Port Strike Leader Harold Daggett's Salary, Connection to Trump Harold Daggett, the leader of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), is facing criticism for his relationship with former President Donald Trump and his salary as the port strike continues. On Monday night, nearly 50,000 port workers agreed to strike after a collective bargaining agreement wasn't reached. The strike has the potential to halt imports to the United States and Daggett previously warned that it would "crush" the U.S. economy. Daggett has been president of the ILA for more than 10 years and earns a salary of $728,000, according to Politico. Daggett's salary has come under scrutiny since the strike started. Daggett also owns his home in New Jersey, where his primary residence is, and in Highland Beach, Florida, according to records reviewed by Newsweek. His Florida property was assessed at $1.38 million in 2023, according to records, and his New Jersey property was assessed at $2.36 million. John LeFevre, a former investment banker, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Daggett also recently sold his 76-foot yacht, Obsession. Elon Musk posted on X that Daggett had "more yachts than me." Federal prosecutors allege Daggett became a top union leader, in part, because he has ties to the mafia, Politico reported. In 2005, prosecutors accused Daggett of being a member of the Genovese crime family and charged him with being part of a RICO conspiracy. A jury found him not guilty on several of the charges in 2005.
I think this is going to backfire big time with this industry. Maybe the business owners agree to a bigger raise in the short term, but they'll make a quick decision this week to fast track automation investments right away. The threat of them losing their jobs permanently, and going from 25 dollars an hour to working at McDonalds this Christmas to pay for their kids presents will be a real wake up call, and these workers are going to hold this greedy union leader millionaire Trump supporter responsible for killing their jobs long term. Automation if done right can take years, but I'm willing to bet if these companies really wanted to they could have the Houston port fully automated by Summer. And the real repercussions will hit right in time for the mid-terms in 2026 the Democrats will be able to point directly at Donald Trump for his actions in blowing up a deal that killed jobs for thousands of workers just because he wanted to help himself win an election. This is just like Ukraine all over again where the tried to blackmail people with US interests just to help himself. After the election watch how fast those port workers fire this idiot, and cut a deal to try and save their jobs which are probably already lost by pulling this stunt. The corporations are probably on calls right now this morning getting proposals reviewed for automation equipment to get shipped out, and to get people trained asap.
according to a WaPo op-ed, that is the reason behind the strike. https://www.google.com/search?q=por...3OTc0ajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Automated ports can reduce the need for longshore labor by 50% Here are some ports with fully automated dock operations: Port of Long Beach, CA: The first fully automated terminal in the United States, with 10 ship-to-shore cargo gantry cranes. TraPac Los Angeles Container Terminal: Has four berths, two of which are automated, and an automated intermodal container transfer facility. Rotterdam: The world's first fully automated port terminal, which opened in 1993. Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA): One of the world's most modern container terminals at the Port of Hamburg. Nansha Port in Guangzhou City: The first fully automated container terminal in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area the major hub that supports Foxconn's main iPhone manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou, China
Yes - the current administration gets blamed. You are going to see political landmines laid out - especially by Trump. It is smart politically. The administration in power also has some ways to influence the election - it isn't coincidence that border crossing are way down. We will also likely see decreases in energy costs. Someone with the Trump team has figured out that getting increases female support is a lost cause, but is smartly going after black men and blue-collar men by causing a wedge with immigrants - that limited resources are going to immigrants, and that jobs are going to them. This is smart politically and it may be enough for Trump to win. It is almost a game of cat and mouse - Trump gets the Republicans to not agree to the Border Bill ....... Biden isn't aggressive on the border.... border crossings increase - politically the Democrats suffer because they do not connect the border crossings to the failed bill - Biden has to take action (including doing something he said was unconstitutional) - border crossings go way down before the election - Trump then responds by not targeting migrants crossing and plants the seed that the migrants already here are taking benefits from black people and is stealing jobs from blue collar workers. The parties are in the process of massive changes - long held voting blocs are starting to switch, and we don't know where everything will fall yet.
It's a good point. But it may take a month before the inflationary effect of the strike really gets felt in household budgets. It might be too late in the election cycle.
Biden/Harris will get the blame if this goes on very long, but his hands are tied. He could invoke theTaft-Hartley Act and piss off unions or he can do nothing and piss off everyone else. It is a lose/lose.
