Harold Daggett, President of ILA, has asked ILWU International President Robert McEllrath to be present at ILA negotiations. The invitation was accepted.
Harold Daggett took over as president of the International Longshoremen’s Association on Thursday with a vow to fight automation, increase organizing and research activities, aggressively enforce container weights and work more closely with the West Coast dockworkers union.
Daggett said he would pursue closer ties with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast port labor. “It is my intention to bring the ILA closer to the ILWU, as we have many matters of mutual interest in dealing with management in protecting our jurisdictions and memberships.”
He said he would ask ILWU President Bob McEllrath and a guest to sit in the next round of negotiations, expected to begin this fall. McEllrath, invited by Daggett to stand, shouted from the audience, “I’ll be there because we are one.”