When pressed by resident sycophant Senator Rand Paul over her endorsement of the PRO Act in Congress, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer backed off her support for the provision repealing state “Right-to-Work” laws. In response, Sean O’Brien not only doubled down on the Teamsters’ endorsement of Chavez-DeRemer but stated he’s working with Senator Josh Hawley in creating a version of the PRO Act that “may not include” repealing of “Right-to-Work.”

In the same interview, ironically on anti-worker Fox News, O’Brien stated, “That’s the beauty of having conversations with people from the other side, where you can collaborate and actually find out what works for that state, what doesn’t work for it—but more importantly, what’s going to work for the American worker.” This statement insinuates that “Right-to-Work”, a notorious union-busting tool promoted by oligarchs to maintain the open shop may work in some states.

Sean O’Brien is the poster child of the modern misleaders of labor, his hollow capitulation on “Right-to-Work” is his latest abandonment of the working class. The closed shop, something our class-oriented forebears fought—and in many cases were murdered for—should be the standard we fight for. Instead of fighting the ravages the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 has leveled against the American labor movement Sean O’Brien is now falling in line with the capitalist bosses.

LUEL saw potential in the Teamster’s non-endorsement in last year’s presidential election as a potential shift towards independent labor political action. Unfortunately, without a strong rank-and-file movement leading the way for an independent labor party, the misleaders of labor, led by Sean O’Brien, are using any potential momentum towards further entrenching “labor-management cooperation” at a time when the capitalist class is intensifying its attacks on the working class.

The post EDITORIAL: Sean O’Brien Continues Selling Out Workers as He Embraces So-Called “Right-to-Work” first appeared on Labor Today.

Sean O’Brien’s comments during his interview with Sen. Josh Hawley stating that “people are trying to protect illegal aliens that come here and commit crimes … and steal jobs” gives cover for the bosses to continue pitting workers against each other. Harold Daggett credited Trump with being a “true friend of the working class” after securing a tentative Master Contract in early January. Fain spent so much time at the DNC calling Trump a scab and how he will hurt workers to then support his tariff plan.

Right now is the time when unions need to be working towards independent political action, not tailing the Democrats or Republicans. O’Brien’s speech at the RNC in July 2024 was welcomed, not because Republicans are going to be a party for workers, but because it represented an opening in our ability to reach conservative workers with a class-oriented message.

The lack of an independent labor party in the United States means that inevitably there will be a rightward shift as more people pull away from the Democratic Party. Misleaders like O’Brien, Daggett, and Fein only encourage a rightward drift even more with their sloganeering about “protecting American jobs”. Fain’s comments may not have been xenophobic like O’Brien’s, but a tariff war and attack on immigrants both objectively help the bosses. The working class needs unity now the most, not more division.

The post EDITORIAL: Misleaders of Labor Drift Rightward Towards Trump first appeared on Labor Today.