MILWAUKEE — The president of the Teamsters union may yet emerge as a key surrogate for President Trump in the 2024 election after he delivered a barnburner speech Monday at the Republican convention — an address that railed against “corporatists” and the “elites” and during which he demanded strong protections for unions and those hoping to join a union. 

Teamsters president, Sean O’Brien, a brash Bostonian, was well-received by attendees at the opening day of the 2024 RNC, at many points receiving thunderous applause from party apparatchiks who themselves may not even have imagined that they would be cheering for a big union boss one day. 

Mr. O’Brien, who has led the union since 2021, thanked Trump at the top of his remarks for “opening the RNC’s doors to the Teamsters union.” He said he had asked to address both the Republican and Democratic conventions, but no announcements have been made yet about a planned speech at Chicago next month. 

“I travel all across this country and meet with my members every week. You know what I see? An American worker being taken for granted — Workers being sold out to big banks, big tech, corporations, and the elite,” Mr. O’Brien said. 

“We are not beholden to anyone or any party,” he added, praising those Republicans who stepped beyond the party line to work with him for paid sick leave for those who work for American rail companies. He gave a special shoutout to Senator Hawley for their extensive meetings and the senator’s appearances at both Teamsters and United Auto Workers picket lines. 

Mr. O’Brien also praised Senator Vance — who was unveiled Monday as Trump’s chosen vice presidential candidate and likely successor in 2028. 

The union boss’s reception did not peter out throughout his speech, despite its length. He spoke for 18 minutes straight — more than triple the five-minute speeches given by members of Congress earlier in the day. 

Mr. O’Brien said he wanted nothing less than a “bipartisan coalition ready to accomplish something real for the American worker.”

He also decried the “anti-union groups” in the GOP,  and “the left” in the Democratic Party who called him “a traitor.”

“President Trump had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican convention, and that’s unprecedented,” Mr. O’Brien said, praising Mr. Hawley especially for his “pointed questioning of corporate talking heads, lawyers, CEOs, and apologists.”

Mr. Hawley, at a recent Senate committee hearing, received much praise online for his criticisms of the chief executive of Boeing who has overseen a dramatic fall in the company’s stock price in the wake of high-profile machine failings, and his subsequent pay increase that totaled more than $30 million just last year. 

One of Mr. O’Brien’s less well-received lines was his attack on two staunchly Republican-aligned business groups. “We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable what they are: they are unions for big business,” the union president said, to little applause. 

Mr. O’Brien spent much of his address demanding that the “elites” be taken down by his bipartisan coalition, singling out Amazon, which now has a market capitalization larger than the gross domestic product of Australia. “Elites have no party, elites have no nation. Their loyalty is to the balance sheet and the stock price at the expense of the American worker,” he said. 

“The men and women who provide goods and services — deliver packages, stock grocery shelves, care for patients, pick up your trash, and keep our communities safe — are taken for granted. All the while, the stock market booms, housing prices hit record highs, and corporate salaries skyrocket, but the income of everyday Americans is shrinking in the face of inflation,” Mr. O’Brien said. “This has got to change.”

Mr. O’Brien was an unlikely speaker for this convention, not only because of his role as a union boss that would typically be aligned with the Democrats, but because of his recent spat with Senator Mullin. Mr. Mullin, a decorated mixed martial arts fighter, dared Mr. O’Brien to “stand your butt up” at a Senate hearing this year after the union president criticized the senator’s paycheck as a business owner. 

“To paraphrase Senator Markwayne Mullin: It’s time for both sides of Congress to stand their butts up,” Mr. O’Brien said. 

Towards the end of his remarks, he called for what he called a pro-union agenda that could be supported by his ideal bipartisan coalition in Congress. That agenda includes protectionist trade policies, incentives for companies to operate in America, end the offshoring of jobs for increased profits, and “meaningful bankruptcy reform” to protect companies from firms that are “feasting” on those that are struggling. Protections for labor unions and those who want to join unions are top of mind, he said. Current corporate practices are nothing less than “economic terrorism”, Mr. O’Brien said. 

“The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations!” Mr. O’Brien thundered. “What could be more important to the security of our nation than a long-term investment in the American worker?”