Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, gave Monday’s keynote speech as the first boss in the organization’s 121-year history to address the RNC.
“Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to any one or any party,” O’Brien said. “We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition, ready to accomplish something real for the American worker. And I don’t care about getting criticized.”
In recent years, the Teamsters have endorsed Democrats for president. But O’Brien said he doesn’t believe in “knee jerk” union loyalties. The organization has yet to endorse a candidate for president.
“The American people aren’t stupid they know the system is broken,” he said. “We all know how Washington is run. Working people have no chance of winning this fight. That’s why I’m here today. Because I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did.”
Several months ago, O’Brien said he asked to speak at both the RNC and Democratic National Convention. Trump invited him to speak, he said.
“President Trump had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican Convention, and that’s unprecedented,” he said. “No other nominee in the race would have invited the Teamsters into this arena.”
At the end of the day, O’Brien said, the Teamsters aren’t interested if a candidate has a “D,” “R” or “I” next to his or her name.
“President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of hearing from new, loud and often critical voices, and I think we all can agree, whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what happened to him on Saturday, he has proven to be one tough S.O.B.,” O’Brien said.
