Western Pennsylvania Teamsters Endorse Harris

The council representing 35,000 Teamsters across Western Pennsylvania has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, breaking with the decision of its parent union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, not to endorse a candidate in the presidential race, Ryan Deto reported for TribLive.

Carl Bailey, the joint council’s board president, said the vote by board members to back Harris, the Democratic candidate, over GOP nominee Donald Trump, was unanimous. I Photo: PA Conference of Teamsters

Teamsters Joint Council #40 covers more than a dozen locals across Pittsburgh, Jeannette, Cambria County, State College, Erie, New Castle, Washington, and Uniontown.

Carl Bailey, the joint council’s board president, said the vote by board members to back Harris, the Democratic candidate, over GOP nominee Donald Trump, was unanimous. Bailey explained that the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters endorsed Harris because “she is the best for our locals and the best for unions.”

He cited Harris' support for the PRO Act, a bill aimed at expanding labor protections for workers across the country, even in states with anti-labor organizing laws.

Bailey also praised Harris and President Joe Biden for helping save the pensions of Teamsters, including local members, as part of federal aid during the pandemic. “We will never forget that,” Bailey told TribLive on Wednesday.

The Western Pennsylvania Teamsters' endorsement contrasts with the national Teamsters union, which represents 1.3 million members and has endorsed neither Harris nor Trump.

Bailey criticized Trump’s record on organized labor, stating, “I think if Trump wins again, he will go after us even more. I don’t think he cares about working people. He used to brag about having people fired. My job is to keep people from being fired.”

Bailey, a retired McKeesport police detective, also took issue with Trump’s treatment of U.S. Capitol police officers following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, describing Trump as an “egotistical bully.”