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Mr. Richard P. Hughes, Jr.
President
International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO
Richard P. Hughes, Jr. was unanimously elected the eighth president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO at the union’s quadrennial convention in July 2007. Prior to his election as ILA president, Mr. Hughes, who marked his 50th Anniversary as a member of the ILA in 2007, served most recently as both Executive Vice President of the ILA and Secretary-Treasurer of the ILA’s Atlantic Coast District.
He had first been elected ACD Secretary-Treasurer in July 2000 and later reelected in July 2003. Then in October 2005 at the request of International President John Bowers and with the unanimous approval of the ILA Executive Council, Mr. Hughes filled the unexpired term as ILA’s Executive Vice President after Al Cernadas resigned from that post.
Previously, he served as General Vice-President of the Atlantic Coast District from 1989 to 2000 and ACD Vice President since 1985.
Mr. Hughes becomes only the eighth man to serve as president of the 115-year-old union. The ILA, first organized along the Great Lakes region in 1892, today represents more than 65,000 workers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada. The International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots; the United Marine Division Tugboat Workers; and Supreme Court Officers' Association are all affiliated with the ILA.
Mr. Hughes comes from a rich tradition of longshoremen and is a third generation ILA member. He went to work on the Baltimore docks as a young man in 1954, first joining ILA Local 1429. The Hughes family had emigrated from Ireland in the late 1800s, first settling in Western Pennsylvania where Richard Hughes’ grandfather, Martin Patrick Hughes, worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines. The Hughes family moved to the Baltimore area where Martin Hughes joined the newly formed ILA in the late 1890’s working as a coal trimmer.
Richard Hughes’ father and namesake was a grain trimmer, clerk and checker in the Port of Baltimore and his uncle, Mickey Hughes, was president of Baltimore ILA Local 953 during the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Richard Hughes joined ILA Local 953 in 1957 and during the next five decades, he would serve in a variety of union-elected offices including Delegate, Business Agent, Recording Secretary, Vice President and President.
Hughes was elected Vice President on the Atlantic Coast Executive Board in 1985 representing the Port of Baltimore. He was re-elected to that post four times, including his elevation in 1989 to ACD General Vice President.
In his home Port of Baltimore, he previously served as Chairman of the Port’s Private Sector Committee, which brings together all facets of the maritime industry.
Mr. Hughes is a veteran of the United States Navy, where during his years of active duty in 1953-1955, he served 18 months aboard the U.S.S. Juneau.
Mr. Hughes has been married to Wilma Anna “Babe” Hughes since 1957. They are the parents of five children: Karen, Kathleen, Richard, Brian, and Timothy, all of whom are current members of the ILA working in the Port of Baltimore. Mr. Hughes, a life-long resident of Baltimore, has eight grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Richard P. Hughes, Jr.
President
17 Battery Place
Suite 930
New York, New York 10004
212-425-1200 ext. 324