Thursday, October 03, 2024

Why an old photo of Trump, Longshoreman's president returned to prominence with strike

James Powel, Kinsey Crowley and Medora Lee, USA TODAY
Tue, October 1, 2024 


Images of the President of the International Longshoremen's Association meeting with former President Donald Trump circulated on social media as the union went on strike Tuesday.

The images are pulled from a July post on the union's website where union President Harold Daggett asked for members to "pray" for the former president in the wake of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

In the post Daggett recalled a 2023 meeting with Trump where the former president appeared to express support for the Longshoremen.

"We had a wonderful, productive 90-minute meeting where I expressed to President Trump the threat of automation to American workers," Daggett said. "President Trump promised to support the ILA in its opposition to automated terminals in the U.S. Mr. Trump also listened to my concerns about Federal 'Right To Work' laws which undermines unions and their ability to represent and fight for its membership."


The strike begins the same day as the vice-presidential debate and days after Trump, appearing at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, admitted to avoiding paying overtime.

“I know a lot about overtime,” the Republican candidate said Sunday. “I hated to give overtime. I hated it. I’d get other people, I shouldn’t say this, but I’d get other people in. I wouldn’t pay.”
Trump administration fought unions in office

Progress for many workers' rights issues was stagnant leading into 2016, and Trump tapped into that frustration, Celine McNicholas, policy director at nonpartisan research organization Economic Policy Institute Action, previously told USA TODAY.

"He was maybe the first Republican in a long time to kind of, like actually give some voice to that outrage," she said. "But I think it stops there."

She said he proposed cuts to worker protection agencies, and Economic Policy Institute called moves under his administration to overturn worker protections "unprecedented."

Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association speaks as dockworkers at the Maher Terminals in Port Newark are on strike on October 1, 2024 in New Jersey. Officials at 14 ports along the US East and Gulf Coasts were making last-minute preparations on September 30 for a likely labor strike that could drag on the US economy just ahead of a presidential election -- despite last-minute talks.More

"With the incredible flurry of activity that...came from the Trump administration, the chaos, I think, actually served to....obfuscate their actual progress on some of these anti-worker and anti-fair economy policies that they really consistently pushed forward," McNicholas said.

Despite the administration's reputation for being anti-union, the national Teamsters union withheld its endorsement from either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, though a slew of swing state locals independently endorsed the Democratic nominee.

The ILA has not announced an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race but put their weight behind then candidate Joe Biden in 2020.
What does the ILA want?

The ILA is looking for a 61.5% pay increase over six years, according to CNBC.

It's also concerned about automation. In June, it halted talks with port operator USMX over an automation dispute. In a release then, the ILA said “ILA President (Harold) Daggett made it clear that the union will take a firm stance against any technology that threatens ILA jobs.”

On Monday, USMX said in a statement that it had offered to hike wages by nearly 50%, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans, improve health care options, and keep its current language around automation and semi-automation.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photo of ILA's Harold Daggett with Trump circulates as strike starts

'Messy' dockworker strike is putting Trump in a bind: MSNBC analyst

Tom Boggioni
October 1, 2024 

The dockworker strike on both coasts of the U.S. is a problem for President Joe Biden as well as Donald Trump, who is banking on Teamster support for his third run for presidency.

That is the opinion of former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) who noted that the former president may feel "boxed in" when he tries to make hay out of the labor crisis just weeks before the election.

Speaking with "Morning Joe" host Willie Geist, the Missouri Democrat noted Trump's entanglement with Teamster boss Sean O'Brien who spoke at the Republican National convention weeks ago and subsequently refused to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, which led to a revolt among some local chapters who would subsequently offer their endorsements to the vice president.

According to panelist Andrew Ross Sorkin, "I don't know if you saw this statement from the Teamsters last night. And I think speaks to very thing about this election: It says the U.S. Government should stay the 'F' out of this fight and allow union workers to withhold their labor for the wages and benefits they have earned."

"I mention this because it is going to create a real divide and I think it is going to be interesting as we get close to the election how this administration and how Vice President Harris deals with this and labor, if you will, and what we see from former President Trump and how those things come together and how that therefore plays out on the public stage."

Asked for her opinion by host Geist, who observed Trump thinks of himself as a "big union guy," McCaskill replied, "It's messy and it could become a big problem in the election."

"Having said that though, Trump is kind of boxed here," she continued. "Because if Trump tries to take the side of big business and the shippers, he's got a whole bunch of rank-and-file guys in unions that are going to remain loyal to him, but if he comes out against the workers and say the government should stop the workers' ability to bargain, it's going to cause him real trouble."

"And the reason that the Teamsters are speaking up is because the Teamster leader is in trouble; he's in big trouble, because he didn't endorse Harris and he's got all these locals abandoning the national, which is unprecedented," she elaborated. "In my time in politics I've never seen locals abandon a national like they have in Teamsters. So this is messy and complicated."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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