ILWU International Vice President (Hawaii) Wesley Furtado passed away on March 15, 2020 at the age of 64. Wes rose from humble beginnings as a secondgeneration longshore in a working class family who became a widely respected leader within the ILWU and the labor movement for his fierce commitment to unions, devotion to social justice and considerable organizing and negotiating skills.

ILWU International President Willie Adams recalled his longtime relationship with Furtado. “Wes was a labor warrior, and I had a great amount of respect for him and how he worked. He was mentored by Bobo Lapenia and Tommy Trask — two powerful ILWU leaders with very different styles but who both got results,” Adams said. “Wes took the best of both their styles and created his own style. Like them, Wes was old school — he understood the importance of politics and he had a personality that put people at ease. Wes could get along in any situation and relate to every person he met. This gained him respect from the employers, ILWU members, and union brothers and sisters all over the world. Wes was a true internationalist.”

Early years 
Wes was born on September 4, 1955 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended school in Kailua when it was still a small town just 12 miles from Honolulu, but a world apart because of its location on the other “windward” side of Oahu. During high school, he held a part-time job, stocking shelves in a local supermarket in the morning, then returned after school to bag groceries.

International President Emeritus “Big Bob” McEllrath and Wes Furtado share a laugh during the 2006 ILWU Convention in Vancouver, BC.

Plans to enter the trades 
After graduating, Wes got a job at an air conditioning and refrigeration supply warehouse where he met workers in the trade and applied to an apprenticeship program run by the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union. While waiting for his application to be approved, Wes’ father encouraged him to apply for work on the docks. He took his father’s advice and started working on the waterfront in 1978 at the age of 22.

Beginning on waterfront 
As his seniority and experience on the waterfront grew, Wes’ abilities were increasingly recognized by his peers. Coworkers elected him to serve as their Shop Steward, then Longshore Unit officer, and eventually a member of the Longshore Negotiating Committee.

Becoming an organizer 
It was through helping non-union workers to organize that Wes began to distinguish himself. He started as a rankand-file organizer in 1986. His first major assignment involved helping workers at a Kauai hotel to organize for better pay and working conditions. That experience helped Wes find his calling in life, as he explained during an interview with ILWU Historian Harvey Schwartz in 2014.

“I found a passion to help people to stand up as equals to the employers,” Wes said, “To ask for what they deserve for the work they perform. That’s what drives me. When we organize a new house and negotiate over the table and look at the employer, we can tell them what we think we deserve. We deal as equals.”

Oath of office: Wesley Furtado being sworn in as International Vice President by James Spinosa in 2000.

International Representative 
Local 142 President Donna Domingo knew Wes well because they both grew up together in Kailua. “I worked for Wesley’s mom when I was in high school and our family lived just up the street from them,” she recalls. They lost touch after graduating, then met fifteen years later in a surprising way.

In August 1989 Wes was appointed to serve as an International Representative by ILWU International President Jimmy Herman. In that new position, Wes kept on organizing, negotiated numerous difficult first contracts and oversaw challenging renewals. It’s also how Domingo met him again.

“I saw this guy who looked familiar at one of the big hotels on Maui where the ILWU was organizing,” said Domingo, “and it turned out to be Wesley, so we both ended up in the union movement together.”

“Even back then, I could see that Wesley had courage and the patience to understand organizing was a long-term commitment. He knew how to bring people together and he understood politics, so he used those skills to negotiate and finesse contracts that improved conditions for workers,” said Domingo.

Challenging and winning the VP race 
In the year 2000, Wes decided to run against International Vice President (Hawaii) Leonard Hoshijo. Wes narrowly lost by 291 votes out of 11,000 cast. A controversy ensued with Wes challenging the results. His protest was rejected by the union’s International Election Procedures Committee, but upheld by the International Executive Board, which ordered a new election. Wes won the re-run by 850 votes – making him the new International Vice President for Hawaii.

ILWU President Emeritus Robert “Big Bob” McEllrath recalled his many years of friendship, camaraderie, and hard work with Wesley during his time as International Vice President (Hawaii). “The first time I remember meeting Wesley, he was an International Rep at one of the longshore caucuses in the 1990s. In 2000, Wesley and I both ran and were elected to the position of Vice President. At the time, (ILWU President Emeritus Jim Spinosa) Spinner would send me out to travel and I told him, ‘I’m taking Wesley with me.’ That’s when we became not just co-workers but really good friends. We got to trust and understand the way each other worked.” McEllrath continued, “When I first became International