LISBON, PORTUGAL – (November 3, 2025) International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold J. Daggett arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday, November 2, just days ahead of the historic “People Over Profits: Anit-Automation Conference” that begins Wednesday, November 5 at the Pavilhão Carolos Lopes Convention Center in central Lisbon, Portugal. The ILA leader was welcomed to Lisbon by President Jose Carlos Monteiro and Vice President Sergio Sousa, the two top leaders of SEAL, (Sindicato dos Estivadores e da Actividade Logística) the Portuguese Dockers Union.
“All maritime unions are facing the threat of automation robbing their ran-and-file members of their livelihoods and destroying their unions,” said ILA President Harold J. Daggett, the leader of his 85,000-member longshore union, who successfully negotiated a landmark six-year agreement last year that fully protects his members against the automation threat. “Dockworker and maritime unions are here in Lisbon this week to join in solidarity against job-killing automation threat to all of us.”
The Anti-Automation Summit is scheduled for this Wednesday and Thursday, November 5 and 6th, 2025.
The two leaders of SEAL met ILA President Harold Daggett and his delegation. The dockworker union leaders shared details of their recent historic job actions that resulted in victories for their rank-and-file members. The SEAL leaders recounted their five-year strike in Portugal to win wage increases, improved pensions and tax relief and the ILA president spoke on the strike at Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports last year that won powerful protections against automation. The meeting of SEAL and the ILA afforded each union an opportunity to express thanks for support and solidarity demonstrated during their respective strikes.
SEAL and the ILA are looking to build on their own successes to generate the same level of solidarity on a global scale when Maritime Unions from around the world gather on Wednesday to address the threat of automation.
President Daggett said the entire world needs to be better educated about the serious impact unchecked automation has on everyone’s livelihoods and their communities. He said the public needs to be convinced that the automation threat jeopardizes the stability of the world’s economy and safety.
“The upcoming Anti Automation Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, will be one of the most significant gatherings of Dockworkers, Marine Engineers, Officers, Master Mates and Pilots, Seafarers, and all Maritime Workers in our lifetime,” said ILA Executive Vice President Dennis A. Daggett, who also serves as General Coordinator of the worldwide International Dockworkers Council (IDC). The ILA and IDC are the organizers of this “People Over Profits: Anti-Automation Conference. “It is not just another meeting; it is a call to action for every Maritime Worker across the globe. The time has come for workers everywhere to unite and push back against a global corporate agenda that threatens our jobs, our communities, and our very way of life.
“For decades, the Corporate Globalist agenda has been carefully crafted and disguised under words like innovation, modernization, and progress,” Dennis Daggett continued. “They sound noble, but we know the truth. These are job killing technologies, plain and simple, designed to eliminate human workers and fill the pockets of corporations that already control too much of the world’s wealth.”
In the photo, from left to right, Sergio Sousa, SEAL Vice President; Harold J. Daggett, ILA President and Jose Carlos Monteiro, SEAL President.