Harris Is A Champion For Unions And Clean Energy Jobs

Vice President Kamala Harris is a champion for unions and the clean energy jobs of the future. Clean energy jobs already see higher rates of unionization, and Harris has supported high labor standards for clean energy infrastructure projects and has advocated for union jobs across the clean energy industry. 

Companies are continuing to turn to union labor for the construction and ongoing operation of clean energy projects, from the United Auto Workers making clean vehicles in Michigan to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers assembling the first offshore wind hub in New York. In the Senate, Harris cosponsored the Build Local, Hire Local Act, which ensured public infrastructure investments allowed for project labor agreements and protected prevailing wage requirements. 

The electric vehicle industry is rapidly growing due to the clean energy plan’s investments in EV manufacturing, creating new union positions manufacturing clean vehicles across the nation. The Biden-Harris administration announced $1.7 billion in grant funding to boost electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly at at-risk auto manufacturing facilities. allowing the retention of 15,000 union workers and creating nearly 3,000 new jobs. 

Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign has already been endorsed by over 35 major unions, including those turbocharging the clean energy economy, such as the United Auto Workers, whose recent contract with automakers adds EV battery plant workers to existing union contracts and makes it easier to organize EV battery manufacturing facilities. Harris is an avid supporter of electric vehicles, which are expected to increase U.S. auto manufacturing jobs through increased labor needs and incentivized tax credits provided through the clean energy plan, which Harris cast the key tie-breaking vote to pass. 

Vice President Harris Is A Champion For Clean Energy And Union Jobs

Clean Energy Jobs Are Union Jobs, And Harris Has Been A Strong Advocate For Union Labor In The Clean Energy Industry

Harris Cast The Tie-Breaking Vote For The Clean Energy Plan, Which Supports Union Workers:

• Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the Clean Energy Plan, which has created over 330,000 new jobs and sparked over $370 billion in investments. The clean energy plan notedly includes incentives for projects to meet high labor standards, such as prevailing wage requirements and utilization of qualified apprentices.
  • To qualify for the plan’s 30% tax credit, clean energy developers are required to follow two key labor standards: paying construction workers the federally determined prevailing wage for their region and hiring a set number of apprentices, who are provided with paid classroom instruction in addition to on-the-job training.
• Under the clean energy plan, projects that pay prevailing wages to workers for construction, alteration, and repair of clean energy projects and hire registered apprentices to work on clean energy projects will receive a fivefold increase in clean energy deployment tax credits.
• An August 2024 report from the Climate Jobs National Resource Center identified 6,285 utility-scale clean energy projects planned, under construction, or already operating, that could be eligible for the clean energy plan’s labor standards tax credits. Combined, these projects represent a potential 3.9 million jobs, over $2 trillion in investment, and over 1 million megawatts of clean power. 
• Clean energy jobs are unionized at higher rates than the overall energy and private sector workforces. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s U.S. Energy and Employment Report, clean energy industries are represented by a union or covered under a project labor agreement at a higher rate than the national private sector average of 7%:
  • 11% of solar energy workers are represented by a union or covered under a project labor or collective bargaining agreement.

• 12% of wind energy workers are represented by a union or covered under a project labor or collective bargaining agreement.
• 18% of transmission, distribution, and storage workers are represented by a union or covered under a project labor or collective bargaining agreement.
• 12% of energy efficiency workers are represented by a union or covered under a project labor or collective bargaining agreement.

Harris Has Advocated For Unions And High Labor Standards In Clean Energy Projects:

• Harris has been a champion for supporting union labor in clean energy projects. In the Senate, Harris cosponsored the Build Local, Hire Local Act, which ensured investments in public infrastructure allowed for project labor agreements, and protected prevailing wage requirements. 
• Harris has repeatedly supported expanding union labor. Harris, in 2018, cosponsored the Workplace Democracy Act, which codified the “card check” system for union elections. In her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris pledged to strengthen the labor movement and “make sure every worker is able to join a union.” 
• In the Senate, Harris cosponsored legislation that fought for workers, including legislation to provide overtime protections, require employers to adhere to fair scheduling practices, ensure state and local government employees have similar rights as federal government workers, and prohibit policies that bar unions from automatically charging members of a bargaining unit a membership fee.
• As Vice President, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the American Rescue Plan, which protected over one million pensions for union workers and retirees.  
• The Biden-Harris administration has been a strong advocate for increasing union labor in clean energy projects, and workers in the clean energy sector across the country are seeing the impact of their investments:

