A top labor union leader breathlessly praised President-elect Donald Trump for proving him wrong and showing that a Republican can champion the working class.Dennis Daggett, the executive vice president of the International Longshoreman’s Association — the union that shut down ports with a strike earlier this year — said his recent meeting with Trump was “an experience I never imagined in my wildest dreams.” “This man truly wants to fight for America and its working class.
In over 25 years of working in Washington, I have never seen a Republican take up the mantle for working-class people.President-elect Trump proved me wrong yesterday,” Daggett wrote on Facebook.
post.“He didn’t just tell us in private that he supports workers — he made it clear to the whole world.”Daggett had previously been guarded about his opinions on Trump.
But the ILA has largely backed Democrats.Daggett and his father, ILA president Harold Daggett, met with Trump last Thursday.
They talked about the union’s deliberations with the US Maritime Alliance, which represents port operators, shipping lines and other key employers.“It’s rare to meet a leader who truly listens, and even rarer to find one who is willing to act,” Daggett said.“[Trump] was not just attentive to our concerns; he was receptive and genuinely engaged in a discussion about the existential threat automation poses — not only to the Longshore sector but to our communities and the very fabric of this great nation.”Following that meeting, Trump took on one of their top grievances — automation.“I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the meeting.
“The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen.Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S.
by giving them access to our markets.”In October, ILA went on strike for a...