ILA union president Harold Daggett slams EZPass, says Congress should ‘stop the machines’
FOX Business Correspondent Lydia Hu reports on the latest on the longshoremen’s strike after speaking with International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold J. Daggett.
The union leader behind the ongoing strike by US shipping workers isn’t just opposing technology in America’s ports.
President of the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Harold Daggett warned in a recent interview that machines are taking too many people’s jobs, and pointed to toll booths and self-payment machines as examples.
Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association speaks as shipping workers at Maher Terminals in Port Newark go on strike on October 1, 2024, in New Jersey. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
In an interview posted on the ILA YouTube channel last month, Daggett said he has been fighting automation for years because machines are replacing workers.
“Take EZPass,” Daggett said, referring to the electronic toll system that allows drivers to pay tolls without stopping their cars to pay. “When they first came out with EZPass, one lane of cars would go by, and everybody’s sitting in their car and, ‘What? What’s that? I’m going to get one of those.’
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“Today, all those union jobs are gone, and so is EZPass,” the ILA president continued. “People paid attention to that. Everyone has three cars. Everyone got an easy pass at the window, and they passed like it was nothing, they were charged at the post office. They didn’t care about that union worker who works in this union. booth.”
Daggett then railed against self-testing machines, and suggested that state lawmakers must take action to stop the practice of automated technology.
“You walk into a store today, you check yourself – they don’t need anybody to check,” Daggett said. “Somebody has to go into Congress and say, ‘Wow. Time is up. This world is moving too fast. The machines have to stop.'”
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The ILA strike left dozens of US East Coast and Gulf ports at a standstill for days, halting trade at facilities that collectively handle nearly half of US imports as the union fights for higher wages and protections from turnover in new acquisition talks. contract with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port tenants.
Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, speaks at Maher Terminals in Port Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Since going national, Daggett has come under scrutiny from critics for his salary package and lavish lifestyle.
Documents show the ILA leader was paid more than $900,000 in salary last year.
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