Of course it is. They want a legal guarantee that their jobs aren't going to be replaced. They are asking for an insane raise of 70% but they are really just putting that in the negotiation as a way to have something else at the table to negotiate with other than the main sticking point which is automation. But by doing this in the way they are doing it, they are just fast tracking their own job demise. Their jobs were going to be automated within 10 years anyways. They could use this time to negotiate better short term pay now with job training for future roles that'll come out of industry changes. There are more technical jobs that'll come out of these changes, and those workers could leverage this to bolster their workers skill development.
Dockworkers’ union to suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract one less October surprise for 2024
1. Those ports and importers made RECORD Profits during the pandemic. Why is it INSANE for these workers to ask for a fair share of it. That 70% won't mean the RECORD PROFITS go away. The companies will still have made more money than ever. Why are Americans so oppose to the little guys getitng anything but feel those at the top deserve everything? The negotiations to put a BAN ON AUTOMATION. If they get that . . . in 10 yrs they will have renegotiate to ban automation again (depending on the length of the deal) Changing industries is not easy or even wanted. The Ban on automation IMO won't be 100%. I think they can guantantee their jobs but the sticking point will be a reduction in future jobs. When people quit or retire they simply won't be replaced Extra Work with less Workers - When workers complain. .. he comes the majic bullet to the rescue. . . .. AUTOMATION!!!!! Oddly enough they are making significant inroads into Hispanics who are anti-integration. Rocket River
I definitely understand why the workers would be upset about it, and feel underpaid. I was merely speaking about the strategy that their Union leadership was looking like they were going to take. Obviously that was all hot air, and now bluffing so quick definitely puts future negotiations in a tough spot, and makes the union leader look kind of like a jackass especially with the TikTok campaign to expose him as a millionaire with a Bentley who is a Trump supporter. This has been a PR disaster for this guy, and will make it hard for the union to move forward with the January negotiation if this guy is leading that charge. Sounds like the union needs to just call up Mayor Pete who really is doing a badass job for a politically appointed secretary. But yeah putting the negotiation strategy asside, of course what these greedy CEO's are doing is ridiculous. Record profits, and price gauging the consumer along the way.... FCK them. However the dock workers have little LONG TERM leverage because there is automation/technology options that will get cheaper, and more efficient over time, and the fact is these workers do not have technically "back wheel" expertise that requires years of education, and unique skills. These are not teachers who most took out loans to get through college to become, and dedicated their lives to a particular set of skills, and requirements. Not saying the port workers have no skill at all, but in a capitalist economic system, they are on the low side of wage negotiation leverage vs. a skilled workforce that is equally as fcked over but also have irreplaceable value to our system. All of this union organization really needs to be better invested in jobs like teaching where they do have real leverage to force change in tax policy to fund education. If Teachers across America were organized to strike long term, they could bring the economy to a halt because nobody could work with their children out of school. The enemy would not be the state, but would be the federal tax policy where greedy corporations, and billionaires like Elon Musk pay nothing in taxes, and those taxes are what's necessary to pay for educators in the end. So that's a long way of me saying there's a scale here of negotiation power, and I think there are other industries that have way bigger grips, and more leverage if they decided to act. I get it, but the reality is it's capitalism. Unless we change our system the only real leverage we have at the end of the day is the threat of taxing them more if they are not contributing back to society as wealthy business leaders & investors. Unions should be protected of course as well which is something we can easily provide even in a capitalist society, but at the same time the unions need to be hiring people way better at their jobs than this jackass who I think really hurt their cause long term.
The 184-page memoir contains a mix of autobiography, score-settling and hype for her husband. https://www.thedailybeast.com/melania-trump-opens-up-about-whether-barron-is-autistic-in-new-memoir
"I am pro-choice and stand with my pro-life husband - so can you ladies!" -Melania Trump Manipulative
What I'd wanted to hear from Melania is why she did that stupid stunt with the "I Don't Really Care, Do U?" jacket. In her memoir, she takes the weaselly way out, saying it was a middle finger to the press for misrepresenting her and Trump. Given the context -- visiting the border while her husband was taking migrant children from their parents -- that explanation remains tone deaf and/or not credible. What's more, if she can't give a sincere answer about that, why would you expect anything else in that memoir to be sincere? Did she even write it, or was it a new job for one of Trump's disbarred former lawyers?
I don't know - the last speech she supposedly wrote was directly plagiarized. So if I had to guess, she did not write it and her husband had to approve everything in it. Who knows. I have always found her to be an enabled.
