‘Really wants to fight for America’

A top labor union leader has praised President-elect Donald Trump for proving him wrong and showing that a Republican can support the working class.

Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association — the union that shut down ports by striking earlier this year — said his recent meeting with Trump was “an experience I never dreamed of ”

“This man really wants to fight for America and its working class. In more than 25 years of working in Washington, I have never seen a Republican take charge of working-class people. President-elect Trump proved me wrong yesterday,’ Daggett Wrote on Facebook. Post,

“He hasn’t just told us privately that he supports workers – he’s made it clear to the whole world.”

Daggett had previously been cautious about his opinion on Trump. But the ILA has largely supported the Democrats.

Daggett and his father, ILA President Harold Daggett, met with Trump last Thursday. He talked about union discussions with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents port operators, shipping lines and other major employers.

“It’s rare to find a leader who really listens, and even rarer to find a leader who is willing to act,” Daggett said.

“(Trump) was not only paying attention to our concerns; He was receptive and truly engaged in the discussion about the existential threat of automation – not only to the longshore region but to our communities and the infrastructure of this great nation.”

After that meeting, Trump raised one of his top complaints — automation.

“I have studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the meeting.

“The money saved is not even worth the distress, injury and harm caused to American workers, in this case, our longshoremen. “Foreign companies have made a lot of money in America by giving them access to our markets.”

In October, the ILA went on strike for about three days before reaching a temporary agreement that extended the contracts until January 15, allowing time for more negotiations.

That strike spooked markets and raised concerns about disrupted supply chains. This was the first strike by the union in nearly five decades.

Negotiations were stalled amid concerns over pay and automation.

Republicans have often been at odds with unions, suspecting that heavy-handed negotiating tactics on behalf of workers could harm job creation and the economy at large.

However, under Trump, the Republican Party has made gains among working-class voters and has shifted in a more protectionist direction on trade.

Trump famously invited Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien to the Republican National Convention in July, marking the first time that the union’s leadership had spoken at a major party gathering.

In September, the Teamsters refused to endorse a Democrat in the presidential race for the first time in nearly three decades.

Before doing so, the Teamsters released internal polling data showing that a majority of its rank-and-file members supported Trump. Many local Teamsters chapters endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats lashed out at national leadership for the insult.

Trump won praise from labor by selecting Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore) as his choice for Secretary of the Department of Labor in November.

Chávez-Deremer is the only Republican lawmaker in the House to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which expanded benefits for workers who join unions and weakened certain provisions in state right-to-work laws that Protect workers from being forced to join. Union.