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Advocate for Labor Standards in the Clean Energy Economy
The development of a clean energy economy is a generational opportunity to reduce inequality while making the world more secure for future generations. Billions of dollars in public funds are catalyzing historic growth in multiple industries. Incentivizing companies to create domestic jobs is a great start, but without proper safeguards emerging clean energy employers may not provide fair wages, benefits, or career pathways. Attaching strong labor standards to public funding can ensure that new industries create high-quality, family-sustaining careers.
The IRA shows that pro-labor policymaking can spur economic growth. Significant investment is happening across the country, much of it with prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship mandates attached to construction work. As states and federal agencies develop additional programs, there will be additional opportunities for labor to expand on these standards into other project phases. For example, the IAM can join multi-union coalitions to push policymakers to attach similar standards to operations and maintenance work. Further, policymakers can attach employer neutrality or “labor peace” incentives to full-time manufacturing work in facilities that benefit from government investment.
Unions can also advocate for the establishment and strengthening of coordinating bodies to oversee workforce development and labor standards in the clean energy sector. Such bodies could project job creation, set standards for working conditions, establish workforce diversity goals, and direct recruitment programs. In some places, creating new bodies may be necessary. New York’s Fast Food Wage Board349 and Minnesota’s Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board350 are two examples of how new, industry-specific coordinating bodies can lift standards across the board. In some instances, strengthening existing bodies like Workforce Development Boards, while also broadening their mandates and representation, could make more sense.