Pennsylvania is an energy hub. It’s the second-leading energy-generating state in the country, and the top exporter of electricity across all states. Its energy landscape is vast: There’s lots of coal and natural gas, but also nuclear power as well as a burgeoning renewables sector. And the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, which represents about 700,000 workers, is working to make sure union workers have a role in that growing clean energy economy.
The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO began thinking seriously about how to advance the clean energy economy through union jobs about two years ago. That wasn’t the very beginning of labor considering its role in clean energy, of course. The national AFL-CIO, which the Pennsylvania affiliate sits within and which represents more than 12 million workers across the country, has been taking steps to ensure union workers have a place in that future for years. In 2017, the union passed a resolution supporting the transition to renewable energy, and it has joined partnerships to advance that figure since.
But it was two years ago that Pennsylvania specifically made moves to build a road map to reach green energy goals, when it began working with the PA Building Trades, the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, and Cornell University to create Union Energy PA. The coalition would focus on how the state could “reach its green energy goals, all while creating good union, family-sustaining jobs,” says Angela Ferritto, president of Union Energy PA and of the PA AFL-CIO.
The rhetoric around clean energy then was hopeful: the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August 2022, with the potential to spur millions of jobs. Research had shown that renewables like wind and solar were cheaper than fossil fuels. And clean energy installations were growing to record levels.
