A formidable force for reform in the ILA

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The International Longshoremen's Association is definitely evolving, but into what? This is one of the four unions that, over the years, had been cited in government investigatory reports as most heavily infiltrated by organized crime: the scene of payoffs and murder so graphically portrayed in On the Waterfront. It is still the object of a stalled federal RICO suit. But things are happening that could never have happened before. For one thing: Harold Daggett, the union's executive vice president, says that, at the 2011 ILA convention, he will run against Richard Hughes, the incumbent international president. (Hughes got the job when his colleague, John Bowers, stepped down in 2007.) According to the Journal of Commerce, the two split in a dispute over collective bargaining strategy. But, unexpected as it may seem, that's not the biggest news.

In the last few years, an impressive reform movement, the Longshore Workers Coalition, supported by rank and filers, black and white, and some elected local officers are demanding democratic changes and a more militant stand against employers. The LWC seems to be growing in influence and legitimacy. In August, it led a picket line demonstration at an emergency meeting of ILA International Executive Board to protest a proposed Atlantic Coast contract, one supported by President Hughes. In September, according to the LWC, its intervention helped convince the union's 200-member Wagescale Committee, a delegated body, to reject the deal.

In the old days, that kind of insurgency could --- and sometimes did --- mean death. But today?

Obviously angling for LWC support, Harold Daggett, presumptive opposition candidate for international president, and now part of the union establishment paid his respects to the LWC. He told the Journal of Commerce, "They're fighting for the working men. There's things that they want to do that I don't believe in, but a lot of things they say is true."