How union labor could shape Colorado’s climate goals
How union labor could shape Colorado’s climate goals
States across the country have big goals for renewable energy and carbon emission reductions. Meeting these goals requires development of renewable energy projects at scale, and the workforce to do them.
In Colorado, labor unions are asking, “Who better to complete these projects than workers already in the trades?”
At the Denver Joint Electrical Apprenticeship and Training Center, Dan Hendricks is multitasking. While he demonstrates switches on a practice motor, he describes what goes into an electrician’s apprenticeship: “This is towards the end of their apprenticeship where they would learn motor control, different switching systems — things of that nature. So as they progress, right, the work gets more interesting.”
Outside, there’s practice infrastructure: a 60-foot wind turbine, which connects to four electric vehicle chargers, as well as solar panels.
Hendricks gets a lot of questions about green jobs, but he said this program just expands traditional training.
“That wind turbine out there really is just another electrical installation for us. You know, it’s a piece of machinery that has to hook to the electrical system of the building,” he said. “So it’s really no different than a motor or anything else of that nature that we might do anyway.”
Colorado labor unions want to ramp up green energy projects. Historically, energy production in the state has come from rural areas — mostly coal and fossil fuels.
Dennis Dougherty with Colorado AFL-CIO wants to see rural communities play a role in the transition.
“You do not have to choose between a good union, family-sustaining job and taking care of Colorado’s climate, our water and our lands,” he said.
Colorado is the first state in the Mountain West with a labor coalition for climate jobs, but other states have similar campaigns — including Texas and California, which also have initiatives to transition workers from the fossil fuel industry to green energy jobs.
“I have a strong interest in a career that will positively benefit the environment,” said Aidan Boyd, a 24-year-old prospective electrician apprentice at the Denver facility. “I’m excited to work with my hands. You know, it’s a job that I feel won’t be a victim in the future to automation or artificial intelligence. It’s going to be required.”
And with the skills he’ll learn, Boyd will just as easily be ready to install solar panels or maintain wind turbines as wire new appliances in someone’s home.
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