Documents show lavish spending on pay, benefits for officials at dockworkers union

Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, earned more than $800,000 in compensation for that role last year, plus another $194,000 as “president emeritus” of the union’s Local 1804-1. (Photo by Mark Bonamo for New Jersey Monitor)

The three-day dockworker strike that threatened to stall the American economy was a dramatic victory for 45,000 East Coast longshoremen, who now stand to collect 60% pay hikes by 2030.

The tentative deal , between maritime shippers and the International Longshoremen’s Association, lifts top pay to $45 an hour next year for laborers on the New York-New Jersey docks and at more than 30 other ports from Maine to Texas. At that rate, dockworkers putting in a 40-hour work week would make up to $93,600 a year.

Yet, even with that substantial increase, pay for rank-and-file union members will lag far behind compensation for a cadre of International Longshoremen’s Association executives who make hundreds of thousands a year while enjoying lush travel and entertainment benefits that include New York Yankees tickets, limousine service, and memberships at the New York Athletic Club.

In 2023 alone, thirty top executives with the union classified under its headquarters in North Bergen — including 25 vice presidents with annual pay reaching $554,000 each — were paid more than $9 million in salary and other compensation, according to U.S. Department of Labor reports reviewed by the New Jersey Monitor.

The reports show that several top union officials are paid for holding multiple executive positions simultaneously, including high-paying posts as “emeriti” for past service in union locals. Many family members of leading executives have found a place on ILA’s payroll, which last year was funded by $38 million in union member dues and other fees. The union last year even employed a former member who served prison time after a federal fraud conviction.

ILA President Harold J. Daggett, a friend and political ally of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, received more than $855,261 in compensation last year for his leadership duties. The federal filings show Daggett was paid an additional $194,155 as “president emeritus” of ILA Local 1804-1.

Daggett’s son Dennis was paid $785,877 last year for his dual leadership roles of Local 1804-1 president and ILA executive vice president. Another Daggett son, John Daggett, was paid $642,631 for two executive positions, vice president of the ILA Atlantic Coast District and vice president of Local 1804-1.

Daggett’s daughter, Lisa Daggett Bess, made $210,383 as the union’s “political affairs director.”

Union critics and law enforcement officials, who have prosecuted waterfront rackets on the docks for decades, say the eye-popping salaries and spending reflect the growing power of a single family over a major American labor union. In Harold Daggett’s thirteen years as union president, they point out, the ILA has hit new peaks of swagger and political influence.

Daggett, they point out, has long been among the highest-paid union leaders in the country, his pay rate dwarfing that of counterparts like United Auto Workers’ Shawn Fain, who makes about $200,000, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters head Sean O’Brien, who reportedly made a $250,352 salary last year.

“The union money is simply a piggy bank for Harold and his family,” said Walter Arsenault, a former prosecutor who spent 15 years tracking crime on the docks as head of the now-defunct Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

The 70-year-old bi-state agency went out of business last year after New Jersey withdrew, arguing that it had outlived its usefulness and that its aggressive policing was hurting business.

“The fact is that there are few checks and balances on the activities of the union and their leaders,” Arsenault said. “Harold Daggett threatens to close the ports and a few days later comes back with a 60% pay hike. With that kind of power, dues-paying union members don’t care how much he pays himself or his family. They think he’s the greatest.”

Daggett declined to be interviewed. But an ILA attorney defended the union leader’s salary, pointing out that Daggett’s compensation has been voted on and approved by ILA membership and reflects his “remarkable” performance winning concessions for workers and boosting union finances overall.

“When Harold took over as ILA President in 2011, the union was facing significant financial difficulties,’’ said attorney Michael Critchley in a written statement to New Jersey Monitor . “Under his leadership, the ILA has not only recovered but thrived, with finances stronger than ever thanks to his sharp business acumen.”

According to Critchley, the union’s net assets have increased by an inflation-adjusted 307% during Daggett’s tenure while his pay increases have amounted to only about 1% a year.

“The ILA has flourished under his guidance,’’ he said.

Daggett, 78, is a fourth-generation longshoreman from Sussex County who has taken a bare-knuckled approach against maritime shippers and the federal prosecutors who have unsuccessfully sought to implicate him in mob-driven waterfront rackets. Under Daggett, the union has garnered the enthusiastic backing of key political leaders, most notably President Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who supported the longshoremen’s strike earlier this month even as it threatened to stall the economy.

The owner of a multi-million dollar mansion and, at one time, a 76-foot yacht called “Obsession”, Daggett attacks the shipping lines and port operators as “money crazy” profiteers. Before the strike, Daggett and his top lieutenants posted photos of themselves on social media toting placards that read “Profit Over People is Unacceptable.”

In a profanity-laced harangue last year at the ILA’s national convention in Hollywood, Florida, Daggett gave fair warning that he intended to cripple port commerce if his demands for more money and less automation weren’t met.

“Mark my words! There’s going to be an explosion,” Daggett said. “Someone must take the bull by the horns, and that’s me … Don’t f–k with the maritime unions around the world. We will shut you down!”

Daggett’s speech was followed the next night by a sympathetic keynote address from Murphy, who saluted Daggett as a “dear friend” and “partner in growing the New Jersey economy.”

Federal filings show the union spent more than $6 million to stage the elaborate convention at The Diplomat Beach Resort, a hotel that bills itself as “an oceanside paradise in sunny south Florida.” Spending for the gala included more than $200,000 on airline tickets, some $45,000 on limousines, and more than $500,000 on merchandise and marketing materials for conventioneers.

A Maryland company hired to film the event and provide video services was paid $1.3 million. Forty union dignitaries who served as sergeants at arms during the four-day meeting received more than $300,000 in payments.

Among them was Paul S. Moe , a former dock foreman with the ILA, who received a two-year federal prison sentence following a 2018 conviction for fraudulently collecting $500,000 a year (he served three months). Prosecutors said Moe worked as little as eight hours a week and spent the rest of his time fishing in his boat off Atlantic Highlands or vacationing in Aruba.

Last July, Moe received $10,000 as a sergeant at arms during the ILA convention. His son, Paul Moe Jr., got $6,000 for sergeant duty as well, federal records show.

Generous spending by the ILA last year was not limited to Florida. Among other union expenses: $4.6 million in legal fees,  $906,000 for “lobbying and political activities,” $44,609 to the Grand Opryland Resort in Nashville, $31,958 to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines, and $199,992 to retired U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Cavanaugh for his role as “ILA Ethical Practices Officer.”

The union also spent $131,520 for Yankees “stadium tickets” last year and $145,000 in 2022, when union members also paid $20,000 in “membership” fees at the New York Athletic Club.

Under the tentative wage deal announced Oct. 3, the ILA and maritime industries agreed to extend the union’s existing six-year work contract to Jan. 15. Among the issues still to be resolved is the use of automated systems to handle port cargo. Daggett promises to continue working against the new technologies.

“We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation,” the union said last week. “Our position is clear: the preservation of jobs and historical work functions is non-negotiable.”

Nearly $300 billion in cargo is handled every year in the  New Jersey and New York port, which now is the second busiest in the U.S.

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