If Voting for Labor Is Your Objective, Then Choosing Harris-Walz Is a No-Brainer

I’ve been a teamster since I was 18 years old. Over the decades, I haven’t agreed with each and every decision announced to the public on behalf of my union by its national headquarters. That’s probably no surprise to anyone.

So, it’s probably also no surprise that I think IBT’s leadership made the wrong call on Wednesday, September 18, when they officially declined to endorse a candidate for president in our country’s critical upcoming election. But rather than Monday-morning quarterbacking, I’ll transform my disappointment into positivity and use my voice to empower the members who are reading this right now and might be on the fence about who to vote for on November 5.

I’ll ask those members to make what I believe in my head and know in my heart to be the only sensible choice for those of us who call ourselves trade unionists. I’ll ask them to cast their votes for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Why do I think members would be wise to vote this way? It’s simple — Harris and Walz represent the only major-party ticket in this upcoming election that is staunchly pro-union, let alone pro-union at all, and they have the track record to back it up.

I recall during Harris’ time coming up politically in San Francisco that she was a consistently outspoken advocate for working people and union members. Since as far back as her time in the City’s district attorney’s office, she never had an unkind word to say about our movement. Her unapologetically labor-focused voice carried through during her tenure as state attorney general and as U.S. senator, and she has continued to raise that voice reliably during her vice-presidency.

It’s not just talk, either. Harris has turned her pro-labor pedigree into political action when it’s mattered most.

One instance occurred a little over two years ago when she cast the decisive, tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Thanks to that legislation, an estimated 1.5 million well-paying jobs per year are being created over the next decade, according to the White House, with a good chunk of that work right here in San Francisco.

We’re talking once-in-a-generation types of projects offering big-picture, long-term employment on union jobsites all because Harris brought it home for labor.

It’s also crucial to note how vital Harris was in getting the Butch Lewis Act passed. That legislation rescued the pensions of half a million teamsters, as well as the pensions of another nearly-half-million union members nationwide, all of whom would have seen their benefits drop by nearly half by 2030 had the act not become law. Financial support for the Butch Lewis Act was made possible by a stipulation in the American Rescue Plan Act, another pro-worker, pro-union law Harris fought successfully to pass in 2021.

These examples only scratch the surface of Harris’ pro-labor resume. Walz, for his part, proves he’s the right guy for the job of pro-labor VP with his habit of showing up to picket in solidarity with striking unionists, in addition to a raft of impressive pro-worker mandates enacted while he’s occupied the governor’s seat in Minnesota.

Here’s the point: It’s our duty to assess our presidential candidates with a laser-focused labor lens and support those who are most likely to improve our lot and the lot of all U.S. workers. If you do that, then supporting the Harris-Walz ticket becomes the obvious and only option. It just makes sense — whether the teamsters home office wants to admit it or not.

So, let’s think for ourselves and about ourselves and vote in our interests rather than vote based on our emotions. It’s time for us to flex — to show our strength, solidarity, and leadership at the ballot box. It’s time to elect the next leaders of our country, and only we can ensure that they are the most pro-union administration possible.

Let’s do it.