North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) has just signed an agreement with Ørsted Offshore North America to create a national agreement designed to transition U.S. union construction workers into the offshore wind industry in collaboration with the leadership of the 14 U.S. NABTU affiliates and the AFL-CIO.
NABTU is an alliance of 14 national and international unions in the building and construction industry that collectively represent over 3 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada. Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind development, Ørsted operates the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and is pioneering the development of offshore wind in the northeast and Midwest states.
According to a statement by NABTU,
Ørsted’s agreement with NABTU represents a transformative moment for organized labor and the clean energy industry. This framework sets a model for labor-management cooperation and workforce development in the budding offshore wind industry.
These are the green jobs of the future, and this framework demonstrates that just transition can be accomplished through prioritization of workforce training and middle-class labor standards with family-sustaining wages, healthcare benefits, and pension security.