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Teamsters union president said they wouldn't let him speak at the DNC because of "corporate elitists"

Sean O'Brien's appearance at the Republican National Convention in July surprised many, but he was unable to do the same in Chicago.

Sean O'Brien was not allowed to speak at the Democratic National Convention/ Andrew Caballero Reynolds.AFP

Published by
Joaquín Núñez

Many Republicans were surprised when they spotted Sean O'Brien at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Without endorsing Donald Trump, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) president spoke before Republican delegates and became the first to do so in 121 years. However, he was unable to do the same at the Democratic National Convention, where, he said,"corporate elitists" shut him out.

"Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party. 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," O'Brien said during the RNC in July.

However, the union man was not allowed to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Far from keeping quiet, he theorized about the decision to leave him out, considering that the Teamsters backed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020.

"It would have exposed those same corporate elitists who attack us every day"

"Both parties … I talked about corporate elitists, I talked about the Ubers of the world, the Lyfts of the world, I talked about Amazon at the RNC," O'Brien began in dialogue with Fox News.

"Well, those are big donor classes for the RNC, but they’re also big donor classes for the DNC. And you know, there’s relationships there at the DNC that maybe they didn’t want me to speak there because I would’ve talked to that same group, I would’ve exposed those same corporate elitists who attack us every single day," he added.

Michigan Senator Gary Peters did introduce some retired union members at the DNC and they took the stage to show their support for the Democratic ticket, although this does not signify an official endorsement by the union as such.

Kamala Harris is expected to meet with the Teamsters in the near future. Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman for the union of more than one million members, recently confirmed this. 

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