Deploy24, Plenary 1: Workforce and Talent as Both the Engine and Outcome for Change

Well, hello, everybody. It's so wonderful to be here and truly delighted to get the opportunity to be able to engage in conversation with but have you all here from our amazing and history-making leader, president of the AFL-CIO, Liz Shuler. So Liz, thank you very much for being here. And to everybody here at this conference, I just, I wanted to focus a little bit just on this historic moment that we are in and how, in this administration, we've been really laser-focused, not just on resources and investments, but, and not just investments that we'll deliver on things like, you know, making sure everybody can breathe clean air and have clean water, but also ensuring that there's good jobs that are created for people across the country. And many people say, well, you know, we can fulfill our climate goals while we fulfill our need for good jobs in all communities. I would say we can only fulfill those two things if we do them together. And again, you and, you know, your leadership has been extraordinary in helping this administration fulfill our desire to ensure that we not only meet our clean energy goals, but that we also create good jobs in all communities. So if you could, just, President Shuler, speak for a moment about why it's so important to have representation for workers in jobs. Why, you know, what is the role of unions and what does it have to do with the clean energy revolution? Yeah, well, thank you. First of all, hello, everyone. I'm here representing the voices and bringing their voices into the room, actually, of 13 million working people across all segments of the economy, across the country. And it's an honor to be here because this is the moment where we do need partnership. We do need innovation and solutions and all of us working together in a time of uncertainty. And I think most employers in the room would agree certainty is definitely important. And I really wanted to be here to say that the labor movement is a place of stability and can help with this notion of problem solving and certainty. So we'll get into that a little bit. But certainly in terms of representation, we are the most diverse movement in the country. We represent, I said, nearly 13 million workers, half of which are women, by the way, and not a lot of people think of the labor movement in that way. That we are a source for talent that is unmatched and workforce development, and that really the notion of a business case for unionism is that we can be that partner that really opens up opportunity and provides that pathway to good high-wage middle-class jobs for the future as we are all redefining what that future looks like. Yeah, I mean, the idea is that these are jobs where we're gonna need talent, skills, expertise, and also ways to lift up communities who've been hungry for these types of jobs for a really long time. And so I think one reason we've been so committed to thinking about how we can ensure partnership from the outset is that that is how we help meet the workforce needs of employers in the room, but also of new industries that are really growing at a more rapid rate because of the investments that we're making right now. And I wanna applaud the Biden administration and your leadership, especially. I wanted to thank, obviously, Secretary of Energy Granholm and the LPO team because the investments really have been the catalyst. If you think about coming off this election, the thing that really emerged was this notion of workers feeling left behind, frustrated, feeling fed up with the fact that they're economically insecure and that they're piecing together part-time jobs to make full-time employment. They're struggling under housing costs that are exorbitant, and they just don't see a pathway forward to how they can economically prosper. And so regardless of your party, right, it's a problem that we as a society have to grapple with that we believe the labor movement is at the center of because if you're in a union, you have that notion of a good job, a good job that pays well, that has benefits, that has a pathway toward training and skill building that ensures safety on the job, and everybody wants that, right? And so if we work together with workers coming together in unions, having that voice and that collective approach along with their employer partners, their government who can make investments in making sure that we're creating good jobs and stimulating those labor standards through our investments, then we all win. Yeah, that's right. And I would be interested in the experiences of the folks in this room, but one of the things that I've seen, I know you've seen too, is that when you have labor management approach to partnership at the front end, it really does create the business case for workers having a real voice, right? It's good for finding the right workforce that you need with the skills that you need. Unions are one of the most effective sources of training for workers. You have people being able to have a say in the conditions of not just their own workplace, but of the future of their industry in a way that is really important, especially for growing industries. And I think you have a way to problem solve together that is also really beneficial, especially, again, as we see growth, which is partly why in partnership with the Department of Energy, we've been so intent on making sure that the dollars that we put out are tied to