On Aug. 5, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order declaring that by 2030 half of all passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. will be electric.
At his announcement ceremony, President Biden said, “we’re going to put Americans to work modernizing our roads, our highways, our ports, our airports, rail and transit systems. That includes putting IBEW members and other union workers to work installing a national network of 500,000 charging stations along our roads and highways and at our homes and our apartments.”
Connecticut is readying to meet this challenge by adopting new regulations that would phase out the sales of most gas-powered vehicles by 2035. We applaud Gov. Ned Lamont and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for their commitment to deliver more zero-emission vehicles to Connecticut drivers while also increasing consumer protections.
Our 30,000 men and women members in the Connecticut State Building Trades Council are the best-trained construction workers in the nation. They stand ready to partner with our great state to construct, install, and maintain our Class 1 Renewable energy projects, including solar farms, offshore wind projects, fuel cells, anaerobic digesters, and electric vehicle charging stations.
Sadly, however, President Biden’s intention of these projects being good union jobs has not yet come to fruition here at home. In fact, there is a non-union out-of-state company currently installing EV charging stations at the service plazas along the I-95 corridor. And the Department of Administrative Services created a state contract list for public awarding authorities to use rather than going out for an open competitive bid for the installation of EV charging stations. They awarded that state contract in April of this year to nine companies, none of which are union and many being from out-of-state.
Simply put, we have challenges here. This is a high union density state that prides itself on strong apprenticeship and workplace standards. This is a Democratically leaning state that believes we need to meet the demands of our rapidly changing climate. These two things can exist together if we have the will and courage to make it so. We are imploring our administration, our agency heads, and developers to follow the White House’s lead.
On April 21, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor published a blog post entitled, “Beyond the Bargaining Table: How Unions are Mobilizing on Climate Action,” wherein they state that, “A just transition to a clean energy economy will include well-paying jobs in renewable energy industries as well as support for fossil-fuel workers so they adapt and thrive as well.”
We support the administration’s intent with the proposed regulation on the sale of electric vehicles by 2035. If the Regulation Review Committee votes to adopt the regulations on electric vehicles, we are simply asking to build the infrastructure to support them.
The Connecticut State Building Trades should be at every table where decisions regarding development are being made. We must be a part of the transition to clean energy. Put us to work.
Keith Brothers is President of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council.