December 25, 2024
To My ILA Family:
I want to wish our ILA members and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My prayers for you are that Our Lord bless you with an abundance of health, happiness and love during this Holiday Season and throughout the coming year. Our ILA family embraces many faiths and traditions, and we cherish our diversity. So, whether your celebration includes Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, may it be a meaningful to you and your loving family.
As I reflect on the past year, while glancing at a fresh New Year about to begin, I am so grateful for the dedication, the spirit, the courage, and the unity demonstrated by our ILA rank-and-file members when we went out on strike for three days in early October. Our resolve may be tested again in mid-January as we face another deadline for negotiating a new Master Contract by January 15, 2025. We want to avoid another strike, and hope that our employers represented by United States Maritime Alliance will respect our demands for a fair and decent contract. I am certain many of us will make that our Christmas Wish for 2024.
On behalf of my ILA family and my children, Dennis, John and Lisa; my grandchildren and great grandchildren, I again extend to my beloved ILA Sisters and Brothers, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. God Bless you all.
Sincerely,
Harold J. Daggett
International President
