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Trump Supports ILA in Automation Fight

[ December 19, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

President-elect Donald J. Trump expressed strong support for longshoremen and the International Longshoremen’s Association it its negotiations with terminal operators, following a two-hour meeting Dec. 12.
Trump met with Harold J. Daggett, ILA president, and Dennis A. Daggett, ILA executive vice president at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago office in Palm Beach, Florida. The ILA is negotiating with the U.S. Maritime Alliance Ltd., or USMX, which represents maritime industry employees and port terminals stretching from Maine to Texas, on a new six-year deal after the previous contract ended Oct. 1.
The two sides have met four times in mid-November, but dock workers broke off talks when USMX included wording about automation at the ports – a key issue for the ILA. The two sides have not met since and face a looming Jan. 15 deadline for a new contract.
Some 47,000 ILA dock workers went on strike Oct. 1, the union’s first large-scale work stoppage in 50 years. ILA workers returned to the docks Oct. 3 after reaching a tentative agreement with USMX on a 62 percent wage increase over the six-year deal, and the two sides agreed to meet to discuss other issues.
The conflict over automation has been a perennial issue, both during current negotiations, as well as a key negotiating point in previous contracts.
Following his meeting with the Daggetts, Trump reposted a Facebook message from Dennis Daggett on his Truth Social account, praising the president-elect for being “attentive to our needs … receptive and genuinely engaged in a discussion about the existential threat automation poses”
“There has been a lot of discussion having to do with ‘automation on United States docks,” President Trump wrote. “I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.”
The USMX released a statement Dec. 12, thanking Trump for his support of “the importance of American ports,” and the collective goal among Trump, the ILA and USMX of “protecting and adding good-paying American jobs at our ports.”
that the terminal operators look forward
However, the USMX repeated the need for “modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains. ILA members’ compensation increases with the more goods they move – the greater capacity our ports have and goods that are moved means more money in their pockets.”

Tags: Donald J. Trump, ILA