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Who is Harold Daggett, the union leader behind the dock strikes?

Who is Harold Daggett, the union leader behind the dock strikes?

FOX Business correspondent Lydia Hu reports the latest on the longshoremen’s strike after speaking with International Longshoremens Association President Harold J. Daggett.

International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) President Harold Daggett has thrust himself into the national spotlight as he leads negotiations for the union over its strike at ports across the United States

The ILA launched its first strike since 1977 early Tuesday, with Daggett leading the attack after the union reached a six-year contract with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents it Employer in the portExpired.

International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) President Harold Daggett, center, speaks to picketers outside the APM container terminal at the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, USA, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to Daggett’s biography on the ALI website, he was first elected as the union’s president in 2011 and is currently in his fourth four-year term at the helm after more than 60 years in the industry. The article credits him with winning “groundbreaking protections for his ILA members from the effects of automation” over the last decade.

Daggett also served as president of Local 1804-1 for 14 years, stepping down in 2011 when he was named president emeritus of the local chapter. The ALI biography states that the union honored Daggett by erecting a statue of him in front of the 1804-1 headquarters in North Bergen, New Jersey, in 2023.

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Department of Labor union records indicate that Daggett received a salary of $728,000 from ALI last year and an additional $173,000 from 1804 to 1801.

Daggett’s eldest son, Dennis Daggett, currently serves as executive vice president of the ILA and president of 1804-1. According to the filings, Dennis received salaries from the working groups last year of $388,000 and $314,000, respectively.

Harold Daggett speaks at a workers' rally

Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, speaks as longshoremen strike at the Maher Terminals in Port Newark 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 lost two cases against… [Harold] Daggett has described him as a “confidant of the Genovese crime family, whose rise to the union ranks was part of the Mafia’s plan.”

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The Times also noted that the ILA president owned a 76-foot yacht, the Obsession, at the time, and Daggett had been seen by members driving a Bentley.

News of Daggett’s salary and luxurious lifestyle gained attention on social media on Tuesday, and a report that the union leader sold his yacht last year prompted Elon Musk – one of the world’s richest men – to joke: “That guy had more yachts than “me!”