This education link has been set up to keep all ILA members informed of what’s taking place in our industry; past and present. This site will include articles, stories, photographs and videos. At times, some of the videos will include training and be educational. Other times, we will take a look into our past and learn more and more about the history of this union and how it was built into what it is today.
ILA Education/History
OFFICIAL ILA EDUCATION/HISTORY PAGE ENDORSED BY OUR INTERNATIONAL
Never forget the sacrifices ILA members made to build our great union into what it is today
WE PROUDLY SHARE THIS MESSAGE FROM OUR INTERNATIONAL
ILA-USMX Children’s Fund To Hold Gala Dinner Benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Honoring International President Harold J. Dagget
NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (March 22, 2026) The International Longshoremen’s Association – United States Maritime Alliance (ILA-USMX) Children’s Fund will raise funds for its main charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, at a Gala Dinner on Tuesday evening, May 12, 2026, beginning at 6 pm, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Guest of Honor is ILA International President Harold J. Daggett who will be recognized for life-long devotion to helping St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that carries the mission of saving the lives of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. In addition to helping St. Jude, the Gala will celebrate President Daggett on the occasion of his milestone 80th Birthday on May 12, 2026.
Dennis A. Daggett, ILA Executive Vice President and Paul DeMaria, CEO and Chairman, USMX, are serving as co-chairs of this May 12th Gala.
“There is no person in our industry more deserving of this honor than ILA President Harold Daggett,” said the Dinner Co-Chairs. “President Daggett enjoys a long association with St. Jude Children’s Hospital and his fund-raising efforts on their behalf throughout his career with the ILA are legendary.
“President Daggett has matched a remarkable career as an ILA leader leading his 85,000 members, with his extensive charitable work for organizations like St. Jude, Toys for Tots and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.,” they added. “What better way to recognize this industry giant than to present him with this St. Jude honor on his 80th Birthday!”
For the past three years, the ILA-USMX Children’s Fund has earmarked proceeds from their annual Golf Tournament Charity to St. Jude, which opened its hospital doors in Memphis, Tennessee in 1962 and has helped push the survival rate for children with cancer from 20 percent to more than 80 percent in 2026. Families of children with cancer never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food to allow them to focus on helping their child live. St. Jude cares for some of the sickest children, regardless of their race, ethnicity, beliefs or ability to pay. Their patients receive the customized care to treat childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases, no matter what barriers they may face.
Since the industry leaders created the ILA-USMX Children’s Fund in 1992, they have raised over $20 million for charities mainly concentrating on helping children suffering from cancer or other serious illnesses.
Invitations for the May 12 Gala, honoring ILA President Harold Daggett, have been distributed and Co-Chairs Dennis Daggett and Paul DeMaria are anticipating a successful event, that raises funds for St. Jude and honors a special leader on the occasion of his 80th Birthday.
The dinner committee includes John Daggett, Lisa Daggett, Anissa Frucci, Mary Jaeger, Stephen Knott, Vincent Marino, James A. McNamara, John Nardi, Joseph Perez, Joseph Ragusa, Alan Robb, Joseph Sanzari, Michael Vigneron, Justin Wier and Jason Winter.
A special journal will be printed for the event with advertising opportunities available.
For information about ticket reservations and journal ads, please contact Sabrina Del Grosso at ILA (212-425-1200, ext. 309) or [email protected].
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
Well deserved 👏
That gentleman is focused! Happy Birthday to him!
Great event ILA all the way and a early birthday wish Harold Daggett
Good Morning ILA Sisters and Brothers!!
Have a great week, be safe and may God Bless you and your families!!
WE ARE THE INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN’S ASSOCIATION
ESTABLISHED 1892
THE DOCKS ARE OURS!!
#InternationalLongshoremensAssociation
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💪🏾💪🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Good morning ☀️ Local 1414 💪🏾⚓️💅🏾
Morning Salute 🫡 From Locals 21-24-25-28
Go Union
A MESSAGE FROM ILA INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT DENNIS A. DAGGETT:
I am totally disgusted!
What is happening right now at UPS should outrage every working person in this country!
We are watching loyal employees, men and women who gave their lives to that company, being pushed out the door in the name of automation, artificial intelligence, and so called efficiency. The companies continue to spin it under the guise of modernization, but we know exactly what it is, job killing technologies. Let me go one step further, this is community killing technologies. These are real people with families who depend on them. People who built their lives around these jobs.