doing things the right way from the very, very beginning, so. And what are you most proud of? Let's kind of think about that. This is a true fireside chat, by the way. We're just, we're riffing off each other here. And we really matched. There's no fire, but, yeah. We matched the theme of the conversation. Green, green, appropriate. That's right. Well, so I would say, I guess there's so much in here, but I think one of the things is really fundamentally shifting the idea of what government's role is in all of this. And having a president who was very clearly saying that we can't just leave this up to market forces. We need government investment. We need government leadership. And we need to say as a country that we care about this. And we want to build an industrial policy that includes clean energy work and putting dollars behind that. But I think the other thing is that, I think every administration, every president cares about job growth, right? One of the ways you get measured is by the number of jobs that you create. But what has been so, I think, transformative about this administration is the attention to also job quality. It's not just the number of jobs. We care about the quality of those jobs. And again, I know that job creators also know that it's really important. It can't just be a race to the bottom. It's gotta be about making sure that the jobs that people get can actually sustain them. Something that they can be proud of. Something that they're gonna want to stay in. And that affects retention in the bottom line. So I'm really proud of that focus on job quality. And we've seen the results all across the country, right? We've seen hydrogen hubs. We've seen everything from electric bus manufacturers to, I mean, throughout this sector, we've seen not just job growth, but real quality job growth. So I think this group knows this, but in 2023, there was double the number of clean energy jobs created as other jobs. That's phenomenal in a moment where we've had incredible job growth overall, right? And a lot of those have been unionized jobs. And so we're proud. I don't think those things happened by accident. I guess I'll put it that way. It was an intentional policy choice. That's right. That really stimulated growth in the industry. But also I will say that for the first time ever, clean energy jobs are more union dense than traditional energy jobs, right? So that the argument of the past, as you know, is that it wasn't an apples to apples comparison. That energy jobs, you know, traditionally were highly union. And so thus highly paid, highly skilled. And that as we were looking toward renewable energies, you know, the clean energy transition, that it was not a leap you could make from one industry to another and support your family because those jobs were not unionized. Well, we would say that unions were the engine to really making those jobs better jobs, but partnering with an administration that saw the value in using its leverage to say, we're not gonna just invest taxpayer dollars to create a low road industry. Exactly. Right? And we, so that's, you know, the appreciation for you and how you stepped up. It's also, I know you share this appreciation for the people who came forward, invested their own, right? You know, the private investments that were spurred by the public investments were really key, but also the recognition that if we do this the right way, we can actually not just do the thing that we're trying to do, right? Like, you know, create a hydrogen hub, manufacture electric vehicles, electric buses and the like, but also lift up communities through the kinds of jobs that get created through that. And so- We can do both. We can do both and we have to do both, right? In a moment where there's so much growth and, you know, there's, people are trying to figure out how you fill these jobs, making sure that the jobs have the quality that people would demand is a really key part of that. And so we saw that at the outset and I'm really proud of the fact that that's sort of, you know, how we've seen it. Many people said, well, you know, there's one philosophy about how you get government money out, which is like, you just go as fast as you can. Another is that you make sure that that money actually is tied to certain values that you want. And in doing so, we've been able to partner with so many of the folks in this room who share those values. And I think that's how we build not just a strong industry, but a sustainable one. Absolutely. So, but one thing you said makes me think about, President Shuler, this idea of energy jobs versus clean energy jobs, right? And you said there was this, you know, there were unionized jobs in one sector, less in the other, but that that was, you know, that we didn't have to take that distinction as inevitable. We could actually make sure that the new jobs that were created also had the protection for the right to organize and the ability for workers to actually have a voice and have a union. Talk a little bit about that, you know, the tension that we've heard a lot about between, you know, oil, gas, energy jobs versus clean energy jobs. And how do you see this moment and that, you know, whether, how much has that played out as real, that tension, and how do you think about that today? Yeah, and I think, let's be honest, that has been set up to be like a choice, right? Like we have an environmental approach to, you know, making sure we can breathe clean air and have clean