ILA President Harold J. Daggett Rallies Members in Port Newark/Elizabeth Strike Demanding Wage Increases and No Automation

NORTH BERGEN, NJ (October 1, 2024) At the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) President Harold J. President Harold J. Daggett joined thousands of fellow members outside the gates at Maher Terminal in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey and launched the first coastwide strike in the ILA in nearly a half century. He continued walking the picket lines at A.P.M. Terminals and Port Newark Container Terminal.

The ILA leader was joined by tens of thousands of ILA members setting up picket lines going up at all the major ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The ILA intends for the demonstrations to continue round the clock, 24/7, for as long as it takes for United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to meet the demands of ILA rank-and-file members.

“We are now demanding $5 an hour increase in wages for each of the six years of a new ILA-USMX Master Contract,” said ILA President Harold Daggett. “Plus, we want absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation, and we are demanding all Container Royalty monies go to the ILA.”

In a powerful demonstration of international solidarity, Bobby Olvera, Jr., President, International Longshore and Warehouse Union was standing beside ILA President Harold Daggett and ILA Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett, when the strike commenced at midnight. Bobby Olvera noted that a huge delegation of ILWU Hawaii members, included the ILWU’s newly elected Hawaii Vice President Brandon Wolff, were also present to proclaim their full support for ILA strikers.

“When we fight, we win,” ILWU President Olvera shouted to the ILA. “Brothers and Sisters, on behalf of all the members of the ILWU, from Alaska to San Diego, British Columbia, and most definitely from the Islands of Hawaii, the ILWU stand with the ILA. We are family- WE ARE ONE! Let one employer stand between us and see what happens. Let one Port Authority stand between us and see what happens. Let one elected official stand between the working men and women of the docks in North America and see what happens! The ILWU will stand with your International President (Harold Daggett), with Dennis (Daggett), and all of your locals up and down the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf. The ILWU stands with you Brothers and Sisters. SOLIDARITY!”

Jordi Aragunde, General Coordinator, International Dockworkers Council (IDC) also joined the ILA in person for the start of its strike.