When the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike loomed, we noted what was at stake with an Oct. 1 strike. Here we are, days after ILA President Harold Daggett put 45,000 workers on strike at 36 Gulf and East Coast ports, thereby halting 60% of U.S. shipping traffic. A 3-5 day backlog is accruing at ports with billions in damages. If the strike lasts a week, expect ripples for six weeks.
Of course, the strike could end by the time you read this article, so let’s spend our time here considering Daggett’s beef with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) representing shipping companies.
The union chief has been ratcheting up his rhetoric with an already infamous quote: “I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means.”
Oh, it gets worse. In the video address below, Daggett (after the 15:00 mark) brags about how his strike could cause retail and construction layoffs after a few weeks. He sounds absolutely giddy about collapsing the economy for his own ends.
In that video, Daggett is wearing a gold chain while boasting about collateral damage to U.S. workers. It’s tone-deaf and peculiar behavior at best. Even Shawn Fain knows better than to cheer about innocent parties being laid off during his motivational trashcan speeches. Still, Daggett only “cares” about pushing his members’ six-figure salaries higher.
Well, that last sentiment could be rephrased: Daggett wants to boost his members’ wages because ILA dues are paid by a percentage of hourly wages. When members make more money, the ILA collects more, which goes toward Daggett’s unbelievably hefty paycheck. In 2023, he received a $900,000 salary ($728,000 last year as int’l president plus $173,000 as a local president emeritus) in 2023.
Meanwhile, Dockworker members of the ILA have a current top base hourly wage of $39 per hour. With overtime and benefits in the mix, these workers can make $150,000 – $200,000 annually. Yet Daggett is demanding 77% raises over six years, much more than the 32% raises that West Coast dockworkers, represented by the Longshore and Warehouse Union, received in 2023 after their day-long strike.
He also refuses to waver on automation: “[W]e want absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation.” Yet the previous ILA Master Contract did allow for automation with limits if “both parties agree to workforce protections and staffing levels.”
As Labor economist Lila Palagashvili writes on Substack, Daggett is holding the economy hostage in a world where technological advancement is unavoidable, and he is making “extortive demands.”
Daggett’s thug-like behavior perfectly illustrates why media outlets, from the WSJ to the New York Post, are calling attention to his “alleged” mob ties.
Should we check in with what Sean O’Brien and the Teamsters wish to add to this subject? Sure: “The U.S. government should stay the f**k out of this fight.” This isn’t surprising from a union chief who pulled an endorsement stunt because he wouldn’t mind crippling the economy for a strike, too.
For the record, Biden declared that he had no plans to suspend the strike via the Taft-Hartley Act. And now we wait.
