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Photo: Paula Robinson Deare
“The future is so bright, but it’s up to us to let our community know about these opportunities . . . not because we’re Black from an oppressed community, No! Because I’m qualified and I can do that job or I’m ready to go learn that job.”
Kevin Rose
Kevin is a proud Cape Verdean-American and President of the local chapter of the International Longshoreman’s Association – the largest association of maritime workers in North America. In this excerpt, Kevin describes the challenges longshoremen have faced and how the offshore wind industry has changed the landscape. He emphasizes the importance of fighting to ensure that companies are hiring local dockworkers, providing training to diversify their workforce, creating a seat at the table for labor and people of color when decisions are being made, and providing enough fulltime work for the next generation to become longshoremen.
This interview was originally conducted in English.
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Background Information:
Kevin is President of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1413, the only union still intact on the New Bedford waterfront. Today a majority of the members are Cape Verdeans whose families have offloaded cargo here since the whaling era. In the last few decades, work dried up for the longshoremen as large cargo ships could not fit through New Bedford’s hurricane barrier and were redirected to larger ports. Kevin sees the offshore wind industry as an opportunity to rebuild the union through steady employment and livable wages. In 2023, Kevin led a successful strike to ensure that Vineyard Wind made good on its promise to hire and train local people.
