STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Labor unions have been especially active and involved in this year's elections.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
From the AFL-CIO to the Teachers Union, to the United Auto Workers and government employees, unions have overwhelmingly endorsed the Democratic ticket and are working to turn out the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. But one very large, very prominent union says it is sitting this election out.
INSKEEP: NPR's Don Gonyea is covering that story from Detroit, Mich. Don, good morning.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Which union is sitting this out?
GONYEA: It's the Teamsters. More than 1 million members - they will not endorse either candidate for president. And again, this is a union that has backed every Democratic nominee since Bill Clinton, including Joe Biden four years ago. The Teamsters president is Sean O'Brien. And he signaled early that this would be a different kind of year. In fact, he has been engaging with Republicans all along. In July, he spoke at the Republican National Convention. He gave a very pro-union speech, but he also praised Donald Trump. And recall this was just days after the first assassination attempt, the one in Pennsylvania.
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SEAN O'BRIEN: 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 SOB.
GONYEA: So a sign things to change, certainly. O'Brien also conducted a survey of his members, and yesterday they released the results of that, showing Trump to be the overwhelming favorite among the rank and file.
INSKEEP: Well, I suppose you could ask why the union would not have gone ahead and just endorsed Trump if most of the members seemed to lean that way.
GONYEA: Right. The polling wasn't the only thing. There were candidate interviews. At her session just this week, Harris said she would continue the pro-labor policies of the Biden administration. But again, she doesn't have the long history with this union that Biden has. Trump, meanwhile, hurt his own chances when he said in a public conversation with Elon Musk, that any worker who goes on strike should be fired. So we get this no decision.
INSKEEP: OK, so how does each campaign react now?
GONYEA: From the Harris campaign, a written statement - quote, "While Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career." Trump, meanwhile, just declared victory. At a speech in Uniondale in New York, he boasted that he won the Teamsters endorsement.
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DONALD TRUMP: Earlier today, I was honored to receive the endorsement of the rank and file membership of the Teamsters. I love the Teamsters.
GONYEA: Again, the official position of the Teamsters - there's no endorsement.
INSKEEP: OK, so no endorsement, but it's an endorsement that would have gone to Democrats in the past, and it's an unusually big union. So what does this mean in the campaign given their resources?
GONYEA: We are certainly going to see teamsters out working the campaign this year, but as part of smaller groups. There's the Teamsters National Black Caucus, which is already out organizing for Harris, and they've endorsed her. And Trump will have his backers, too, certainly, but it'll all happen piecemeal - no big United Teamsters' effort.
INSKEEP: Yeah, we have been hearing from some of the locals, the union locals, who said they will be for Harris. Don, thanks so much.
GONYEA: It's my pleasure.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Don Gonyea. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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