Today, the Center for Union Facts (CUF) released a new report on how two major unions affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) – use member dues to fund their one-sided political agenda.
The Teamsters President, Sean O’Brien, has continually made public efforts to portray the union as middle of the road, requesting speaking engagements at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and recently praising the Trump Administration’s Labor Secretary.
Now, labor leaders requested a newly penned Executive Order from President Trump mandating a board mediate disputes between unions associated with the Long Island Railroad, including BLET, and the New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in order to avoid a strike.
“The Teamsters union and its president, Sean O’Brien, continually make a show of crossing party lines and working with the current president,” said CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello. “Don’t let their rhetoric fool you. The Teamsters’ own political advocacy skews almost completely to the left, and now we know the same is true for its major affiliates.”
CUF examined the BLET and BMWE’s LM-2 financial filings from 2022 – 2024 with the Office of Labor and Management Standards (OLMS) to offer a transparent look into the union’s financial priorities and how it spends members’ dues dollars. You can learn more here. The full report is available here.
Highlights from the report include:
- The DNC and aligned organizations received $89,420 from BLET and BMWE.
- Over $11 million was spent on consultants and lobbyists.
- Nearly $130,000 spent on special interest groups such as Vote NO on 1 and an organization advocating for a Medicare-for-All system.
- While $0 was spent on bipartisan and GOP-aligned organizations.
The report is part of CUF’s ongoing education effort to ensure the public and union members have access to transparent information regarding union spending. Read our previous report on Teamsters political advocacy spending here.