NORTH BERGEN, NJ (July 9, 2025) Join Us in Lisbon, Portugal – November 5th and 6th
The time is now. The threat is real. And the call for global labor solidarity has never been more urgent!
All Maritime Unions across the world are invited to Lisbon, Portugal this November 5th and 6th for the People Over Profit: Anti-Automation Conference, a pivotal summit organized to bring together dockworkers, seafarers, tug boat workers, marine engineers, master mates and pilots, and all maritime labor leaders under one roof. Our purpose is clear: to collectively strategize, share experiences, and strengthen our united front against the rise of job replacing automation.
This is not just about protecting our jobs. It is about preserving our communities, our families, and the very future we are building for the next generation.
Automation is creeping into every sector, little by little, industry by industry, while global corporations hide behind words like efficiency and progress. They are also pushing job-killing automation under the guise of safety. But what they are truly after is one thing only cutting labor costs.
Recent reports have warned that up to 50 percent of all entry level jobs could vanish within the next two years due to automation. This is not a blue-collar problem. It is a working class crisis, threatening both white and blue collar livelihoods. Whether you work in a crane cab or at a terminal console, the risks are the same. And so is the responsibility to act.
I come from a generation where we were taught that hard work pays off. Get an education. Learn a trade. Show up early, stay late, and take pride in your craft. But today, we are watching a world unfold where even the most skilled workers are told they are no longer needed. Not because the job is gone, but because eliminating labor is more profitable.
What message does this send to our children?
Go to college, drown in debt, and face a shrinking job market? Or learn a trade, only to watch automation take over the work you trained a lifetime to perform?
This cannot be the future we pass down to the younger generation of workers!!
The Lisbon Conference is more than a meeting. It is a stand. A stand for humanity over algorithms. A stand for working people over shareholder profits. A stand for a future where our children can dream big, work hard, and still find opportunity on the other side of that effort.
Technology should serve humanity, not replace it.
We are not against innovation. We are against exploitation. We embrace tools that make our jobs safer and more efficient, but we will never accept systems that eliminate the human element entirely.
This is your call to action. This is your opportunity to help shape the global strategy to protect jobs, dignity, and working class power. Let Lisbon be the place where the world’s maritime workforce unites, shoulder to shoulder, in defense of a better, fairer, more human job protecting future! The time is now…. -Dennis A. Daggett
See invitation below….
