Longshoremen call Menendez ‘friend and champion for workers’
New Brunswick, NJ – The Menendez for Senate Campaign today announced that the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) has endorsed Bob Menendez for reelection to the U.S. Senate. ILA represents thousands of dockworkers and personnel at New Jersey’s major U.S. port areas in Newark, Elizabeth, Bayonne and Camden.
“I am grateful to have the support of the hardworking men and women of the ILA who help keep New Jersey’s economy moving. New Jersey is blessed to have a world-class shipping industry and be home to the premiere port on the East Coast. Our ports are the gateways to the global marketplace where local businesses can move products and create new economic opportunities abroad, while creating jobs here at home. I have never stopped fighting to expand our port capacity to ensure New Jersey remains economically competitive, while supporting the invaluable contributions of the longshoremen who work hard each day to make it happen,” said Sen. Menendez. “With a Trump Administration attacking the rights of workers and waging trade wars that could impact activity at our ports, hurt New Jersey businesses, and cost us jobs, the stakes in this election couldn’t be higher. Greedy CEO Bob Hugin is just another vote for Trump’s policies that hurt New Jersey.”
Bob Menendez has represented the Ports of Newark, Elizabeth and Bayonne since his days in the House of Representatives, when he led the bipartisan effort to secure $882 million in federal funding for the New York Harbor deepening project that, coupled with the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, has allowed for larger, Supermax cargo ships to access the port, generating approximately 2,960 direct jobs and 4,925 total jobs. The Senator was also instrumental in securing a $15 million TIGER grant to help advance a project to double capacity and bolster economic growth at Port Newark.
“Today, the thousands of ILA members and their families who live and work in New Jersey proudly and enthusiastically endorse our friend and champion of workers, Senator Bob Menendez for reelection to the U.S. Senate,” said Harold J. Daggett, International President of the ILA. “Senator Menendez has a decades-long record of supporting the ILA and the maritime industry and is a major reason why New Jersey’s Port Elizabeth and Port Newark are the number one port on the East Coast. We need to keep him in Congress to continue to fight for America’s working class.”
Bob Menendez has secured millions to redevelop the former Marine Ocean Terminal at Bayonne, including a recently announced $1 million Small Shipyard Grant to modernize the Bayonne Dry Dock. He secured an $18.5 million TIGER grant to improve the movement of goods coming in and out of South Jersey ports in Camden, Salem and Paulsboro by enhancing freight rail network efficiency. He voted for the FAST Act, the current five-year transportation bill that includes federal funding eligibility for maritime freight projects, eliminates the funding ceiling on such projects, and rejected proposed provisions to limit port workers’ collective bargaining rights.
“Bob Menendez has made fighting for New Jersey’s middle class, expanding workers’ rights and creating good-paying jobs among his top legislative priorities. The Senator is a vocal advocate for making it easier for workers to unionize and to do so without any fear of retaliation, and has championed policies that protect employees from discrimination in the workplace. He works to ensure the fair treatment, basic rights, and workplace safety for all workers,” ILA President Daggett continued. “New Jersey needs to return Sen. Menendez to Washington to keep fighting for the ILA and its members.”
Bob Menendez has long supported ILA’s right to collectively bargain, and has a distinguished record fighting for hardworking families and the rights of workers to organize. He believes that anyone who works hard deserves fair pay and livable wage, has voted to increase the minimum wage, has resisted Trump Administration efforts to roll back workplace safety standards, supports updating the Equal Pay Act, and is fighting for paid family, sick, and medical leave. The Senator also spoke out against the recent Janus Supreme Court decisions that undermined unions.
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