Photos from Teamsters's post

[T-Link Reporter]

Tonight in St. Paul, Minn., Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien spoke with rank-and-file Teamsters and students at Metro State University about the history of the 1.3 million-member union. He was joined by Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman to discuss the urgency for labor organizations to engage politically and aggressively with both parties to advance the interests of working people.



“An engaged and often angry labor movement is essential for a healthy democracy. But the extent of our engagement cannot be tied solely to the outcome of any election,” O’Brien told the crowd in the university’s Main Hall. “Organized labor has a choice to make. We can directly pursue goals through political engagement that will benefit our members and all working people. Or we can waste time putting our efforts behind candidates and political parties that make promises. We don’t want promises. We demand action. Whether we’re working to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act in Congress or pressuring city governments to prioritize the Delivery Protection Act nationwide, we must have skin in the game at every level. We must keep working together to build a new coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents who are ready to do what needs to be done to improve the lives of working Americans.”



O’Brien was joined at the university by Tom Erickson, President of Teamsters Local 120 and Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division, and Central Region International Vice President Danny Avelyn of Teamsters Local 554.



Metro State, which is home to hundreds of members of Teamsters Local 320 in Minneapolis, offers a Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership program where students can emphasize their studies in labor organizing and union advocacy. O’Brien’s speech on labor history, leadership, and politics followed one-on-one discussions with Teamsters who work on campus, faculty who help administer the school’s labor programs, and other students from across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.



Learn more about Metro State’s labor and political programs at https://www.metrostate.edu/academics...eadership-mapl









































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