By Free Republic | Created at 2024-10-02 13:51:03 | Updated at 2024-10-03 19:23:51
1 day ago
The Longshoreman’s America-threatening leader is a yacht-owning millionaire with allegedly unsavory connections
American Thinker ^ | 10/02/2024 | Andrea Widburg
Posted on 10/02/2024 6:44:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As of today, the International Longshoreman’s Association (“ILA”) is on strike at 45 ports along America’s eastern and southern shores. It is demanding a huge wage increase and the end of automation. Harold Daggett, the ILA’s president, has gone on record saying, “I will cripple” America. Even assuming the normal posturing in these negotiations, that’s a singularly ugly threat. Although Daggett successfully pushed back against DOJ charges that he’s a member of the mob, that has a “mob-like” feel.
The ILA’s demands are simple (emphasis mine):
The union is demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation at ports regarding cranes, gates and moving containers in the loading and unloading of freight.
According to those who purport to know, the ILA wants to have wages increased by 76% over the next six years. The United States Maritime Alliance (“USMA”) has countered with a 50% wage increase and triple pension contributions, which sounds good.
However, the real issue is that total ban on automation. My bet is that the ban is why the USMA is offering so much. That’s because it’s assuming that ports will have many fewer employees over the next few years thanks to automation.
In that regard, the ILA is the 21st-century Luddite. The Luddites were a 19th-century British movement that fought against industrialization in the textile industry. They knew that coal-powered machines would mean fewer jobs and lower pay for textile workers. They responded to this threat to their livelihoods with violence.
However, there was nothing the Luddites could do to stop this inexorable progress. Admittedly, the British government was not inclined to side with the workers over the manufacturers, but the reality is that technology, whether for good or ill, cannot be stopped. If it makes things happen better and faster for less money,
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: harolddaggett; longshoreman; port; strike
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Although he presents himself as a working stiff fighting the big guy, Dagget, the leader is an extremely wealthy man:
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.
By comparison, his fellow union bosses at the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and autoworkers unions earn less than $300,000 a year, according to a Politico report.
Daggett formerly owned the Obsession – a 76-foot yacht – and his family reportedly saw him zipping around in a Bentley, according to The New York Times.
1 posted on 10/02/2024 6:44:56 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
To: All
2 posted on 10/02/2024 6:47:22 AM PDT by escapefromboston (Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.)
To: SeekAndFind
Poor timing. The ILA should have delayed this strike to show their support for the residents in suffering in the path of destruction from Helene.
3 posted on 10/02/2024 6:48:16 AM PDT by shotgun
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