New Bedford longshoremen support wider strike, but they’re still on the job

Editor’s note: This story was published and reported by the New Bedford Light on Oct. 1. We are co-publishing with the Light’s permission, as we believe it can enlighten our readers on offshore wind as it relates to our Island.

Dockworkers at 36 ports across the Eastern Seaboard and down to the Gulf of Mexico are on strike for the first time in decades, fighting for higher pay and to stem automation that puts their jobs at risk. The work stoppage could deal a blow to the nation’s economy by jamming supply chains and boosting inflation. 

The stakes are high for both consumers and the 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) involved in the strike. But what’s the case for Local 1413: New Bedford’s 45-member ILA chapter, which is responsible for loading and unloading the massive, new ships in the harbor carrying parts to build the nation’s first offshore wind farms? 

Kevin Rose, president of the ILA’s Local 1413, said his union supports those on strike — but they will not stop their work loading ships for the offshore wind industry.

“We are going to keep working on the wind turbine projects here in New Bedford,” Rose said in an interview Tuesday. “We fully support our ILA brothers and sisters who are fighting the big fight.” 

As tensions ratcheted up last weekend in anticipation of the strike, Rose said he attended a meeting in Boston with leaders of the national union and representatives of Atlantic Coast locals. He said ILA leadership cleared his members in Local 1413 to continue working if the strike went forward. 

“This is a new industry,” Rose said of offshore wind. “It’s urgent these wind farms get built, and our members are going to keep working to make that happen.” 

The strike is mostly focused on ILA locals that handle container ships carrying consumer goods and raw materials. They are demanding that a group of port operators, the U.S. Maritime Alliance, agree to a new contract that increases wages, and prohibits automation that eliminates jobs, specifically of equipment like cranes and trucks that do not require human operators. 

The Port of Boston — which handles 145,000 shipping containers a year — was shut down on Tuesday morning as the longshoremen there formed a picket line at its gates. The Boston Globe reported that businesses from wine importers to Robert Kraft’s lumber products and packaging company are on edge, anticipating product shortages and higher prices. Boston is on the smaller side of cargo ports, compared with the combined port of New York and New Jersey, which handled more than 4 million containers last year. 

J.P. Morgan analysts have forecast that the work stoppage could cost the U.S. economy upwards of $5 billion per day, keeping products like cars, furniture, electronics, and pharmaceuticals stuck on ships until a resolution is reached. 

Besides a scant few smaller cargo ships, most of which carry fruit juice concentrate, longshoremen in New Bedford almost exclusively handle ships carrying offshore wind components, Rose said. New Bedford is one of only two ILA ports where offshore wind parts are delivered. The other is New London, Conn. 

Rose and the ILA 1413 fought hard last year to secure a contract with offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind. It culminated in a six-day strike last spring, which shut down development of the wind farm in what would have been its first week of construction.

In May 2023, a 500-foot ship carrying the first parts that make up an 837-foot wind turbine tower arrived in New Bedford from Portugal. Rose said he quickly learned that developer Vineyard Wind had walked back its former commitment to hire a local and diverse workforce by contracting ILA 1413 to unload the ship. Two days later, Rose and other longshoremen formed a picket line blocking gates to the shipping yard. Members of other unions working on the project walked out in solidarity, effectively grinding all work on the site to a halt. 

After stopping work for six days, the ILA ultimately secured a contract with Vineyard Wind — guaranteeing a 40-hour workweek, codifying their jurisdiction, and obtaining a $1 million grant from Vineyard Wind for job-site training. 

The ILA has deep roots on the New Bedford waterfront. Union members, most of whom are of Cape Verdean descent, have unloaded cargo on the port going back to the whaling days. But in the past few decades, work dried up for the longshoremen as the shipping industry turned to large cargo ships that could not fit through New Bedford’s hurricane barrier, and so were redirected to larger ports. The burgeoning offshore wind industry — which will require hundreds of ships — represented an opportunity to rebuild the union through steady employment and livable wages. 

Though it is not stopping work, Rose said, Local 1413 will still benefit from negotiations with the U.S. Maritime Alliance. Under the contract that expired Monday, longshoremen earned at most $39 an hour. The ILA is seeking a $5-an-hour raise for its longshoremen, most of whom make significantly less than the top rate. 

On Tuesday, Rose said he was nervous that the strike this week would deal a blow to the union just as his local is beginning to rebuild. They now have between 28 and 30 people working each day that a ship is being unloaded in New Bedford. Although the strike will likely cause the “consumer to take a hit” because “companies are going to up their prices,” Rose said he is relieved that offshore wind development will not be jammed up during negotiations.

“We have not had work down here for a long time,” Rose said. “I’m very proud of the work we are doing.” 

Email reporter Will Sennott at wsennott@newbedfordlight.org.