AFL-CIO President Applauds New Regulations Ensuring Fair Wages for Clean Energy Jobs

On June 19, the Biden administration announced final rules to implement better wages and training on clean energy projects. The new rules will provide a fivefold increase in clean energy tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act for deployment of wind, solar, nuclear, hydrogen, and other clean energy technologies as long as the developers meet prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements.

"These new wage regulations are a historic win for working people, made possible with the culmination of decades of advocacy by the labor movement and years of work by the Biden–Harris administration," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in a statement. "Today, we fulfill one of the key promises of the Inflation Reduction Act: that we can create good-paying union jobs and advance clean energy policy at the same time. By bringing the full weight of federal law to secure fair wages on IRA-funded projects, the Biden–Harris administration is ensuring that workers who join the clean energy sector can keep earning wages in line with those they’ve won through hard-fought contract negotiations. The regulations will encourage developers to do right by the workers they hire, support the increase of apprenticeships, and build the clean energy workforce.

"Union members are ready to work—and now, with the opportunity for fair wages, we will build the economy of the future, just as we have with every technological advancement in our country’s history."