If Unions Don't Want Members' Opinions, They Shouldn't Ask (Most Don't).
If Unions Don't Want Members' Opinions, They Shouldn't Ask (Most Don't).
Political pollsters (always quoted by media pundits) often gauge national trends with far fewer "likely voters" actually polled than the Teamsters members who were polled.
By Peter List, Editor | September 22, 2024
The controversy over the International Brotherhood of Teamsters non-endorsement of Harris-Walz is indicative of a bigger issue: Whether union members should have a say (at all) in choosing who their union endorses.
It turns out most on the left (including union leaders) do not want members' input, especially if members choose the "wrong way."
In the Teamsters' case, the union recently conducted a telephone poll which revealed that a surprising number of Teamster members preferred former-President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
The union's phone poll showed 58% of members backed Trump while 31% backed Harris. Six percent were undecided and 5% did not know. Trump's margin increased in the electronic member poll, with 59.6% of respondents backing him, compared to 34% who preferred Harris and 6.4% who wanted someone else.
“The results represent a significant departure from earlier polling with President Joe Biden in the race.” Just the News reported. “A Teamsters Union straw poll completed in early July showed Biden leading Trump 44.3% to 36.3%.”
Since the national Teamsters' non-endorsement, a number of Teamsters joint councils and locals have bucked the national union's non-endorsement and endorsed the Harris-Walz campaign (which is their right to do).
A "Sham" Poll?
There is considerable online discussion about whether the telephone poll conducted by the Teamsters is a "sham" poll or not, given only 20,000 members (out of 1.3 million) were polled.
However, political pollsters (who are often quoted by media pundits) often gauge national trends, with far fewer "likely voters" actually polled.
If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question.
By bypassing the national Teamsters' non-endorsement, it remains questionable whether any of those locals or joint councils have endorsed Harris-Walz have actually polled their members.
Most unions, including the AFL-CIO, endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket over the past year without ever bothering to ask their members which candidates the members supported and, if they did ask, no union did so as transparently and openly as the Teamsters.
While Teamster critics on the left and within the union movement may rightly be appalled at the non-endorsement of pro-union Harris-Walz endorsement because it does not comport with the union agenda, the bigger issue is: Should union members have a say at all in their unions' choosing of a candidate?
It seems the widely-held belief on the Left is a collective 'NO"...especially if it's the wrong choice.
There is certainly an argument that Trump is bad for unions, and Joe Biden has indeed been the "most pro-union President in U.S. history." However, based on the Teamsters' polls before and after Biden left the race, the members' favor toward Biden over Trump has not transferred to Harris.
If unions do not respect members' political preferences, that is not a movement that values its members 'voices.' Rather, it is a monolithic movement that puts partisan politics over its members.
And adding to the silliness of the whole thing is that the photo at least implies that RFK and West were both options. RFK has dropped out, and I can't even find anyone bothering to do polling on West. The one poll I could find shows that 60% of America have not even heard of West (and most of the 40% probably think it's Kanye - it's not). I don't blame Sean for wanting to keep his job and not piss off Trump supporting Teamsters. He's just usually a little less obvious.
The idea that a labor union would poll its members to determine who they would endorse is very weird to me. The IBT has its own goals, determined by the folks the Teamsters voted into office, and they would normally endorse the candidates that would help them accomplish those goals.
If anyone thinks that Trump as president would do anything to help the IBT organize Amazon (a top IBT goal), I don’t know that they’ve been paying attention.
The Teamster leaders that I know, who support Trump, are generally huge fans of the 2A and think that Trump will be better for the stock market and the economy. I think it is fair to say that they are supporting Trump because of their personal goals, and not what is best for the IBT or the labor movement.
The idea that labor unions should endorse based on who their members vote for in a phone poll is disingenuous in my opinion.
People are free to vote however they wish. Maybe their top issue is abortion, or gun control, or the border or whatever. They haven’t turned over their vote to the IBT.
The IBTs endorsement should go to the person who will best support IBT priorities. Not the winner of a popularity contest among IBT members.
You might as well ask the NRA to support a pro-gun control candidate because the results of a poll show that the number one issue of NRA members is something that Harris supports and Trump opposes, like abortion rights.