I have been watching the TikTok videos. I have been listening to these workers. You can hear it in their voices, the frustration, the anger, the heartbreak. These are proud workers who loved what they did, and now they are being told they are no longer needed, and are being forced to take a severance pay regardless of years of service with UPS.
And what makes it even worse is the response from some haters in the comment section.
No empathy whatsoever! Zero respect! Just comments like “that’s progress” or “get used to it automation is coming.”
Let me be clear. There is nothing progressive about taking away someone’s ability to provide for their family.
These corporations love to spin this as efficiency. They hide behind words like innovation and modernization. But let’s call it what it really is. It is about cutting labor costs. It is about replacing hardworking people with machines to increase profits, plain and simple.
This is exactly what we dealt with during the 2024 ILA Coastwise Strike. The same critics. The same noise. The same people who have no idea what it means to work long hours, sacrifice time with your family, and take pride in what you do.
But here is the reality. They will understand. Because this is no longer just about dockworkers.
This is coming for everyone!
Blue collar, white collar, it does not matter anymore. The same people cheering this on today will be the same ones affected tomorrow. And when that day comes, it is going to hit hard.
What we are witnessing is a complete disconnect between corporate leadership and the workforce that made them successful. Too many CEOs today have zero understanding, or worse, zero care, about what it means to take someone’s livelihood away. They see so called efficiency. We see families being turned upside down, and destroyed. Communities will face hardship like never before. Drive through Pennsylvania and Ohio and see the abandoned and decimated communities. Modern day ruins from the steel mills days. It’s gut wrenching! It’s not delusional to think this could happen throughout the country.
The ILA stood up in 2024 and took a tremendous amount of negative heat for it. We were criticized, attacked, and told to get out of the way of innovation. We didn’t succumb to the outside noise or pressure, and mark my words if it ever has to happen again you will see an undeniable force of power of working people that you have never seen before!
We are not going anywhere!
And neither should any working person in this country!
Because if we do not stand together, if we do not push back right now, then the way of life we have all worked so hard to build is gone. Not ten years from now. Not someday. Gone!
This is the moment to pushback!
It is time for working people everywhere to wake up, stand shoulder to shoulder, and fight back.
Because if we do not, then we are handing the next generation a future with fewer opportunities, less stability, and no real path forward.
And that is something we should never accept!
Our children and grandchildren deserve more than what these greedy bastards are planning on doing to our society….
The time to unite and fight back is now!!
www.tiktok.com
17.3K likes, 2486 comments. “Fairwell UPS, i loved my job, i would do it all over again. Thank you for supporting me over these years. Sadly you lost one of the good ones. Also my go fund me will co...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
The Port of Virginia announced this past Wednesday that it is now home to the East Coast’s deepest port at 55 feet deep.
The announcement came at the conclusion of its $450 million project to dredge Virginia’s commercial shipping channels and Norfolk Harbor.
According to the port, channel dredging was completed on Feb. 28. The project, which started in 2019, was designed to produce channels deep and wide enough to safely handle two-way traffic for the largest ships in the Atlantic trade, without tidal restrictions or overhead obstructions. The port completed the widening portion of the project in February 2024.
The dredging project is one of the key projects in the port’s $1.4 billion Gateway Investment Program, a capital construction campaign that started in 2023. Fully operational projects include an $83 million expansion of the port’s annual rail capacity to 2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and a $220 million conversion of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal into a deep-water heavy-lift facility.
A $650 million project to renovate and reconfigure the North Berth at Norfolk International is underway, with construction past the halfway mark, and completion scheduled for mid-2027.
The Port of Virginia is one of the state’s economic drivers, accounting for more than 565,000 jobs, more than $124.1 billion in total spending and $5.8 billion in state and local tax revenues.
#InternationalLongshoremensAssociation
14 CommentsComment on Facebook
Wait I thought Charleston was the deepest
Don't forget about your ILA269 Sister's and Brother's in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. Deepest Ice Free Port on the East Coast 59ft.
They beat Charleston by 1 foot
Savannah is 54 feet deep at high tide.
That’s great, But production belongs to BALTIMORE.
Michael Burton
Ranger Andy
Should take some of that sand and fill in all the potholes on the berths!!!
I never said that was a threat , I made a comment pertaining to to our economy affected by his personal decisions that affects our work at our ports, maybe you were misunderstood and took it the wrong way and following with comments that sounded like threats, have you best day sir I’m about to get started at Our Port!