• Equinor signed a project labor agreement with the IBEW for the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a staging area for commercial-scale offshore wind farms. The project was made possible in part through investments made by the Inflation Reduction Act, which Harris played a key role in passing and casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. 
• Investor-owned utilities in Wisconsin signed a pledge to use union labor to the “fullest extent possible” in utility-scale renewable energy installations.
• Dominion Energy in Virginia signed a project labor agreement with the Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the Laborer’s International Union of North America (LiUNA!) Mid-Atlantic Region for work on the first phase of the company’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project. 

• In her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris advocated for high labor standards in clean energy infrastructure projects and pledged to fight for union jobs to be created across the clean energy industry. 
• As vice president, Harris led the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which has helped advance dozens of policies that make it easier for workers to organize and strengthen workers’ bargaining power. 

Harris’ 2024 Presidential Campaign Was Endorsed By Over 35 Major Unions, Including The UAW:

• Unions know the Vice President is in their corner. Over 35 major unions have endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket – including those turbocharging our clean energy economic boom such as the AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers, the Laborer’s International Union of North America, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the United Steelworkers, and the Utility Workers Union of America. 

Harris Has Championed Electric Vehicle Investments That Support Union Workers

Harris Has Championed Union Labor In The Auto Industry:

• The Biden-Harris Administration announced $1.7 billion in grant funding to boost EV manufacturing and assembly at at-risk auto manufacturing facilities.
  • The eleven selected projects would retain 15,000 union workers and create more than 2,900 new jobs.
• Harris has championed union labor in the electric vehicle industry. As vice president, she announced a $100 million investment to support autoworkers and suppliers. The investment went towards union training programs and helped small and medium-sized suppliers convert to electric vehicle manufacturing while retaining union jobs. 
• In 2019, Harris joined United Auto Workers members on the picket line strike against General Motors.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) Newest Contract Made It Easier To Organize EV And EV Battery Manufacturing Facilities – Which Are Growing In Numbers Thanks To The Clean Energy Plan:

• The contract the UAW signed with the big three automakers in the fall of 2023 included provisions that add battery plant workers to existing union contracts or create favorable conditions for workers to unionize at battery plants.
  • GM’s contract with the UAW added workers at Ultium Cells facilities, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution to manufacture EV batteries, to the GM contract. Workers at Ultium Cells, and other new GM battery facilities, can organize via “card check” elections.
  • Stellantis also agreed to cover all EV battery plant workers under the UAW master agreement and agreed to allow workers to unionize via “card check” elections.
  • Ford agreed to cover future workers at its BlueOval City battery plant in Michigan under its UAW master agreement.
• Dozens of companies announced plans to manufacture EV batteries in the U.S. to qualify for tax credits for domestically-produced EVs created by the Clean Energy Plan. 
• EV manufacturing requires more workers than traditional automotive manufacturing:
  • A study from Carnegie Mellon University found that the labor intensity needed to produce EV powertrain components is higher than the labor intensity of gas-powered powertrains.
  • American manufacturing requirements are encouraging automakers to onshore production, creating American jobs.
  • Additionally, EVs encourage automakers to vertically integrate motor and battery cell manufacturing, demonstrating that EVs will require more assembly time than gas-powered vehicles.
  • Outside of EV manufacturing, the EV transition requires a massive buildout of charging infrastructure that will create large labor needs.
    • Each job in an auto assembly plant creates over 7 additional jobs from upstream and downstream economic activity.
  • A 2021 report by the Economic Policy Institute found that a shift to EVs, where EVs comprise 50% of domestic auto sales, could create over 150,000 jobs by 2030.
    • Black workers and workers with less than a bachelor’s degree, which make up a large share of the auto parts and assembly workforce, will likely gain the most from policy action to boost EV production in the U.S.
  • 2 million jobs would be gained in 2035 if all new car and truck sales were electric, including tens of thousands of union jobs in the automotive industry.