Union Trades Workers Call on Congress to Protect Federal Infrastructure & Clean Energy Funding

Ironworkers Local 7 member Chad Ward and LIUNA 327 member Hayley Ward speak at a press conference in support of federal infrastructure funding and energy tax credits last week.

On Wednesday, union workers from across Maine gathered at the Maine State House to highlight the benefits clean energy projects have brought to our communities, including job creation and lower energy costs, and to call on Congress to preserve federal energy tax credits that would continue and expand clean energy work in the state.

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The event, which was hosted by the Maine Labor Climate Council, Maine AFL-CIO, and Maine Building & Construction Trades Council, featured union members and leaders from clean energy projects in Maine that are supported by federal energy incentives like the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC), which promote home-grown, American energy production and include labor standards requirements that help create good, family-sustaining jobs.

Chad Ward of Thorndike, a 21-year member of Ironworkers Local 7, said he is currently working on an offshore wind project in Virginia, but would love to be able to get that kind of work in Maine so he could come home to his family every night. Last month, developers of Maine's first offshore wind array paused the project amid the Trump administration’s opposition to the industry. Ward urged Maine's Congregational delegation to preserve clean energy tax credits so that his 16 year-old son could follow in his footsteps and stay close to home.

"I have missed too much of my family growing up," said Ward. "I have two daughters, they are eleven and nine. And let me tell you from experience, when I have to FaceTime them and they’re crying on the other end wanting daddy home to eat supper with them, I would give nothing more to be able to come home every night to my family. We need to really invest in our future in the state of Maine. We simply cannot allow this work to go elsewhere or get shot down."

Union workers and leaders from the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), Ironworkers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) spoke about the critical importance of defending the clean energy tax credits to protect Maine jobs, lower energy costs and achieve energy independence.

Laborers' 327 apprentice Hailey Lawrence said that she had previously been living in her car in a Planet Fitness parking lot before she had the opportunity to enter the Maine AFL-CIO's Union Construction Academy pre-apprenticeship.

"Two days after completing my pre-apprenticeship, I got a job working on solar panels . A month after that I got my very own apartment with my name on the lease," she said. "That wasn’t something I thought I would ever do, especially at 20 years old and that prior to that I had been living in my car.  Since that time, I have been going to my apprenticeship program. I’ve been able to make all of my payments on time, I’m able to support myself financially."

“Removing the federal clean energy tax credits would not only kill jobs already happening and in the pipeline,” said Scott Cuddy, a former Maine State Representative and member of IBEW Local 1253. “It’d also raise our energy bills and undercut the ongoing efforts to bring desperately-needed reliable and affordable power to Maine households.”

“I traveled from town to town, site to site building solar fields for about two years,” said Kilton Webb, a member of IBEW Local 567 and a State Representative from District 98. “While working on these projects, I was able to put myself in a position to succeed long term... There are hundreds of Mainers just like me – electricians, operating engineers, laborers and more – who have benefited greatly from these renewable energy investments.”