A number of local and national politicians appeared with the owners of Vineyard Wind and various  building trades unions for a ceremonial signing of the project labor agreement (PLA) for this offshore wind project last Friday in New Bedford.  

Vineyard Wind is touted as the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind project.  The PLA was agreed to some time ago by the private owners, headed up by the Avangrid Renewables/Iberdrola Group and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, major European alternative energy companies.  Vineyard Wind, like many alternative energy projects, is a private development with government support.  The project was languishing but became an early priority of the Biden Administration.  

“ABC’s view is that private owners should be free to make their own decisions on their projects.  With the current political climate and the union favoritism of the Biden Administration, we are seeing a renewed push for union-only PLAs,” said ABC MA President Greg Beeman.  

“It is unfortunate that elected officials support giving unions a monopoly on construction work on the premise that they are the only skilled trade workers earning good wages,” he said.  “We will continue to remind them that more than 80 percent of construction workers locally and nationally are choosing not to join unions, and this clearly would not be the case if there were not rewarding, good-paying careers in the merit shop,” Beeman said.  “Elected officials should not forget that merit shop workers and business owners are also their constituents.”