NORTH BERGEN, NJ (December 20, 2025) The past year of 2025 was just eight days old when International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold J. Daggett announced tentative agreement on a landmark six-year Master Contract with United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), that was hailed as the greatest Collective Bargaining Agreement ever negotiated by a union.
That successful event early in 2025 proved to be a harbinger for outstanding achievements to come in a banner year for ILA President Daggett and the 85,000 rank-and-file members he represents. Ratifying the “gold standard” Master Contract Agreement in February 2025 would be followed later in the year with a historic global dockworker summit held in Lisbon, Portugal in November that led to the signing of a “Global Maritime Alliance”.
The new six-year USMX-ILA Master Contract Agreement that will run until September 30, 2030, included a 62 percent wage increase over the life of the contract; full protections against automation; accelerated wage raises for new ILA workers; full container royalty funds returned to the ILA; raises in contributions to money purchase plans; a strengthening of the International’s health care plan called MILA; and a resolution of the Vacation and Holiday dilemma, among many other benefits.
Full protections against automation was an astounding feature of the new ILA agreement, unique among any dockworker labor agreement anywhere. Recognizing the need for dockworkers around the world to be protected the same way as ILA longshore workers against the ravages of automation, ILA President Harold Daggett’s set his focus on the world stage and to next bring global dockworkers together to form a Global Maritime Alliance.
In early November 2025, that goal was realized giving ILA President Harold Daggett another crowning achievement to finish 2025.
Over a thousand dockers and maritime workers met in Lisbon, Portugal for The “Anti-Automation Conference: People Over Profits” and concluded their inaugural two-day summit with the signing of a historic “Lisbon Summit Document” that created a Global Maritime Alliance to collectively fight any expansion of automating waterfront facilities around the world. In essence, this Alliance looks to mirror the success the ILA achieved with its current six-year Master Contract for longshore workers at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports in the United States that protects them against any forms of automation.
As President Daggett continues to the lead the ILA well into his fourth term as International President and Chief Negotiator, he intends to build the successes of 2025.
Early in December, ILA Executive Vice President Dennis A. Daggett reported to the ILA’s Executive Council that the ILA-USMX Jurisdictional Committee did what was right for both ILA longshore workers and employers in the Port of Virginia after intensive two-day round the clock meetings. The ILA reminded local officers to remain vigilant to ensure that the union’s jurisdiction and work functions are fully protected.
The ILA looks to continue to be a force with charitable work in the many communities where its members and their families live. An example of this is the ILA teaming up with its management partners at USMX as they did in late May 2025 and hosted the 32nd Annual USMX-ILA Children’s Fund Charity Outing and raised over $150,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
As President Harold Daggett and the ILA reflect on their many amazing accomplishments in 2025, they recognize the need to continue growing even stronger in 2026.