NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (November 9, 2020) In late summer 2011, then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden hosted a small group of labor leaders, including ILA President Harold J.Daggett, at his residence in Washington, DC. There, the now President-Elect Joe Biden told the ILA leader of his long association with the longshore union, at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware and Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“President-elect Biden thanked me for the support he received from ILA leaders during his Senate career and spoke of his long-time friendship with the late Arthur “Skinny” Wilson, ILA International Vice President from the Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington. “He pledged then to continue to support the ILA and its members.”
President-elect Biden has spoken a number of times in recent months with ILA President Daggett, first to thank him for being the first major union to endorse him as President. and again when the ILA encouraged all labor unions to get behind the Biden-Harris ticket.
“We are going to have a true friend in Joe Biden as President of the United States,” said ILA President Daggett. “Joe Biden is a moderate Democrat who will protect America’s working families; will not threaten our MILA health care plan and will re-establish the National Labor Relations Board as a Federal Agency that protects workers’ rights to organize.”
Early in the Biden campaign, the ILA was asked to nominate officers to serve on Biden’s transition committees.
“Our ILA will have a seat at Biden’s table,” said ILA President Daggett. “President-elect Biden comes from an ILA port city and we will continue to build on this mutual friendship and respect. The real winners will be our ILA members.”