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Record temperatures are affecting members from virtually every IAM sector, and manufacturing is no exception. Rising heat is hitting each corner of North America, triggering deadly heat waves and wildfires that slow production and hurt workers.225 “Some manufacturing plants have no air conditioning,” says Western Territory General Vice President Gary R. Allen, “people are suffering because of it.”226 Four decades later, John Harrity still remembers working second shifts for Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut as heat piled up in the facility. “It was difficult then,” he says, “and that’s all compounded now.”227
221 McCausland, “Net Zero 2050: Sustainable Aviation Fuels.”
224 Samora, Sara, “Why Boeing’s Back Is ‘against a Wall’ in Its Labor Negotiations.”
225 Kunkel et al., “State Climate Summaries for the United States 2022.”
Even as extreme weather injures workers and slows down production lines, some employers have been slow to act. Maintaining safe workplaces will require capital investments that bring effective climate control to plants. “We've had fights about this time and time again,” explains Allen.228 Failing to address hazardous conditions puts workers in harm's way. Furthermore, ignoring changing economic and environmental realities can leave companies at a competitive disadvantage. High-road manufacturers, such as Pennsylvania’s Voith Hydro, are providing workers with additional water breaks and protective equipment.229 The future of work in the manufacturing sector depends on more companies getting serious about climate adaptation.
Decarbonization and climate adaptation is expensive, but the clean energy economy is also creating opportunities for employer-union partnerships to secure new work. Some IAM- represented employers are already taking advantage of the unprecedented levels of climate funding from the Biden administration. At the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, IAM Local 1943 worked with management to secure $500 million in federal funding to replace the facility’s blast furnace with two electric furnaces.230 According to local leaders, the upgraded plant could end up producing the cleanest steel in the world while generating savings for the company.
At Voith, IAM Local 1400 helped secure a $5.8 million investment from the Department of Energy (DOE) to install a 200-ton, 30-foot-tall horizontal boring mill.231 The state of the art equipment will boost production at the only union hydroelectric turbine manufacturer in the United States. Throughout the process of turning flat steel into huge turbines, skilled IAM members weld, machine, and perform quality checks.232 The union and company have “a very good rapport,” says District 98 Assistant Directing Business Representative Kermit Forbes, Jr. “They’ve begun to reach out to us and treat us as a partner.”233