Facing Unemployment, Union Apprentices Back Legislation to Support Union Jobs in Clean Energy Sector
Photo: IBEW 1253 apprentices Cierra Pearl & Brayden House at the State House last week. NRCM
The Maine Legislature is poised to vote on two bills that would increase renewable energy capacity in the state and ensure the clean energy sector supports good union jobs. At a press conference last week, Brayden House, a third-year electrical apprentice, said that he is among 66 IBEW 1253 apprentices who are unemployed due to uncertainty in the construction sector and around the future of federal energy tax credits slated for cuts in the Republican budget reconciliation budget.
House was among 100 clean energy advocates who travelled to the State House in Augusta to lobby legislators on a number of clean energy bills including LD 1868, An Act to Advance a Clean Energy Economy by Updating Renewable and Clean Resource Procurement Laws and LD 1270, An Act to Establish the Department of Energy Resources, which would increase investments in renewable energy and ensure clean energy projects support well-paying jobs.
“It is concerning to hear that these federal tax credits for clean energy have been thrown up in the air,” said House. “It is concerning for our environment and it is concerning for myself and my union brothers and sisters. This could be the difference between staying in Maine as a union electrician or hitting the road to provide for our families, which is why it is crucial that we secure these jobs that will keep us busy for a decade or more.”
Speaking to Maine Public Radio, IBEW 1253 apprentice Cierra Pearl said she sees solar energy as the future, but because of political uncertainty and sometimes hostility toward clean energy, she said the work she and her fellow apprentices have been counting on has dried up.
"I just want people to know that if you protect clean energy jobs. You're protecting jobs for Mainers, and you're protecting our work, but not just union work, but work for everybody, and not just now, but into the future as well," Pearl said.
On May 22, the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted 7-5 to advance LD 1868, which would require that Maine utilities ensure that 100 percent of their electricity sold in 2040 comes from clean or renewable power sources. The committee also voted 7-6 to recommend passage of LD 1270, which would elevate the Governor’s Energy Office to a cabinet-level Department of Energy Resources, and empowers that Department to conduct planning and procurement of clean energy projects to satisfy the portfolio standard set out in LD 1868. These procurements will drive significant investment in clean energy projects in Maine.
Both of these bills include meaningful labor standards to ensure that clean energy projects support good quality jobs with benefits. LD 1270 incentivizes project developers to enter into Project Labor Agreements (PLA) that utilize registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. A PLA is a pre-hire, project-wide negotiated agreement that establishes wages and work rules for all contractors and construction workers on a project. This business model is typically used for more complex, time sensitive projects to ensure they are done on time and on budget with the highest quality of work that pays living wages with benefits.
Both of these bills require all contractors, whether union or non-union, to pay rates that guarantee fair wages, including healthcare and retirement packages through utilization of existing statute requiring rates that are tied to the total package collectively bargained wage + benefits rates in each craft. They would require that all new projects are cost-competitive and protect ratepayers by driving down electricity costs.
Taken together, these two bills will mean thousands of megawatts of clean energy, more affordable and stable electricity prices for all ratepayers, and the potential for the creation of good jobs and a well trained workforce.