FOX Business Correspondent Lydia Hu reports on the latest on the longshoremen’s strike after speaking with International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold J. Daggett.
The President of the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Harold Daggett has jumped into the national scene as he conducts the negotiations of the union in its strike in American ports.
The ILA launched its first strike since 1977 early Tuesday with Daggett leading the charge after a six-year union contract with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port tenantsexpired.
Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), center, speaks with dock workers outside the APM terminal at the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, US, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
According to Daggett’s biography on the ALI website, he was first elected president of the union in 2011, and is currently serving his fourth four-year term at the helm after more than 60 years in the industry. The write-up credits him with winning “the basic defense of his ILA members against automatic attacks” over the past decade.
Daggett also served as president of Local 1804-1 for 14 years, stepping down in 2011 when he was named the local’s President Emeritus. The ALI bio notes that the union honored Daggett by erecting a statue of him outside the 1804-1 headquarters in North Bergen, New Jersey, in 2023.
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Union records from the Department of Labor show Daggett was paid $728,000 in wages by ALI last year, and another $173,000 from 1804-1.
Daggett’s eldest son, Dennis Daggett, currently serves as the senior vice president of the ILA and as the 1804-1 president. Dennis was paid salaries of $388,000 and $314,000, respectively, by the labor groups last year, it shows.
Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association speaks as shipping workers at Maher Terminals in Port Newark go on strike on October 1, 2024 in New Jersey. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
In 2017, the New York Times reported that “the Justice Department, which has lost two cases [Harold] Daggett, described him as an ‘associate’ with the Genovese crime family whose rise through the ranks of the union was part of a mob plan.”
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The Times also noted that, at the time, the ILA president owned a 76-foot yacht, the Obsession, and Daggett was seen riding in a Bentley by members.
News of Daggett’s salary and lavish lifestyle caught the attention of social media on Tuesday, and reports that the union leader sold his yacht last year prompted Elon Musk – one of the world’s richest men – to joke, “Dude had more boats than me!”
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