Hoffa on Tea Party: 'Take These Son-of-a-Bitches Out'

Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr. speaks during a march and rally in Los Angeles March 26. (Reuters)

Cranking up the anti-Tea Party rhetoric, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa called on workers to "take these son-of-a-bitches out" as he warmed up a crowd Monday in Detroit ahead of President Obama's Labor Day speech.

The rhetoric coming from speakers at the event was already heated before Hoffa took the stage. Hoffa then declared there's a "war on workers" and vowed that organized labor would "remember in November" which lawmakers were opposing the president's agenda.

"We've got to keep an eye on the battle that we face -- a war on workers. And you see it everywhere. It is the Tea Party," he said. "And there's only one way to beat and win that war -- the one thing about working people is, we like a good fight."

Hoffa called on workers to get involved in opposing Tea Party-aligned lawmakers next November.

"President Obama, this is your army, we are ready to march," Hoffa said. "But everybody here's got to vote. If we go back, and keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son-of-a-bitches out."

On the same day as the rally, Hoffa co-authored a column in the Detroit Free Press that was highly critical of "right wing politicians in Congress." Labor leaders accused them of holding the country "hostage" in order to preserve tax breaks for the wealthy -- a reference to the debt-ceiling debate that lasted through much of the summer.

The union leaders called Washington's focus on deficit reduction "misguided" and urged Congress and the administration to put more energy into job-creation measures like infrastructure spending.

Obama, who is speaking at the rally Monday afternoon, plans to deliver an address on job creation Thursday before Congress.

Fox News' Ed Henry contributed to this report.