Steelworkers in Pennsylvania defied union leadership to support former President Donald Trump as the country hurtles toward Election Day.
Ahead of Donald Trump’s remarks at a rally Monday evening in Pittsburgh, members of the United Steelworkers Union, which has its headquarters in the city, stood in lines waiting to catch sight of the GOP presidential nominee. During Trump’s speech, USW workers flanking him in the background and wearing hard hats joined the thousands of supporters roaring as he said, “We’ve been waiting four years for this.”
“He saved us once with tariffs,” said Ron Anderson, a steelworker. “He’s gonna save us again.”
Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to enact tariffs on Mexico and China if he wins the election, arguing they have stolen jobs from American workers and helped turn former manufacturing hot spots like Detroit into ghost towns.
Anderson’s comments in support of Trump’s economic plans mark a clear departure from USW’s move to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in July.
The powerful labor union — which holds 1.2 million retirees and members — at the time touted the VP as a “crucial part of the most pro-labor administration of our lifetimes, backing innumerable initiatives to help advance the interests of working families.
However, many members disagreed with the leadership, including a local group in Pennsylvania, Steelworkers for Trump, which credited Donald Trump with saving their jobs.
Steelworkers aren’t the only union members splitting with their union bosses over the former president.
While the Teamsters, one of the most potent U.S. labor unions, refused to back VP Harris, it has declined to endorse Trump, despite internal polling released in September showing 59.6% of its 1.3 million members backed Trump.
In the meantime, allies for Trump have touted internal support from the United Auto Workers Union, who endorsed Harris formally in July.
Trump allies have touted internal support by the UAW
“We were talking to [UAW] auto workers all summer, four of five months, and I would ask them, I do my own poll, ‘What’s it like inside? Are they voting for Trump? How’s our support?'” said a Trump surrogate during a recent Warren, Michigan, campaign rally.
“They’d say ‘majority.’ You got 65 or 70%. We’re not voting for Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris. …UAW members are voting for Donald Trump,” he continued.
Vice President Harris continues to boast support from most labor unions countrywide, with a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America introducing her at a Monday Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania event.
“We have to put everything we’ve got into fighting for Kamala Harris in these final hours because the stakes for workers in Pennsylvania are too high not to,” said union member Glen Arthur as he welcomed the vice president to the stage.
Still, the International Association of Fire Fighters’ and Longshoremen’s Association’s move to withhold an endorsement from the Harris campaign has top Democrats grumbling.
“The rank-and-file union members is one thing. The leadership in unions that’s more political than what I’m doing right now. They have to cover their butt on their things,” said Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is VP Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, said during an appearance on Mondays SmartLess podcast. “And I’m as frustrated as you are on this.”
With millions of voters, including many Pennsylvania union workers, heading to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots, former President Trump holds a thin edge over Harris in the Keystone State.
