The Real News Podcast · The Real News Network

Sean O’Brien sold workers and unions out to Trump—these Teamsters are running to oust him.

·1 hr 8 min·4 clips

Hooker says the UPS contract win was blunted by layoffs, automation, and shorter hours.

1. Working People covers Sean O'Brien, Donald Trump, and the Teamsters' political strategy during the second Trump administration. 2. Host Maximilian Alvarez speaks with Richard Hooker Jr., secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia and a candidate for general president, and John Palmer, a Teamsters vice president at large and candidate for general secretary treasurer. 3. The episode asks whether O'Brien's outreach to Trump and Republican officials helped Teamsters members or left them exposed. 4. Alvarez reads from Hank Kennedy's Current Affairs article, which says O'Brien has 'shepherd[ed] the lambs of the American working class straight to the slaughter.' 5. Palmer says O'Brien criticized Hoffa for the same kind of behavior before doing it himself, and he ties that pattern to Trump's attacks on TSA workers and federal workers. 6. Hooker says the Teamsters received 'not the PRO Act' and 'not a repeal of right-to-work laws' after backing Trump-aligned politicians. 7. Alvarez presses both guests on the 'teamsters versus everybody' slogan and asks whether it has produced any gains for members. 8. Hooker says the union has gained 'not one thing' from Trump and argues that the leadership's support has not helped Amazon Teamsters, Hollywood Teamsters, or federal workers. 9. Palmer says members are asking how to pay rent, mortgages, and health care costs while buildings close and jobs disappear. 10. Hooker says many workers now have fewer hours, longer commutes, and lost health care, even after major contract headlines. 11. Palmer says the Teamsters have become 'the laughingstock of the labor movement' because other labor leaders do not understand the leadership's choices. 12. Hooker says O'Brien was elected after workers felt Hoffa had sold them out during UPS negotiations. 13. Hooker says the promise to 'bring UPS to their knees' resonated because UPS 'harass[es],' 'intimidate[s],' and 'retaliate[s]' against workers. 14. Palmer says the 2023 UPS contract produced a wage increase, but the gains were weakened by no automation protections, subcontracting, and Roadie taking work. 15. Hooker says part-timers who expected more hours instead saw schedules cut from 25 hours to 12 hours a week in some cases. 16. Palmer argues the union needs education, grievances, strike preparation, and a plan for automation and AI, not 'helmet and chin strap' speeches. 17. The conversation is direct, combative, and heavily driven by back-and-forth questioning from Alvarez. 18. Both guests speak in a rank-and-file organizing style that mixes frustration, shop-floor examples, and political critique. 19. Listeners interested in Teamsters politics, UPS organizing, and labor strategy. 20. Listeners wanting neutral labor-news analysis without union-internal detail.

As heard by us

A direct labor-politics review that keeps the focus on workers, union leadership, and the Texas realities underneath both.

The conversation puts Sean O'Brien's alignment with Trump-era politics front and center, then keeps asking a basic question: who does Teamsters leadership answer to, and what do members get asked to swallow in return?

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Why you'd press play

If you want Teamsters politics stripped of spin and tied to worker harm.

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