Wow, all great info, if only the president would stop screwing up American trade market!
WWAY TV the Port of Wilmington loses out on potential work and money 
One of the shittiest ports to try and pick up. These morons will have you there all day long
That’s bullshit , GLT Gloucester port is 60 feet deep as well as Paulsboro in New Jersey?????? Get your facts straight 🤣
ILA STANDS WITH ILWU
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL
At the ILWU convention that took place in Vancouver in June of 2024 they shared this historic photo with us of striking dockworkers holding a banner with the quote that has now become famous around the world:
“AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL”
**ILA**
**ILWU**
**IDC**
**SOLIDARITY**
#InternationalLongshoremensAssociation
8 CommentsComment on Facebook
Go Union
It all began with an injury on the West Side for my family and the West Side Docks. In memory of Garret Christopher ILA 💪☘️
Solidarity forever Comrades
Great picture!
Absolutely!!! 💯✊🏾
110% ILA💪🏻🇺🇸
Proud to be part of a strong union #FromShipToShore
Solidarity✊
ILA INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT HAROLD J. DAGGETT’S STATEMENT ON ILA’S SOLITARY TO THE ILWU IN THEIR DISPUTE AT THE PORT OF COOS BAY, OREGON ON BEHALF OF THE ILA’S 85,000 MEMBERS
35 CommentsComment on Facebook
Way to go Harold.. Solidarity 💪💪💪
United we Stand...!
ILA strong we are one
We stand together
And the fight goes on!
An injury to one is an injury to all. Thank you ILA.
In Solidarity all the way
Strength in numbers we stand as one always.
United we stand I.L.A. THE DOCKS ARE OURS!!!!
🥂
💪🏻
💪💪💪❤️❤️
✊🏼
💪🇺🇸 🗽
💯💯
ILA STRONG 💪💪💪💪
ILA Strong, United We Stand!!💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
united we Stand 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
ILA!
IDC GENERAL COORDINATOR DENNIS A. DAGGETT PLEDGES GLOBAL SUPPORT TO THE ILWU
International Dockworkers Council General Coordinator Dennis A. Daggett Pledges Global Support to ILWU And Their Fight To Stop Non-Union Encroachment At Port of Coos Bay, Oregon
BARCELONA, SPAIN – (March 20, 2026) In a powerfully worded statement of solidarity, Dennis A. Daggett and other leaders of the global International Dockworkers Council (IDC) pledge support to members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in their dispute at the Port of Coos Bay, Oregon and the reported use of non-union labor at the Oregon Pellet Mills Terminal.
The message of support, ‘Statement of Solidarity with ILWU Coos Bay Dispute” charged that stakeholders were engaging in “a direct attack on organized labor undermining established standards, eroding workers’ rights and setting a dangerous precedent for the global port industry.
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
Very proud of you Dennis
Dennis A. Daggett is the Best of the Best. Solidarity 💪💪
Solidarity 💪💪
Solidairty 💪🏽
Powerful Message Dennis!! 💪🏾💪🏾✊🏾
Port Everglades
Fort Lauderdale, FL
May 27, 1939
Longshoremen load and unload produce from refrigerated rail cars at Port Everglades during the spring of 1939.
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For more on the history of Port Everglades please go to the following link:
assets.simpleviewinc.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/porteverglades/Port_Everglades_A_Cent...
#InternationalLongshoremensAssociation
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Port of Savannah
The Port of Savannah, Georgia sometime during the early 1900’s.
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Today, the Port of Savannah is the 4th busiest container port in the United States.
The proud Locals of the International Longshoremen’s Association at the Port of Savannah and the President’s serving the membership:
ILA Local 1414, Longshore, President Paul Mosley
ILA Local 2046, Maintenance, President Kerry Scott
ILA Local 1475, Clerks and Checkers, President Josh Thomas
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Port Miami
ILA LOCAL 1416 OUT OF PORT MIAMI TO CELEBRATE 90TH ANNIVERSARY ON JUNE 23, 2026
The International Longshoremen’s Association is proud to announce that ILA Local 1416 out of Port Miami will be celebrating their 90th Anniversary Celebration. ILA Local 1416 was founded in Miami in 1936.
#InternationalLongshoremensAssociation
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Congratulations on 90 years! 👏 Great work