LISBON, PORTUGAL – Watch Harold J. Daggett, the leader of the 85,000-member International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) open the historic “People Over Profits: Anti-Automation Conference” in Lisbon, Portugal on November 5, 2025, and tell nearly a thousand dockworker and maritime union members in attendance that the threat of automation is “a full-blown attack on our very existence.” The ILA International President called on all Dockers and Maritime Unions to join a Global Maritime Alliance that would target and strike companies that introduced or expanded automation at waterfront facilities in any port around the world.
Harold J. Daggett, President of the ILA, in the keynote address at the start of the two-day summit held at at the Pavilhão Carolos Lopes Convention Center in Lisbon, Portugal, delivered a powerful, yet ominous message to the large gathering about the intent of their employers and the threat to workers everywhere.