water, or we have good jobs. You can't have both. And I always say that's a false choice that we've proven just in this last few years that you can actually do both. And it also pit workers against each other, that, you know, as I said earlier, that if you want to be able to survive and support a family, that you cannot transition into the jobs of the future because they're not good jobs. And so what we're saying is, no, we should lift the floor and have a baseline that everybody can have a good job, that everyone can have a job that supports your family, that provides good benefits, that provides stability, health and safety, training, and that, you know, as we are transitioning in our industry and our economy, that the labor movement can be a stabilizing force to help rationalize that, to help bring people along. Workers are very uncertain, right? We have a lot of shifts happening in the economy, whether it's, you know, this debate around climate, whether it's technology, AI, you know, all of these big changes that are all happening at once make people very nervous. And I cannot tell you how often I'm talking to workers who are really nervous about their future. And so what we say is, no, wait a second, you do have a pathway. You do have a place, a center of gravity, where you can get the training you need to transition into all kinds of different roles, to actually, you know, have someone like a labor union that can advocate for you and connect you with those opportunities and make sure that your voice is being heard. So I think a lot of the frustration people feel is that these things are happening to them, not with them. And so I wanna compliment you, Secretary Sue, because you have always put workers at the center. Of whatever debate it is, but largely in these changes that are taking place that make people feel very nervous and very frustrated, frankly. So I think that here's another opportunity for partnership. Right, we can solve these problems together. If we don't, we can see the pathway. It's gonna be more disruption, more angst, more, you know, folks lashing out in disruptive ways, right? Or we have the pathway forward where we all come together around solutions that ensure that we all prosper. Yeah, and you know, I think for this administration, the idea that we have to tackle our climate goals. Like we, you know, confronted the crisis of climate and the crisis of not having enough good jobs in this country to sustain families. We can and must tackle those things together. I think that relates to your question to me about, you know, what I'm proud of. I think one thing that we are very proud of is knowing that we had to think about this at the front end. So for example, in partnership and under the leadership, really, of Secretary Granholm and the Department of Energy, we helped to support a battery workforce initiative. The idea that if you want the workforce to create, to be able to make this thing that we wanna make in the United States, we have to be thinking about that at the beginning. By the time somebody wants to hire, it's too late to think about where does the workforce come from. And so really rolling up our sleeves alongside businesses, alongside unions to think about what are the skills gonna be needed, then how does the government come in and help to tie, you know, apprenticeship standards to those needs so that we can actually develop apprenticeship programs in those, you know, for those jobs. What was really part of, I feel like, you know, we've spent a few years really trying to lay the groundwork for all that in partnership with so many people in this room. And now with the transition, you know, in administration, we feel confident that the people in this room can continue to carry a lot of that work forward. It was always intended to be something built with and by the communities that were actually gonna come to the table and do it. And we felt like, you know, we had planted seeds that will continue to grow because of the folks who are here in partnership with labor unions. And I think that's a very exciting, you know, future to look toward. Well, and there's so many great examples, too, of success that I think we should learn from and unpack and collect those best practices, whether it's working with the auto workers on the EV battery transition and how they work with their employers and use collective bargaining as a tool to help make that transition the most productive and frankly profitable transition for the company, right? Because you can't just impose something on workers and expect it to go smoothly without their voices being considered in that. And in fact, they're smart because they know what it takes from the shop floor to help make things go smoothly. Think about PlantVotal with the nuclear project with Southern Company that has had a decades-long partnership with the building trades unions where they worked together and did the planning, you suggested, up front and said, we want certainty. We want a talent pipeline. We wanna know that we're gonna have this project built on time and under budget. And that way, you don't have to worry about, oh gosh, we have this mass exodus of people that quit or something came up where they don't have that predictability for a talent supply. We've been training people for over 100 years in the labor movement, in all industries, not just construction. So I think that expertise is gonna come in so handy when people, especially folks out here in the audience