Teamsters president Sean O’Brien delivered a fiery address to close out the first night of the Republican National Convention, castigating big businesses and corporate lobby groups for “waging a war against American workers” — and calling for labor law reform.
While the Teamsters have endorsed Republican presidential candidates previously, a union president had never spoken at an RNC before.
- “It’s an honor to be the first Teamster and our 121 year history to address The Republican National Convention,” O’Brien said.
- He called for bipartisan action on labor reform. A stunning move at a partisan event — amid a party traditionally opposed to unions. He even called out the GOP for its opposition to labor.
It’s Clear that the “Status Quo” is and has done nothing for American working families. Whether Republican or Democrat, the cost of living has gone up at a far greater rate than wages have for far too long. This trend hasn’t slowed down regardless of who is in the Capitol. Corporate earnings and “shareholders interests” rule the roost, all while the working class gets deeper and deeper into debt. Americans see their purchasing power eroded by the Federal Reserves endless printing and that has the most direct effect on fueling our vehicles, buying groceries or paying for rent. Foreign entanglements for billions and billions of dollars, along with financially unsustainble immigration policies that have flooded many cities with an unmanageable number of immigrants have done little to curb Americans from believing that their bank accounts somehow aren’t affected by the Washington D.C. lack of common sense.
Will this shift in the sentiments of Americans move the country in a different and more unified direction? Only time will tell, but at this point what more does the country have to lose? We can only hope and pray that we all can come together on the most common and unifying issues and pressure our elected officials to deliver.