LISBON, PORTUGAL (November 28, 2025) Longshore Union Leader Dennis A. Daggett charged up the hundreds of delegates attending the Profits Over People: Anti-Automation Conference”. This video shows his forceful remarks delivered at the opening session on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, of “People Over Profits: Anti-Automation Conference”, held at the Pavilhão Carolos Lopes Convention Center in central Lisbon, Portugal.
Daggett, the Executive Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and General Coordinator of the world-wide International Dockworkers Council (IDC) spelled out the employers’ real intention at automate port facilities around the world.
“But let’s be clear —this isn’t about moving cargo faster,” Daggett told the attentive gathering of global dockers and maritime workers. “It’s about moving us out of the picture. It’s about cutting labor to pad profits. It’s about eliminating people, not improving performance.”
Automation left unchecked with spread to all waterfront facilities around the world and into other industries as well, Daggett warned.
His called automation “A corporate strategy to erase working class jobs and spin it under a feel good world like modernization….We know exactly what it is. It’s job killing technology, plain and simple.”
Daggett opened his remarks praising the many unions present at the Lisbon Summit. “Your presence at this historic gathering is a powerful reminder of our shared struggle, our rich history and our unbreakable commitment to protect an industry that we built with our blood, our sweat and our tears.
He then paid to SEAL, the Portuguese Dockworkers union, by recognizing their five-year strike and also their unwavering support to the ILA during their own difficult contract negotiations, Dennis Daggett said: SEAL reminded the world of something that we must never forget: Dockworkers don’t back down and we will never, ever surrender – not in Lisbon!, not in New York!, not in Sidney!, not in Central and South America, no anywhere in this world will we ever, ever surrender!
The ILA and IDC leader also paid tribute to his father, Harold J. Daggett, International ILA President who opened the conference with the keynote address.
“Now let me tell you who made this conference possible. One man had the vision to see it coming and that man is Harold J. Daggett, the president of the ILA.
Dennis Daggett noted his father’s longevity in the industry is nearing 60 years.
“He’s been our chief negotiator and has secured what many believe to be the strongest automation protections in the world, Dennis Daggett said of his father and the ILA leader. “Not just in the U.S. —but in the world.
“But what inspires me most about Harold Daggett isn’t just his legacy —it’s that he’s still fighting like hell,” praised Dennis Daggett. “At 79 years old, after decades of protecting and preserving jobs for generations of ILA families —he still gets up every morning ready to swing.”