Pittsburgh Teamsters backing Harris, despite national union remaining neutral

WASHINGTON — Even as the national International Brotherhood of Teamsters is remaining neutral in the presidential race, the Pittsburgh-based Teamsters Joint Council No. 40, representing 14 locals and 35,000 workers, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

It's one of several Teamsters organizations nationally to do so, including in Philadelphia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

Ms. Harris cast the deciding vote to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus law — which included funding to save the pensions of Teamsters in Western Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden's stimulus law, enacted over unanimous Republican opposition, included around $80 billion to help financially troubled pension plans serving around 2 million workers, retirees and other beneficiaries, including 150,000 Pennsylvanians.

The law restored benefits that had been cut 20% in 2019 for around 15,000 workers covered by the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Pension Plan.

It also funded full benefits for the National Integrated Group Pension Plan, a plan serving multiple private employers with 48,250 participants — including 6,700 Pennsylvanians, many of them in Western Pennsylvania

And it restored full payments for at least 20 years for the Pittsburgh-based IUE-CWA plan, which had been facing insolvency by 2030. The plan serves close to 14,000 workers and retirees in the manufacturing industry, including 2,400 in Pennsylvania.

In declining to endorse either Ms. Harris or former President Donald Trump, General President Sean O'Brien said "neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business. We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members' right to strike —but were unable to secure those pledges."

In a poll taken after the national conventions, union members backed Trump over Ms. Harris, 58% to 31%, the Teamsters said.

Mr. Biden used his power under the Railway Labor Act to impose a contract on freight railroads and avoid a nationwide strike in December 2022. Congress approved the settlement, which did not include the sick leave that unions wanted.

Early in Trump's term as president, his administration dropped efforts to require railroads and trucking companies to test employees for sleep apnea if symptoms were observed. Driver fatigue had been among the National Transportation Safety Board's most wanted safety improvements.