IDC with ILWU, June 2012

The IDC unites dockworkers around the globe, including ILWU, seen here represented by International President Robert McEllrath and Vice President (Mainland) Ray Familathe last month.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO plans to affiliate with the worldwide International Dockworkers Council (IDC), according to an announcement by the ILA’s president, Harold J. Daggett.

The IDC is an association formed by organization of dockworkers from around the world. It is defined by its basic principles as being a unitary, independent, democratic assembly-basked working-class organization.

Last week, ILA President Daggett, ILA’s Atlantic Coast District President Dennis Daggett and Kenneth Riley, an ILA Vice President from Charleston, South Carolina met with leaders of the IDC in New York City where it was decided the ILA would join the IDC. Already, several ILA Locals in the U.S. and Canada were affiliated members of the IDC and Brother Kenneth Riley currently serves as Coordinator of the IDC’s North America East Coast Zone.

— From an ILA news release