U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx Appoints ILA’s Dennis Daggett To Federal Port Performance Freight Statistics Working Group
NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (June 8, 2016) – Dennis A. Daggett, Executive Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, to serve on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Port Performance Freight Statistics Working Group.
“We greatly appreciate your willingness to serve on the Working Group and to share your expertise on this vital topic,” the Department of Labor wrote to Executive Vice President Daggett, who will begin his two-year term when the Working Committee meets in Washington on July 15, 2016.
The Port Performance Freight Statistics Working Group was created in accordance with “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act,” to provide nationally consistent measures of performance of the nation’s largest ports. Daggett and his Working Group will be asked to provide recommendations to the BTS on matters related to port performance measures and statistics.
“I am honored to accept this invitation from U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx,” said ILA Executive Vice President Daggett. “The ILA has always maintained that our initials also stand for ‘I Love America’ and when one of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet members asks you to assist our nation’s ports, I enthusiastically accept on behalf of our great union.
“This appointment speaks volumes about the respect our U.S. Transportation Secretary has for the ILA, its members and our contributions to moving commerce into and out of America’s ports,” added Daggett.
Daggett was unanimously elected Executive Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association nearly a year ago at the union’s 54th Quadrennial Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
He had previously served four years as President of the Atlantic Coast District, International Longshoremen’s Association from 2011 to 2015.
Daggett also serves as President of Local 1804-1, International Longshoremen’s Association. He has served as Chief Negotiator for the ILA-Metropolitan Marine Maintenance Contractors’ Association, Inc. negotiations since 2005, delivering three contracts that had over 95 percent approval rating among his membership. Daggett has also served on ILA-USMX Wage Scale committees since the mid-1990s.
A fourth generation member of his family to work in the longshore industry, Dennis Daggett followed the path of his great-grandfather to work on the waterfront. Dennis Daggett is the oldest son of Harold J. Daggett, who currently is in his second term as the ILA’s International President. Dennis’ paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were ILA members working as longshoremen in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Since 2014, Daggett has served on the Port of New York and New Jersey’s Port Performance Task Force, which was created to identify and resolve performance issues in the port which impact fluidity and growth.
Dennis Daggett’s own longshoring career began when he was employed in container repair for Maersk Line with Universal Maritime Service Corporation in Port Newark, NJ. With his ILA local, Daggett was elected Business Agent in December 2000.
On the International level, Dennis Daggett previously was Safety Director for the ILA, a position he was first appointed to in December 1997 by then ILA President John Bowers.
Daggett studied political science and public speaking at Iona College, Hunter College and the University of Vermont and also completed studies in Collective Bargaining for Local Union Leaders and Occupational Safety and Health at Cornell University for Industrial Labor.
Daggett resides in Sparta, New Jersey with his wife, Marisa and two children, Alexa and Joseph.