Sean O'Brien

Sean O'Brien is an American labor leader who is the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He formerly served as the Vice President Eastern Region of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). O'Brien was the youngest person elected as President of Teamsters Local Union 25 and was the Secretary-Treasurer of New England Joint Council 10. O'Brien resigned from Local 25 and Joint Council 10 on March 1, 2022, in order to serve full-time as General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. O'Brien was sworn into office as the 11th General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the union's headquarters in Washington, D.C., on March 22, 2022. Early life O’Brien grew up in a Medford, Massachusetts Teamsters family, with his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all members of Local 25 in Boston, driving trucks. He has two sons, his oldest, Sean Jr. is a stand up comedian, while his youngest Joseph, is an athlete. O’Brien attended University of Massachusetts Boston for one semester before joining Local 25 in 1991. Teamster leadership In 2006, O’Brien was elected president of Local 25, and has been re-elected six times as of 2022. In the fifteen-year span of his presidency, the local’s membership has increased by 30%, notably organizing a group of more than 1000 parking lot attendants, many of whom were immigrants from East Africa. In 2013 O’Brien was suspended for two weeks for threatening members of the reform group Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) who were opposing one of his allies. O’Brien apologized and the lead TDU advocate in the episode later supported him.