Union leaders who threatened to shut down the economy have a history of splurging on luxury restaurants and resorts |

Leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), who have recently spent heavily on high-end restaurants and posh beach resorts, threatened to “cripple” the US economy over allegedly unsatisfactory wages.

Members of the longshoremen’s unions set up picket lines at East Coast ports on Tuesday, decrying corporate greed and carrying signs reading “profit over people is unacceptable” as they demanded a 77% pay increase for the next five years; The union has since reached a tentative agreement to extend their old contract and suspend their strike until January 15, when negotiations on a new contract will continue. Despite the union’s strong rhetoric decrying excessive wealth, its leaders have spent millions holding conferences at luxury beach resorts and racked up tens of thousands of dollars in bills at gourmet restaurants on the union’s account, union publications show .

Port workers are already paid better than almost all other workers. Thanks to generous overtime rules, the average longshoreman makes about $100,000 a year transporting cargo from boats, with many raking in more than $200,000, according to CBS News.

“The longshoremen are a kind of labor aristocracy,” Capital Research Center research director Michael Watson, an expert on organized labor, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Part of how you see that is the relatively high reward, as far as unions go, for the leadership of the union and through the ability of the union to throw money around for its own purposes, whether it’s member events or officer events. , for things like their convention.”

In a show of the union’s deep pockets, the union has spent more than $4 million on a conference at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, in 2023, disclosure forms show. The convention, which lasted four days, was held to elect the ILA leadership and union delegates were allowed to bring up to four of their family members.

The union organized social events for its delegates at the beachside resort, according to a description of the convention on the ILA website.

Diplomat Beach Resort features a 300-foot semi-private beach, an on-site award-winning steakhouse serving premium dry-aged beef and seafood, poolside bottle service, complimentary watersports rentals, and expansive ocean views. The ILA leadership, as well as more than 1,000 delegates and their guests, enjoyed the resort between July 24 and 27, 2023.

In addition to spending union dues on luxury getaways in Florida, ILA’s leadership makes sure it compensates itself well.

The ILA paid President Harold Daggett $855,261 in 2023. Daggett owns a 7,136-square-foot Tudor-style mansion on ten acres in New Jersey, drives a Bentley convertible and recently sold a 70-foot yacht. Daggett’s son, Dennis, also earns a generous salary, funded by union dues, which will bring in $467,664 in 2023, according to the disclosures.

The ILA has more than two dozen other officers with salaries ranging from $193,000 a year to nearly $700,000 a year, disclosure forms show.

Announcements also show that ILA’s leadership consists of major golfers.

For example, the union spent $6,640 in 2020 on The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club, a five-star golf resort on St. Simons Island in Georgia, according to disclosures. Guests of The Lodge receive a complimentary BMW to transport them around the island during their stay, have use of eight kilometers of private beach, butler service, have access to three private golf courses and are invited to various luxury activities, such as cycling along the coast. excursions, sea fishing trips and horse riding on the beach.

In addition to The Lodge, the ILA spent approximately $55,000 on golf-related expenses between 2020 and 2023, the disclosures show.

The ILA is no stranger to controversy. In 2005, federal authorities accused Daggett of steering union contracts to companies that then paid kickbacks to organized crime, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to The New York Times, a mafia member testified that Daggett was part of the Genovese crime family.

One of Daggett’s co-defendants, alleged Genovese associate Lawrence Ricci, disappeared during the trial and his corpse was later found in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey restaurant, WSJ reported. Daggett was ultimately acquitted.

When ILA members aren’t staying in luxury hotels or fighting organized crime charges, they like to eat.

For example, the ILA spent $51,695 at Il Villaggio, an Italian restaurant just outside New York City, in 2023, the disclosures show. Expenses were split approximately equally between “meetings” for members and “unspecified transactions.” The luxurious restaurant serves a selection of steak, seafood and pasta.

ILA members made an additional $5,394 in “unspecified transactions” at Halls Chophouse in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2021, the disclosures show. The restaurant features a number of expensive options, including a $165 Australian New York Strip steak, Japanese Wagyu beef for $34 an ounce, $70 bison steaks and an assortment of aged meats and prime seafood.

Excluding the ILA’s 2023 conference expenses, the union spent at least $742,000 on various luxury resorts between 2020 and 2023. For example, the union paid out $14,798 for “meetings” and “unspecified transactions” at The Ritz Carlton Kapalua, a five-star resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui, in 2021.

Watson, the labor expert, argued that the ILA’s push for more compensation is partly intended to help the union itself bring in more revenue from dues, revenue that can then be spent on stays at luxury resorts and meals at gourmet restaurants.

The ILA did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.