Richard P. Hughes Jr. began his career, in 1955, as his father and uncle did—on the Baltimore waterfront as a dockworker. Always active in his union, he moved up the ranks of the Longshoremen (ILA), taking along vast knowledge and experience that can only be gained through hard work on the docks.
Hughes held a variety of positions in ILA Local 953, including delegate, business agent, recording secretary, vice president and president. From 2007 to 2011, he served as international president and chief negotiator of the 50,000-member ILA.
His landmark achievement as president was negotiating a three-year contract agreement with shippers in 2009 for longshore workers from Maine to Texas that included substantial wage increases, solid health care protection and increases in pension benefits. He lifted up the lowest-paid longshore workers, some of whom earned increases of $10 an hour.
As a vice president of the AFL-CIO on the Executive Council, he has served on the International Affairs Committee and Legislative and Public Policy Committee. He also has been a member of the executive councils of the AFL-CIO's Maritime Trades Department and Transportation Trades Department and an executive officer with the Dockers Section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
On his retirement from the federation’s Executive Council, we offer our thanks for his many years of service to ILA members and all working families and our best wishes for a healthy and happy retirement, enjoying well-earned time with his wife, Wilma Anna "Babe" Hughes, and his five children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.