Education

ILA Education/History

10 hours ago

Lisbon, Portugal

ILA LOCAL 1588 MEMBER ISAIAS FRANCO IS FRONT AND CENTER ON THE PICKET LINES IN LISBON, PORTUGAL

FRANCO JUST HAPPEN TO BE IN LISBON FOR THE ANTI-AUTOMATION CONFERENCE AND HE DID NOT HESITATE TO JOIN IN ON THE PROTEST FOR BETTER LABOR WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS AS SOON AS HE HAD KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT WAS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE

From the Associated Press, November 8, 2025:
Tens of thousands of people in Lisbon took to the streets Saturday to protest labor reforms. The protest was organized by the country’s main labor union and are aimed at improving productivity and flexibility in the job market. ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

12 hours ago

Lisbon, Portugal

This is what worldwide solidarity looks like!

The Maritime Union of Australia comes out in a full force as a large delegation of dockworkers traveled half way around the world to fully support the Anti-Automation Conference in Lisbon, Portugal

**ILA**
**MUA**
**IDC** ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

1 day ago

Lisbon, Portugal

As the Lisbon Summit…People Over Profit: Anti-Automation Conference comes to a conclusion and dockworker delegates and labor leaders travel back to their home ports from all around the world, the IDC Labor Coordinator Jordi Aragunde leaves us with a powerful closing quote: ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

2 days ago

A MESSAGE FROM OUR INTERNATIONAL

With Global Maritime Alliance Success Achieved In Lisbon, Portugal, Harold J. Daggett Cements His Legacy As Most Effective and Influential President In ILA History

LISBON, PORTUGAL (November 9, 2025) In the decade and a half as International President of the 85,000-member International Longshoremen’s Association, Harold J. Daggett has achieved remarkable success for both his rank-and-file ILA members working at ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, Eastern Canada and the Bahamas; and for dockworkers around the world. As the architect and force behind this week’s successful Global Maritime Alliance that unites hundreds of thousands of dockworkers around the world to collectively fight off job killing automation, coupled with the three landmark ILA-USMX Master Contract Agreements he won in 2012, 2018 and 2024 as the union’s Chief Negotiator, Daggett clearly cements his legacy as the most effective and influential leader in the ILA’s 133 year history and the voice and the power of global dockworkers.
This Queens, New York native and a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, could hardly envision the life and career ahead of him when he joined the ILA and Local 1804-1 in 1967, following his return from active military duty. But in nearly six decades since, Harold Daggett has forged a path of success throughout his inspired career that culminated this past Thursday when global dockworker union leaders answered his call to form a Global Maritime Alliance and achieve the same success at halting erosion of longshore jobs because of automation for dockworkers around the world, that he won for his ILA members last year.
The ILA leader convinced his fellow global dockworker union leaders that a global response to the threat of automation, must be met with forceful job action, including striking shipping companies that refuse to yield to dockworker demands to stop destroying jobs, families and futures through unnecessary port automation.
“The ILA longshore workers continue to out-perform any and all automated equipment,” President Daggett has said multiple times, arguing the case that companies should be investing in their workforce rather than expensive and unreliable automated equipment.
At Wednesday’s opening session, the ILA President articulated how members of the Global Maritime Alliance will respond to automation.
“If sacrifices are required to block automation, we must be willing to make them. If enduring hardships are needed to achieve our goal of no automation on the waterfront, we must be willing to endure them, President Daggett said. “Remember, these will be selective job actions against the companies that defy us.”
He further spelled out the dockworker’s battle plan in his closing remarks on Thursday. “We must be strong, we must be united, and we must be committed to take on this challenge together and never surrender,” Daggett told the almost one thousand docker and maritime workers present at the “People Ove Profits: Anti-Automation Conference” just prior to the official ratification of the “Lisbon Summit Resolution” that codifies the creation of the Global Maritime Alliance.
The ILA and the International Dockworkers Council (IDC) organized the Lisbon Summit, and the two IDC echoed Harold Daggett’s forceful message.
“Throughout the summit, delegates examined evidence and real-world data proving what workers have known all along, human labor is more productive, more reliable, and far safer than any machine,” said Dennis A. Daggett, the IDC General Coordinator and ILA Executive Vice President. “Studies presented showed that so-called ‘fully automated’ terminals consistently fall short in performance and depend daily on manual intervention to function. The myth of automation as “innovation” was shattered.”
“Automation in our ports is not an abstract threat — it tears apart communities, destroys stable livelihoods, and replaces generations of skill, pride, and human judgment with machines that answer only to profit,” said Jordi Aragunde Miguens, the IDC Labor Coordinator. “It risks turning our docks into silent, empty corridors where once there was life, teamwork, and the heartbeat of working-class families. We refuse to let that be our future.’
The person that global dockworkers will be looking to lead them on this challenging mission will be Harold J. Daggett. His oldest son, Dennis, has perhaps the clearest and closest perspective of the elder Daggett’s strengths and ability.
Commenting after the historic Lisbon Summit, Dennis Daggett noted: “I first want to thank ILA President, Harold J. Daggett, for having the vision and foresight to bring this historic meeting to Lisbon, Portugal. Watching his continuous fight after close to sixty years on the waterfront is inspiring to many and it motivates all of us to do better.”

