by Andrea Widburg
The irony is that all this muscle is being used for an industry that is inevitably going to fall before technological advancements.
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, a form of evolution will operate, and the machines will take over.
I’m not saying this in a nasty “learn to code” way. Every time an industry is phased out, individual lives are destroyed, and that’s tragic. But that tragedy will not stop society’s demands for things that are better and more affordable. And if the government steps in, it will only pervert the economy in a way that harms everyone.
Daggett is today’s Luddite, and one can see that from his threats. While history’s Luddites used to destroy machines, Daggett openly threatens to destroy the entire U.S. economy:
"I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does."
— Brother Mikey (@BrotherMikeyX) September 30, 2024
Harold Dagget, Chief Negotiator for the International Longshoremen Association, threatens to cripple the US economy with IMMINENT port strike.
In a recent interview, Harold explains the impact of what will… pic.twitter.com/ImySIQrXoy
Those are exceptionally ugly threats that go far beyond the usual posturing. So, what gives? Who is Harold Daggett?
Although he presents himself as a working stiff fighting the big guy, he 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.
Even Elon Musk is impressed:
Dude had more yachts than me! https://t.co/eg2v6QhIlw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2024
But there’s more to Daggett than just money. There are also those alleged mob ties:
The Justice Department, which has reportedly lost two cases against Mr Daggett, has accused him of being an “associate” of the Genovese crime family — one of the infamous “Five Families” of the US Mafia.
Charged with racketeering in 2005, Mr Daggett, took the witness stand and portrayed himself as a mob target, despite evidence against him from a turncoat Mafia enforcer saying he was under the mob’s control, the New York Times reported.
During that trial, one of Mr Daggett’s co-defendants, a renowned mobster named Lawrence Ricci, disappeared. His decomposing body was found in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey diner several weeks later, with the killing still unsolved.
Despite his union serving as a historic symbol of the grip of organised crime on union members, as depicted in the 1954 film “On the Waterfront”, Mr Daggett was acquitted in both cases.
Daggett claimed discrimination drove the charges:
The union leader has previously criticised the Waterfront Commission, set up to combat Mafia control of the port, calling the allegations of mob influence “total bulls---”, and a “dark, ugly attack on Italian Americans”.
“It’s a damn tragedy for the Waterfront Commission to enjoy free rein and target Italian Americans as part of their historic anti-worker campaign. Let’s be real here. The Waterfront Commission has, for decades, claimed good jobs went to only those with so-called ‘mob ties,’” he said in 2022.
Let’s hope that Daggett’s threats do not come to fruition. Indeed, I’ll give you a silly alternative scenario.
In two weeks, just when people are getting nervous, but before too many pro-Trump votes have been cast, Kamala will ride in and save the day, per a secret backroom deal. No one will remember that Biden was too ineffectual to prevent the strike. The media, though, will be sure to say that if Kamala can face down the ILA, she’s the woman to face down China, Russia, Iran (if it isn’t already a smoking ruin), and North Korea.
Do I think that’s really what’s going on? No, but it’s a fun theory.
As for the rest of you, stock up on essentials. This could get ugly fast.
Image: X screen grab.
Andrea Widburg
Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/10/the_longshoreman_s_america_threatening_leader_is_a_yacht_owning_millionaire_with_allegedly_unsavory_connections.html
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