 2022 analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found that, since 2000, no state saw a larger decline in the proportion of its workforce that is unionized than Wisconsin — a significant development in the state that served as the birthplace of AFSCME and was the first to allow public-sector unions to negotiate contracts in 1959.
A Dane County judge earlier this month ruled that provisions of Act 10 are unconstitutional and denied a motion to dismiss a case challenging it., but has yet to issue a final decision. The outcome of the case is certain to be appealed and likely would head to the state Supreme Court.
In the most recent Marquette University Law School poll, released last month, union households in Wisconsin were split evenly between Biden and Trump, with 12% undecided.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].
Laura Schulte of the Journal Sentinel contributed.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Teamsters leader's RNC speech turned heads. Here's Scott Walker's take
