05/27/2025
CONSTRUCTION UNIONS GRAB HOLD
OF CLEAN ENERGY JOBS – FOR NOW
Nationwide, state and local governments have begun taking concrete steps toward a clean energy economy, and for now – even under Trump –green union jobs are increasing.
Meanwhile, unions have partnered with climate activists to win legislation for more such jobs. Six states have passed “climate jobs” bills to expand renewable energy and raise labor standards for that construction. Four more have union coalitions advocating for such legislation.
Will the green surge continue? And if it does, will workers reap the economic benefits – or get left behind?
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)opened the door for clean energy projects across the country. Many IRA tax credits were designed to encourage the use of high-wage union labor. But under the Trump administration, most of this IRA funding is either in limbo or has been canceled.
Still, more workers are getting experience on jobs that will be central to the potential clean-energy economy of the future.
How do workers feel about these jobs? And are they laying the groundwork for more workers to embrace a clean energy transition?
SOLAR
The solar panels we see on rooftops of public buildings and private homes are relatively easy to install, and unions like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have many members with experience in the industry.
WIND
Huge strides have been made over the last decade in developing offshore wind. In Rhode Island, building trades unions supported the development of Block Island Wind, the nation’s largest offshore wind project, and jumped at the chance to use further funding through the IRA.
The Trump administration has blocked all new permits for wind energy development, at least for now. But work on existing projects continues.
Erin Vaughan, a member of IBEW Local 223 in Massachusetts, is currently working to build wind turbines off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. This is part of the Vineyard Wind 1 project, one of 11 offshore wind farms attached together on federal lands.
DEEPER ORGANIZING
Of course the clean-energy transition needed isn’t limited to wind and solar. Union officers pushing climate jobs bills often also advocate for geothermal energy, battery storage, building retrofits, and nuclear power to add to a transition. The United Auto Workers’ recent successes organizing electric-vehicle plants are encouraging.
Especially in the current political climate, workers in the building trades need to more aggressively organize non-union clean energy workers. A new clean energy economy is an opportunity for the building trades to bring more of a union culture to these projects and combat longstanding problems like mandatory overtime and speed-up.
The shift to a green economy is also a great opening for unions to do internal education about the benefits to workers of clean energy development. Sometimes this member education can happen in the midst of real-time legislative fights unions are helping to lead.
The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in Illinois, passed in 2021 with unanimous labor support, contains ambitious climate targets while maintaining a strong commitment to putting unions in the driver’s seat.
At their best, campaigns like these aren’t just lobbying exercises for leadership, but include political education and member mobilization. They are an opportunity to engage members on the shop floor and educate about the potential benefits of a clean energy transition.
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State and local governments have begun taking concrete steps towards a clean energy economy, and for now, even under Trump, green union jobs are increasing. Meanwhile, unions have partnered with climate activists to win legislation for more such jobs. Six states have passed “climate jobs” bills ...
