Revealed: ports-strike CEO's crude attacks on Biden and Democrats

[BeyondGeography]

Link to tweet

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Excerpted article with link:

An executive representing ports where tens of thousands of workers went on strike this week made a series of critical and crude remarks about Joe Biden, tied Kamala Harris to concerns about over-taxation, and appeared to endorse a rightwing conspiracy theory. David Adam, chairman and chief executive of the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), attacked prominent Democrats in a string of social media posts uncovered by the Guardian.

It comes after about 45,000 dockworkers at ports along the US east and Gulf coasts walked off the job – the first such strike since 1977 – as part of a dispute between the USMX and the International Longshoremen’s Association over pay and automation.

…A month ago, when a LinkedIn user suggested that “everything Biden has touched in the past is turning to shit!”, Adam replied: “The runny kind….” It was part of a discussion about how Biden’s student-debt relief plan was being held up in the courts. In another comment on the thread, Adam wrote: “If ya can’t get an American Democrat to pay what they borrrowed [sic], how you gonna get a California illegal immigrant to pay back their $150K loan the CA Dems are offering?”

…Just a few weeks ago, Adam commented on a meme that claimed the US has a 48% fuel tax, which was debunked in 2022 by Politifact, when the same post was shared in Canada with the same claim. He seemed to suggest responsibility lay with the Biden administration and Harris, however, writing: “Someone ask Kamala to explain why this is such and is she gonna fix it?!”

…The timing of the strike, just weeks before the election, also raised questions about the ILA’s relationship with Trump. A photograph of the union’s president, Harold Daggett, meeting Trump in November resurfaced on social media this week.

More at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/03/port-strike-usmx-biden-democrats?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[marble falls]

1. The ILA in the late forties and fifties was accused of being under communist control ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Bridges

Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.

Bridges became a naturalized citizen in 1945. His conviction by a federal jury for having lied about his Communist Party membership when seeking naturalization was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1953 as having been prosecuted untimely, outside the statute of limitations. His official power was reduced when the ILWU was expelled by the CIO in 1950, but he continued to be re-elected by the membership and was highly influential until his retirement in 1977.


How things change!!!!



And the Mob!!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Longshoremen%27s_Association

Allegations of organized crime

Longshoremen obtained work through a shapeup in which bosses chose a workforce on a daily basis. Longshoremen often worked only a day or less per week as a consequence. Work was especially uncertain for those who unloaded trucks and had to appeal to gangsters who controlled this work for employment.

The 1950s was a decade of turmoil and trauma for the ILA. Several sensationalist articles printed in New York City newspapers focused on alleged rampant gangsterism on the City's waterfront. The movie On the Waterfront would later popularize this viewpoint. At the same time, increasing unrest on the New York waterfront caused by internal conflicts in the ILA resulted in a 25-day work stoppage that halted only when New York State Industrial Commissioner Edward Corsi appointed a board of inquiry to investigate the October 1951 agreement in question. Extending the investigation beyond its original mandate, the Corsi Report first addressed the voting procedures initially at question—which turned out to be flawed, but not fraudulent[citation needed]—and then went on to focus on irregularities in the administration of several New York locals.

The Corsi Report captured the attention of the public. It was grist for the press, as well as that of Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who ordered his New York State Crime Commission to conduct a full investigation of the ILA. In actuality, the investigation was more like a trial, with several witnesses testifying against the ILA and its leadership. Eventually, the highly publicized investigation ended with the condemnation of both the ILA and Joseph Ryan as corrupt. The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor was created in 1953 to temporarily oversee the waterfront.

The ILA strove to clean house and rid itself of the few members who had in fact been proven corrupt or criminal. In August 1953, the ILA was suspended from the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a devastating blow. The AFL created the International Brotherhood of Longshoremen (IBL-AFL) to replace the besmirched ILA and scheduled representational elections.

Under the relentless pressure of the investigations and denunciations, Ryan resigned. Captain William V. Bradley was elected to the presidency of the ILA-Independent at the November 1953 convention.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. The ILWU and ILA are two different organizations.

[marble falls]

6. No shit? You mean Donovan and Bridges are two different people? That Bridges left the ILU to form ILWU? ...

... Shocked, I tells ya, SHOCKED! Is the IBL also another separate union?

As a Wobblie myself, I keep up labor and unions.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. I'm saying the ILA was never accused of being "under communist control." In fact, it worked tirelessly to keep

communists, Wobblies and other activists out -- which is why Bridges left.

[marble falls]

8. Well, yes they were. Donovan and Bridges fought over leadership until Bridges left. So while at least while Bridges ...

... was around, they had "commie" influence.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Which was in the late 30s, not the 40s and 50s.

[marble falls]

11. And when Bridges left, he took at least half the ILU with him. hmmmmm "only the 30s, 40s, 50s eh? ....

... sounds like 30 plus years of the ComIntern influence, don't it. All the commies HUAC looked at were from the 30s, 40s, 50s.

[Redleg]

3. This guy sounds like a real MAGA dickhead

While I support unions and collective bargaining and action, I don't support corrupt fuckers like this clown as leaders of unions. He ought to know that the GOP hates unions until it is time for an election when they pretend to care about working people.

[Initech]

15. I'm so sick of the billionaire criminal class thinking we're their personal property.

Fuck all of them, may they all rot in the hottest circle of hell, and take their precious billions with them.

[LeftInTX]

5. MAGA neighbor came home with a truckload of TP!!!

The hoarding is on all the local news.

[DoBW]

10. USMX Members

who don't want to pay workers

https://www.usmx.com/members

exec staff
https://www.usmx.com/about/staff

[DoBW]

13. ILA Reveals USMX Member Companies Recorded Billion Dollar Profits

"For example, A.P. Moller-Maersk revenue for the twelve-month period ending on
September 30, 2022, was more than $82 Billion, more than a 50 percent increase from the
previous year. " .............from cnbc pdf.

https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2024/06/12/ILA_Reveals_Billion_Dollar_Revenues_Made_By_USMX___Member_Companies_Final_Draft.pdf

[0rganism]

12. If both the heads of USMX and ILA are MAGAts, this won't be resolved before Nov. 5

Unless our admirably pro-union POTUS steps in and breaks the strike, which will burn a lot of previously-solid bridges.

[DoBW]

14. Biden statement on strike

from Oct. 1
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/10/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-negotiations-between-usmx-and-the-international-longshoremens-association/