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The demand was for a 77% pay increase. And then the union bosses nixed a 50% pay increase. In the meantime, we now find out that the union bosses themselves are raking in the cash.
As I wrote yesterday, this strike has brought fourteen ports along the eastern seaboard and the Gulf to a standstill. We are talking about nearly 50% of the goods imported into the U.S. now parked off the coast with nowhere to go. We are talking about a nearly $3-5 BILLION hit on our economy PER DAY.
It isn’t just the wage increases. The ILA Union absolutely does NOT want automation of any kind on the docks.
The contract that the ILA agreed to in 2018 prohibits fully automated equipment at the ports and requires sign-off from the union for any new semiautomated equipment. “There’s no point trying to negotiate a new agreement with USMX when one of its major companies continues to violate our current agreement with the sole aim of eliminating ILA jobs through automation,” ILA President Harold Daggett, who serves as chief negotiator for the union, said in a statement in June.
~Snip
Daggett is using the strike as leverage to make the rules around automation even more restrictive, and not just in the eastern half of the US. At a rally on the picket line on Tuesday, he signaled plans to organize port workers worldwide against automation. “When we finally do get a contract I’m going to go to Portugal with every union in the maritime to take these companies on over automation,” Daggett said through a bullhorn at the Port of New York and New Jersey. And if automation arrives at ports in Chile, “we’ll shut them down for three weeks around the world.”
Ok, so even some type of automation that helps the US ports run more smoothly and more efficiently is off the table. They want the old-school style of work. No one want to learn to code. Got it.
Let’s talk about the Union bosses who’ve been making these demands and, in my opinion, are so tone-deaf right now to the realities many along the eastern seaboard are facing in Hurricane Helene’s aftermath. Let’s talk about Harold Daggett.
Fiery union boss Harold Daggett has long cast himself as a staunch advocate for blue-collar workers, even as he has lived in luxury, owning a yacht and driving a Bentley — and fought off alleged ties to the Mafia.
Sporting a polo shirt with a chunky gold medallion around his neck, the 78-year-old Daggett, who as president of the International Longshoremen’s Association is leading the port strikes stretching from Maine to Texas, was prone to theatrical flourishes in a September interview as he geared up for the strike.
~Snip
Meanwhile, Daggett — has worked at the ILA for 57 years and took the helm as president in 2011 — raked in $728,000 in compensation last year from the ILA.
He collected another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch, according to labor department filings.
He lives in a 7,136 square-foot house valued at $1.7 million on a 10-acre lot in Sparta, New Jersey, according to Zillow and NJ Property Records.
So good ole Harold rakes cash to the tune of nearly a million a year. That’s a very nice chunk of change isn’t it? As the New York Post points out, OTHER union bosses at the Teamsters and AFL-CIO make significantly less than that. As in, they average only $300K a year. That’s a HUGE difference isn’t it??
Well, Harold is portraying himself as the savior to those hard-working longshoremen and indicated yesterday that he doesn’t give a damn about the Americans who are TRULY hurting right now because their homes are GONE.
President of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Harold J. Daggett, 100% means business:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 1, 2024
"People never gave a s*** about us until now. When they finally realized that the chain is being broke now … You know how many people depend on our jobs. Half the world! It's… pic.twitter.com/dQalTgbgsQ
The rest of that reads:
“People never gave a s*** about us until now. When they finally realized that the chain is being broke now … You know how many people depend on our jobs. Half the world! It’s time for them and time for Washington to put so much pressure on them to take care of us because we took care of them. And we’re here 135 years and brought them where they are today and they don’t want to share. We’re done.”
Things are about to get wild.
You know what Harold? I give a s**t about our economy. I give a s**t about Americans who are only just beginning to crawl out from under the water, mud, and muck that Helene blasted at them. I give a s**t about the small businesses and grocery stores who are waiting for the clothes/medical supplies/Christmas decor/food they purchased in good faith that is now sitting idle on a boat on the ocean because of your unreasonable demands.
And it isn’t just Harold who is raking in the cash. It’s the rest of the ILA union bosses, including Harold’s sons as well! This is a small sample.
International Longshoremen's Association president Harold Daggett's son Dennis was paid $467,664 in 2023 as ILA executive vice president. Dennis was paid another $318,213 as president of ILA Local 1804-1.
— Jason Hart (@jasonahart) October 1, 2024
Dennis Daggett's total 2023 pay: $685,877 pic.twitter.com/3zuXaTieXt
And
International Longshoremen's Association HQ paid assistant general organizer Alan Robb $417,956 in 2023. Robb was paid another $344,506 as president of ILA South Atlantic & Gulf Coast District.
— Jason Hart (@jasonahart) October 1, 2024
Alan Robb's total 2023 pay: $762,462 pic.twitter.com/35r60jhEzK
Check out the entire thread on X.
Keep in mind, these union bosses are cashing huge checks while shutting down the economy because they refuse to step into the 21st Century. And these same union bosses endorsed and have supported the Biden-Harris Administration to the tune of millions of dollars. Yet many in the rank and file are supporting the Trump-Vance ticket.
Let’s hope they’ve all saved for a rainy day. If this strike drags on much longer, they are going to and should lose support, BIG TIME.
Feature Photo Credit: Bundles of $100 bills via iStock, cropped and modified
George V says: I’m old enough to remember when the railroad unions fought automation, such as the original barcode for tracking freight cars. How many railroad workers are there today? And the auto workers fought automation, the automated welders, paint booths, and robotic assemblers. And the autos got their lunch eaten by the foreign manufacturers. And suddenly, in the 1980’s, there was a “partnership” between the auto unions and manufacturers where they had to learn to work together or go under.
Somebody, somewhere, will come up with an idea that will change ocean shipping and the longshoremen will wonder what happened to their jobs.
Right now I’m thinking that Montreal and maybe some Mexican ports are looking to ramp up, with the Canadian National Railroad bringing containers down from Montreal, and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern bringing them up from Mexico.
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