Internal Battle Threatens Early ILA Contract

The No. 2 officer at the International Longshoreman’s Association is toning down a war of words with the union’s president but says he’s not backing down from an internal battle that may undermine the ILA’s bid to win an early contract for dockworkers at major U.S. ports.

The dispute between Harold Daggett, the ILA's executive vice president, and ILA President Richard Hughes heated up last week when Daggett claimed Hughes had undertaken “secret negotiations” aimed at reaching a pact with employers at Atlantic and Gulf ports.

Hughes decried the “erroneous statements,” and in a letter to Hughes obtained by The Journal of Commerce Daggett said he recognized “the term ‘secret negotiations’ could be considered inflammatory – perhaps other terminology might have been more appropriate.”

But Daggett insisted the union needs more information and assurances from management before agreeing to a contract extension. And he said if management doesn't provide him with “crucial” requested data by Aug. 28, he will file an unfair-labor-practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

The unusual and pointed public disagreement between the union's top two officers reflects a broader difference of opinion within the ILA over how to approach negotiation of a new contract or an extension of the current six-year agreement, which expires Sept. 30, 2010.

The ILA hasn’t had a coastwide walkout since 1977, but shippers have fresh memories of the 11-day West Coast port shutdown during 2002, when management locked out the International Longshore and Warehouse Union after the union engaged in work slowdowns during negotiations.

Although the ILA agreement has more than a year to run, Hughes has said he wants a new agreement or an extension well before the current contract's expiration in order to avert a possible cargo diversion by worried shippers.

Daggett wants talks be delayed until closer to September 2010 in hopes the economy will improve and the union will have more leverage. The Longshore Workers Coalition, an intraunion faction that has criticized ILA leadership, also opposes an early start to bargaining.