are looking like, how are we gonna get all of this done? How are we gonna build all this stuff? How are we gonna ensure that our country is competitive? That we need partnership with labor organizations to help manage those transitions. That's right. And think about companies like Bloomberg, right? Fort Valley, Georgia. Steelworkers. Exactly. Manufacturer of electric school buses who are now unionized for the first time, which is not, again, just improving the working conditions for a workforce that has really struggled to make ends meet for too long, and now we're going to feel greater security going forward, but to really, again, demonstrate what's possible to create an industry that is really thriving and where you have kids who not only can get off a school bus and breathe clean air, but also have parents who are making a good, decent living. I think there's a vision for our energy future that is sort of a beautiful one of thriving industries, thriving people who are making it happen. And thriving communities. Because it has a ripple effect across not only the work site, as we know, but those parents that go home and have a decent job and an ability to provide certainty for their kids are also members of a community that are supporting local restaurants and retail outlets and kind of lifts up entire communities. Absolutely. And I think it's such an important conversation to have because often, if you just focus on the news, it feels like a lot of labor management relations can be contentious. But I know your experience is, and as has mine in this position been, that so much of it that happens outside the news is real partnership to try to build up the success of an employer of a business. And on that note, I know we don't have very much time left, but I did want to ask you, President Shuler, what do you see in the next 10 years? Like, what is your vision for, in light of the uncertainty that we face now, obviously with the political transition, but also in light of so much that's happened over the last few years, specifically in this industry, what do you see happening in the next 10 years? What's your vision for the next decade? Well, of course, it seems hard to look out 10 years from now knowing that we have a lot on the horizon that'll be changing in front of us. But the one thing that has been constant is the labor movement. If you think about every major industrial transformation that has happened in this country, the labor movement has changed and evolved with it. I come out of the Electrical Workers Union, IBEW, and you think about the advent of electricity. What a big and exciting change that was for our country, for our economy, for efficiency, for quality of life. And it was, at the time, dangerous. It was scary. You had companies that were looking to profit from it because it was really unregulated at the time. And until, and by the way, workers who were delivering that product, building those power lines, were getting killed. That is why the labor movement, or I'm sorry, the IBEW, the labor union, was essentially born. Is because it was like, wait a minute, we shouldn't have to go to work and die on the job. Right? So it was the labor movement as a stabilizing force to harness the power of electricity and be able to provide it in a way that was responsible and really held companies accountable to open the door to kind of government regulation and making sure that we can deliver it in a safe and effective way. So I liken that period of time to the time we're going into now. And that the labor movement can once again be that stabilizing force, be partners, be innovators, look to new models and find ways to really integrate the workforce in a way that benefits everyone and that we all prosper. And really to help people find jobs, to connect those who need workers to people willing to do that work, right? In a way that will create, you know, careers for the next decade and so forth. Absolutely. Yeah. Because a lot of people don't see themselves in these jobs. Right. And that's the other thing that we've been experiencing is, you know, that the labor movement is so popular right now, by the way. Did you know that 70% of the public supports unions, 88% of young people under the age of 30, that is nine in 10 young people are pro-labor and pro-union. And so how are we going to, and I think it's because they see the labor movement as fighting for them, even though they might not be in a union. So I think that is what we're looking at for the future is how do we capitalize on all of this new energy and excitement and, you know, the possibility and harness that and channel that into a movement like the labor movement and, you know, these partnerships that can actually build for the future. Yeah, that's right. And having unions, given all that you said, helps to make employers, employers of choice too in ways that are really valuable and, you know, to deal with some of the struggles that I've heard a lot from employers about just finding the workers that you need. Well, thank you so much, President Shuler, for your insight, for your time, again, for your work and for the collaboration that I know folks in this room will have with you and with, you know, other worker organizations that, you know, have a lot of expertise in this space and really want to be partners as we think about what the clean energy future looks like in this country. So thank you so much. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, thank you all.