Hughes to Address MMA Alumni Foundation Dinner

Newly elected International Longshoremen's Association President Richard P. Hughes, Jr., will be the guest speaker at the United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Foundation dinner in New York on Wednesday, September 5. The event is honoring the Major Liner Ports of the U.S., and will benefit the Academy's Regimental Band. Hughes, whose career has been dedicated to maritime labor, will be the keynote speaker at his first public-speaking engagement since being elected ILA President by the rank-and-file at the Annual meeting. He succeeds John Bowers. Hughes was elected president of the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO in July 2007. Previously, he held the position of Executive Vice President since October 2005. Mr. Hughes also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the ILA's Atlantic Coast District, a position he was first elected to in July 2000 and re-elected in July 2003. He comes from a tradition of longshoremen and is a third generation ILA member. Mr. Hughes joined ILA Local 953 in 1957 and during the next four decades, he would serve in a variety of union-elected offices. The annual dinner is being held at the Hilton New York Hotel.