The Teamsters don't appear to be having a great past few days. Following the news of one of their locals undermining the ongoing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike—and the withering criticism that has come from that—another big and bluntly cringeworthy Teamster decision has hit the headlines today. The union's national PAC appears set to donate $5,000 to Republican Senator Josh Hawley (who is seeking re-election this year in Missouri), according to Axios.
Now, strictly speaking, Hawley is much more "pro-labor" than most of his Republican counterparts. He has supported increasing the minimum wage and is, ostensibly, a proponent of a $15/hr minimum wage in certain circumstances. Hawley also appeared on the UAW's picket lines last year. But even confined to this Hawley has been deeply inconsistent: Hawley's spokesperson has said, in vague terms, that he supports right-to-work legislation. He also opposes public unions because they "for a long time have held government hostage, held vital government services for people hostage".
And, probably, you know Hawley for his multitude of non-labor takes: he called Roe v. Wade "one of the most unjust decisions" ever; he's a big fan of theocracy, saying once that "Scripture teaches that political government is mandated by God for his service and is one means by which the enthroned Christ carries out his rule..."; and he once claimed that human trafficking was a product of Hollywood and the sexual revolution. He was also a major participant in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, peddling falsehoods from day one about how the election was "stolen" by Joe Biden.
Evidently though, none of those positions (or attempting to end democracy, or not even being all that consistent on supporting organized labor) is disqualifying for the Teamsters! Not even if the Democrat nearly certain to take on Hawley in 2024 has the support of almost every other labor union in the entire state of Missouri and just last cycle ran on a platform that included "passing the PRO Act, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, strengthening the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and ending government-section pay discrimination against Americans with disabilities".
Perhaps not coincidentally and foreshadowing future swings to the right, earlier this year Sean O'Brien met with Donald Trump, even though Trump has been categorically anti-labor. Shortly thereafter the union gave $45,000 to the Republican National Committee's convention fund. According to Axios that was the first time the union had done this since 2004. What point all of this has—if any, and assuming it's not just Sean O'Brien and Teamster leadership selling out for people who hate them and want their union destroyed—remains to be seen.
