New York State recently passed a huge milestone in the transition to renewable energy with good-paying union jobs. On Wednesday, March 27th, the Electrical Industry Training Center hosted the signing of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) between offshore wind developer Equinor and the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York (BCTC) to build New York’s first offshore wind port facility at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which will act as a staging and assembly site for the Empire Wind 1 project and potentially more projects in the United States’ growing offshore wind industry.
This PLA establishes standards of fair pay, safety, local hiring, and the creation of 1,000 construction jobs and apprenticeships in the transformation of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and its operations and maintenance.
Local 3, IBEW Business Manager Christopher Erikson and Equinor Renewables Americas President Molly Morris were joined by White House staff, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, NYSERDA, construction contractors Skanska, GE-BOND, and Nexans, and the international unions affiliated with the BCTC and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), representing over 100,000 workers in the New York City metro area.
With more good news from the working waterfront, this time on Staten Island, the proposed Arthur Kill Terminal offshore wind port facility also secured a new PLA. As reported on SILive.com, the Building & Construction Trades Council and property owner Atlantic Offshore Terminal (AOT) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enter into a PLA covering 750 construction jobs. If approved, construction at Arthur Kill Terminal is expected to start this fall and to be in operation by 2026.