Thank you James McNamara, ILA Chief of Staff ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

2 days ago

PORT OF CHARLESTON PROUDLY REPRESENTS THE ILA AT THE ANTI-AUTOMATION CONFERENCE IN LISBON, PORTUGAL

The ILA at the Port of Charleston……
Left to Right:
Derrick Holmes-  VP ILA 1422
Matt Givens - Exec. Bd. ILA 1422-A
Charon Harris - Delegate ILA 1422-A
Jerquan Wright - Exec. Bd. ILA 1422-A
Lenny Bailey - Pres. ILA 1422-A
Simeon McNeal- Shop Steward ILA 1422-A
Kenny Riley- Pres. ILA 1422
Macy Sharper- Foreman ILA 1422-A
Jerry Perry - VP ILA 1422-A
Shawn Middleton - ILA 1422 Delegate
Ben Parker Jr.  - Shop Steward ILA 1422-A
Bruce Jenkins Sr. - Sgt. at Arms ILA 1422- A ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

3 days ago

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ILA INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT THOMAS “TEDDY” GLEASON

In photograph, ILA International President Teddy Gleason stands with a young Jim McNamara. It was Gleason who hired McNamara on August 31, 1981 to be the ILA’s Public Relations Director, who now serves the membership as the ILA’s Chief of Staff.

THE AMAZING CAREER OF THOMAS “TEDDY” GLEASON:

-Born 125 years ago today, on November 8, 1900, Teddy Gleason was the sixth ILA International President that served the membership from 1963-1987.

-A legendary labor leader that led the ILA in a very challenging and difficult time as the dawn of containerization was upon our union sisters and brothers.

-Gleason family of Manhattan’s Lower West Side had been on waterfront since 1888.

-General Organizer that went port to port in 1950’s to defeat International Brotherhood of Longshoreman (IBL)

-Elected President at ILA International Convention in 1963

-Moved ILA Headquarters to 17 Battery Place, New York

-As Automation and Containerization increased, Gleason saved countless jobs

-In 1965 Gleason negotiates, what was at the time, the longest lasting ILA contract in history

-Negotiates Container Royalty in 1968

-Creates Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI) program, the Job Security Program (JSP) and the “Rules on Containers” (The Rules)

-Passed away in December of 1992

HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT GLEASON! ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

3 days ago

Lisbon, Portugal
ILA Local 24
Houston, TX

ILA LOCAL 24 MEMBERS LED BY PRESIDENT GABRIEL GARZA IS WELL REPRESENTED AT THE ANTI-AUTOMATION CONFERENCE IN LISBON PORTUGAL ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

4 days ago

A MESSAGE FROM ILA INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND IDC GENERAL COORDINATOR DENNIS A. DAGGETT:

LISBON, PORTUGAL (November 6, 2025) — Nearly one thousand dockworkers and maritime trade unionists from around the world gathered in Lisbon this week for the “Anti-Automation Conference, People Over Profits,” a historic two-day summit that concluded with the signing of the Lisbon Summit Resolution, establishing a Global Maritime Alliance to defend workers, communities, and national security from the reckless advance of automation.

This was not just another conference, it was a call to arms for every worker whose job, dignity, and community are threatened by corporate greed disguised as “progress.”

Throughout the summit, delegates examined evidence and real-world data proving what workers have known all along, human labor is more productive, more reliable, and far safer than any machine. Studies presented showed that so-called “fully automated” terminals consistently fall short in performance and depend daily on manual intervention to function. The myth of automation as “innovation” was shattered.

Corporate leaders and global shipping giants use buzzwords like innovation, progress, and modernization, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. Behind those words is a clear agenda, cut labor costs, boost profits, and erase generations of good union jobs.

While these corporations line their pockets with record-breaking profits, port communities are left decimated, families displaced, local economies gutted, and generations of skilled workers cast aside.

Delegates also raised serious concerns about the unspoken dangers behind automation, including the health impacts of 5G systems used to power remote operations, and the growing risk to national security as critical port infrastructure becomes increasingly dependent on software and vulnerable to cyberattacks.

This summit made one thing clear, automation is not progress, it’s exploitation.

The Lisbon Summit marks a turning point in the global labor movement. Dockworkers, seafarers, and maritime unions from every continent pledged to stand together, to fight back against job-killing technology and defend the human right to work with dignity.

The newly formed Global Maritime Alliance is more than a network, it’s a global force for justice. Its message to the world is simple, People over profits, Humanity over machines, Solidarity over greed.

I first want to thank ILA President, Harold J. Daggett, for having the vision and foresight to bring this historic meeting to Lisbon, Portugal. Watching his continuous fight after close to sixty years on the waterfront is inspiring to many and it motivates all of us to do better. I want to thank Jose and Sergio for being the best hosts, your hospitality was off the charts. I also want to thank all of the delegates and rank-and-file members who traveled from all over the world to attend this important conference. It means more to us, and more importantly to our movement, than you can possibly imagine. Thank you.

Finally, my Brother Jordi, thank you for helping organize one of the best, if not the best, meetings in Docker and Maritime history. Once again, your selflessness cannot be measured. Your brilliance shines through in everything you do, but this time it was really special, and it will be talked about for generations.

I also want to thank all of our speakers. Your remarks were not only insightful but a true education for all of us. We leave here knowing that our battle might be tough, but our relentless determination and commitment will outlast. Even if we face hardship and sacrifice, we will continue to fight for our ancestors and for future generations to come, and we will never ever surrender!!

Submitted by:
Dennis A. Daggett ... See MoreSee Less

ILA Education/History

4 days ago

DAGGETT MAKES MARITIME HISTORY

ILA INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT HAROLD J. DAGGETT AND HIS INCREDIBLE TEAM OF LABOR LEADERS MAKE HISTORY AS THEY CONCLUDE “THE PEOPLE OVER PROFIT:ANTI-AUTOMATION CONFERENCE” IN LISBON, PORTUGAL….

More posts about this historic conference to come!! ... See MoreSee Less