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Dem Donor Union Boss With Alleged Mob Ties Fights Biden Over Dock Worker Strike
Harold Daggett is many things: a union man, a New Yorker, and, according to federal prosecutors, a one-time “associate” of the Genovese family — although his alleged mafia ties have never held up in court.
Today, Daggett is best known as the boss of the International Longshoremen’s Association, which is threatening to strike next week and shut down dozens of East and Gulf Coast ports, upending the economy just weeks before the election. About 45,000 dock workers will walk off the job on Tuesday if port ownership does not meet the union’s demands on wages and port automation.
The potential strike pits Daggett against his erstwhile political allies in the Biden-Harris administration. The ILA has donated more than $1.6 million to Democrats on Daggett’s watch, and more than $8 million to Democrats in total. Daggett, who previously endorsed President Joe Biden, has donated at least $1,500 to Democrat candidates. But Daggett has begun lashing out at Biden as negotiations break down between the union and the White House.
Daggett is a third-generation member of the union. He was head of the powerful New Jersey union, Local 1804-1 before becoming head of the entire International Longshoremen’s Association in 2011. He made $728,000 last year as union president, plus another $173,000 as president emeritus of the New Jersey local, POLITICO reported.
Federal prosecutors in 2004 alleged a mob conspiracy to elect Daggett head of the union. Daggett denied the accusations, saying he had worker support, and he was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing. But Daggett is still alleged to have ties to the Genovese crime organization — one of the infamous “Five Families” of the American Mafia — “in a separate but related racketeering case that has been lingering in court for nearly a decade,” POLITICO reports.
Daggett has been warning a strike is coming for months since negotiations broke down over the summer. But until recently, the industry did not appear to be taking him seriously. With only four days left to negotiate, that’s starting to change.
Some have speculated that Daggett is angling for a better contract in order to boost his son’s chances of succeeding him as head of the union. Dennis Daggett currently heads the New Jersey local his father previously led, and is also executive vice president of the dock workers union.
The union boss predicted that a strike would bring the economy to its knees, saying that in the first week, the strike would be all over the news. The second week, car salesmen would be laid off, and the third week, malls would start closing down and construction workers would be laid off, he said.
“In today’s world, I’ll cripple you,” Daggett said earlier this month in a video post. “I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means.”
The International Longshoremen’s Association declined to comment for this story.
Daggett’s description of how fast the economy would buckle is likely exaggerated, but the economic turmoil would be vast and could complicate things for Vice President Kamala Harris, who has struggled to convince voters that she can fight inflation and fix the economy.
A strike would affect nearly half of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade each month. Everyday items, from frozen meat and bananas, to coffee and Christmas decorations would see slowdowns. Americans could experience supply chain disruptions through election day and well into the holiday season, and shortages could cause price spikes just as families are trying to recover from sky-high inflation.
Nevertheless, the Biden administration has indicated it will not step in and stop the strike — even though the president has the authority to block a strike of this size, which threatens national security.
Daggett rails against robots taking jobs away from dock workers and is pushing for about 60% higher wages, although some estimates put the number closer to 80%.
“These companies are making billions of dollars,” he said in a recent interview. “They should take us along. We brought them to where they are.”
“Someone has to get into Congress and say, ‘Whoa, timeout, this world is going too fast for us, machines got to stop,’” he said. “Who’s going to support [workers’] families? Machines? Machines don’t have families.”
Daggett has recently turned on President Joe Biden, criticizing him for helping the West Coast dock workers’ union avoid a strike last year.
“Where is the president of the United States? He’s not fighting for us,” Daggett continued. “In LA he told the union, hurry up and get a contract. That’s the mentality they have. They don’t even know what the hell they’re doing today. Well, I know what I’m doing, I’m going to save everybody’s job.”
Concerns have lingered about mafia influence on the Port Authority of New York And New Jersey, which had mob ties as early as the ‘40s.
In 2018, New Jersey began pushing to get rid of the Waterfront Commission, the bi-state agency founded in 1953 to combat mafia control of the port, arguing the agency has outlived its usefulness. New York officials pushed back, stating in court documents that the port is still in the “ironclad grip” of organized crime.
“You can’t throw a stone at the port without hitting the son, the daughter, the son-in-law, the nephew, the cousin, the godson of a ‘made’ guy,” Walter Arsenault, the commission’s executive director, said in 2018.
Daggett himself criticized the commission, calling the allegations of mob influence “total bulls***, and a dark, ugly attack on Italian Americans.”
“It’s a damn tragedy for the Waterfront Commission to enjoy free rein and target Italian Americans as part of their historic anti-worker campaign. Let’s be real here. The Waterfront Commission has, for decades, claimed good jobs went to only those with so-called ‘mob ties,’” Daggett said in 2022.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey could exit the agency.
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