Teamsters President Sean O’ Brien has completed a whirlwind visit to the north of Ireland which saw him meet labor and political leaders and visit the homeplace of his ancestors in Inishowen, Co Donegal.
Leading 1.3 million Teamsters, the hard-pressing O'Brien is America's best-known labor leader — a reputation burnished by his address to the Republican Party Convention in Milwaukee last July.
While the South Boston native and life-long Democrat refused to endorse the Trump presidential bid, he signalled that his approach to a Republican Presidency would be to put his workers — who range "from Air-pilots to Zoo-keepers" — first.
While O'Brien has visited Ireland before, this was his first visit north of the border and to his great-grandmother's ancestral home on the rugged Inishowen peninsula in Co. Donegal.
Cathaoirleach Cllr Niamh Kennedy welcomed Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien home to Donegal during a special reception held on Tuesday, March 11th 2025, at Donegal County Council's Chamber in Lifford.
The event brought together elected members, officials, union… pic.twitter.com/PSqTQfbZw1
— Donegal.ie (@Donegal_ie) March 12, 2025
On a visit to the James Connolly Centre in West Belfast, which has won significant support from American labor unions, he received a special life membership of the center from West Belfast MP Paul Maskey.
O'Brien won the presidency of the union in 2022 in an insurgent campaign boosted by his pledge to turbo-charge recruitment and organizing efforts. Since then the union has been revitalised and grown by 80,000 members.
O'Brien told the Fall Road reception that the relationship between labor in Ireland was set to go "from strength to strength".
"We were able to reset this organization as a grassroots organization focusing on our 1.3m members," he told the audience at the James Connolly Center, "but we are also determined to have an international commitment too.”
He added: "Our greatest battle at the minute is our struggle to unionize Amazon. They are located all around the world, including here in Belfast, so labor needs to be organized in every global location as well." READ ALL ABOUT IT! Sean O'Brien and Gerry Adams catch up with the latest news on the Falls Road in West Belfast
Referring to the $30bn deal the Teamsters struck with UPS last year, he said a similar win at Amazon would transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of exploited workers.
President O'Brien told the Irish Echo his lightning visit to Ireland was "extremely educating".
"Meeting so many leaders and so many different political leaders has been fascinating for me."
The Teamsters chief travelled to Belfast direct from Dublin Airport on Monday morning, meeting the Minister of Finance at Stormont John O'Dowd that afternoon before travelling to the Portview Business Park on the loyalist Newtownards Road which is run as a not-for-profit by a trade union-affiliate.
We were delighted to host General President of @Teamsters Sean O’Brien and a delegation of Trade Union activists to Áras Uí Chonghaile for a reception with local community, civic & Union leaders
Continuing to strengthen partnerships & build workers solidarity across the Atlantic pic.twitter.com/w0hK6PFZPW
— Áras Uí Chonghaile | James Connolly Visitor Centre (@JamesConnollyVC) March 11, 2025
On Tuesday, he was guest of honor at a Belfast City Hall breakfast hosted by Lord Mayor Micky Murray before meeting up with Gerry Adams in West Belfast to interview him for his 'Better Bad Ideas' podcast. That afternoon, he was feted at a reception in the Co Donegal Council chamber, later meeting the Mayors of Derry and Donegal.
Before departing for the States on Wednesday, O'Brien was able to make an early-morning visit to the homestead of his great-grandmother Margaret McGrory (b. 1888) who emigrated to the US at the end of the 19th Century. He travelled from the McGrory homeplace to Buncrana library where he met staff who provided him with documentation about his McGrory ancestors — including great-uncle Michael McGrory who was imprisoned by the British in 1921 for IRA activities.
