ImageImageHarold Daggett is the undisputed union leader driving a strike that has shut down ports on the East and Gulf coasts. Credit...Eric Lee/The New York TimesThe union leader clamping down on U.S. commerce

As the strike shutting down East and Gulf Coast ports enters a third day, the man behind the work stoppage shows no signs of relenting.

Meet Harold Daggett, 78, the president of the International Longshoremen’s Association. He is taking advantage of organized labor’s resurgent power to pose a major challenge to the American economy in the name of higher pay for his members.

“We’re going to show these greedy bastards you can’t survive without us,” Daggett said in a speech on Tuesday as the I.L.A.’s roughly 45,000 members walked off the job at more than a dozen ports. The union is pressing major shipping companies for steep rises in pay and benefits, including a 61.5 percent increase in wages over six years.

But Daggett isn’t stopping there, demanding limits on ports’ adoption of automation technology despite the U.S. falling behind other global terminals in efficiency.

The economic stakes are huge: The ports account for about 60 percent of container-based U.S. trade, handling nearly $600 billion worth of imports, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“People are going to sit up and realize how important longshoremen jobs are,” Daggett told The Wall Street Journal. “They won’t be able to sell cars. They won’t be able to stock malls. They won’t be able to do anything in this country.”

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