Teamsters’ Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference Endorses Harris-Walz Ticket
TOPEKA — The Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference of Teamsters has thrown its support behind Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, days after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters chose not to endorse any presidential candidate for the upcoming November election.
The conference highlighted Harris’ Senate voting history, Walz’s dedication to working families and the middle class, and both candidates’ robust backing of the labor movement as the main reasons for their endorsement. This decision aligns them with hundreds of thousands of other union members supporting the Harris-Walz campaign.
Comprising over 15 local unions and two joint councils located in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, the Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference and its executive board voted in favor of endorsing the Democratic ticket.
The Teamsters union, the largest in America, boasts 1.3 million members and nearly 2,000 affiliates nationwide. The Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska Conference represents about 400,000 active and retired members, working in diverse fields from zookeepers to airline pilots, as noted by the conference’s president, Mike Scribner.
“Union pride is strong in the heartland, and we need a president who is going to stand up to corporate greed and fight for the needs of our families and communities. The Harris-Walz team will do just that,” Scribner stated in the Sept. 20 endorsement letter.
The union’s internal polls initially favored President Joe Biden before his withdrawal from the race, with subsequent polls showing a majority leaning towards former President Donald Trump.
“A lot of people get wound up with the social issues and the social platforms and social distractions. …That’s not where the Teamsters’ attention is focused,” Scribner mentioned to Kansas Reflector.
He praised Harris for her decisive 2021 tiebreaking Senate vote, which allowed $36 billion in pandemic relief funds to be directed to the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Plan.
“That saved thousands from poverty,” Scribner emphasized, noting the critical impact of Harris’ vote on the multiemployer pension plan that had been near collapse for nearly a decade.
Although deviating from the national union’s stance, the local Teamsters’ endorsement of a Democratic ticket is consistent with their historical pattern. The union has backed the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 2000, leveraging its extensive network of workers, many of whom remained employed or worked more during the COVID-19 pandemic, Scribner explained.
“I don’t know if the average person realizes when you click a button on the computer, that’s probably a Teamster bringing what you ordered from start to finish,” he added.
Following the union’s announcement on Sept. 18 to abstain from endorsing a presidential candidate, there was criticism from its former president. Subsequently, several locals and conferences endorsed Harris. Scribner noted he’s received feedback from both supporters and critics of the endorsement.
“We are the Teamsters in the heartland. We are representatives for those Teamsters, and an endorsement says just what it says,” Scribner concluded. “No more, no less.”
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