On the morning of 3 August, the dock-workers were set to meet with Antonio Carreira, the manager of Casa Gouveia, to negotiate their wage increase. They had decided beforehand to stop working altogether at 3 o'clock in the afternoon should their demands not be met.
The dockworkers were planning to negotiate a wage increase with Casa Gouveia on August 3rd. They had decided to stop working at 3 p.m. that day if they didn't reach an agreement.