Construction of Tennessee EV Battery Facility Highlights Promises and Challenges of Biden Administration Policies

BlueOval City, the electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facility under construction in Stanton, Tennessee, demonstrates the potential for the Biden administration’s economic policies to create good union jobs and promote development in regions of the country that have long been ignored.1 The project shows that the administration’s economic policies can work as planned, with public incentives encouraging major new investments by private companies that create good union jobs.

The project also highlights questions about long-term job quality once the facility is operational as well as who will be credited for the impact. The answers to these questions could affect the ultimate evaluation of the project and the policies that made it possible.

Anecdotal interviews recently conducted by the Center for American Progress found that construction workers at the site “love” their “life-changing” jobs.2 Working under a project labor agreement (PLA) that ensures union-scale wages and benefits and promotes apprenticeship helped workers go from financial precarity to economic stability—from paying bills “half this week and half the next week” to meeting their financial obligations fully and being able to afford a vacation and even buy a home.3

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    • Cities Urged To Step Up Climate Workforce Planning

    By Sarah Wray

    Cities Today

    As cities create and implement climate action plans, new research highlights the need for more focus on green workforce planning.

    The Brookings Institution think tank assessed the climate action plans of 50 large US cities.

    The research finds that many cities are “not in a position to harness new funding” such as from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, and that they have “more workforce planning to do”. The report comes amid an existing shortage of infrastructure workers in some areas.

    Most of the cities analysed – 47 of 50 – mention green jobs in their climate action plans, but they only tend to do so “in passing”. The report says that while some cities do not refer to green jobs at all in their plans, most only include a more general call for equity and greater opportunities.

    Forty of the cities emphasise energy projects when discussing workforce needs, but considerably fewer cities call out requirements in terms of buildings, transportation, or other parts of the built environment. About half of the cities (24) emphasise workforce needs around building upgrades and retrofits, and 20 highlight these needs around transportation improvements. Read More

    There’s a Big Pot of Climate Bill Money

    It’s waiting to be seized — activists can’t miss the opportunity

    By  and Daniel Hunter 

    Waging Nonviolence

    February 22, 2023 – The Inflation Reduction Act wasn’t written for climate justice, but there’s a ton of money for organizers and movement players to access.

    Yes, the Inflation Reduction Act is the most consequential piece of climate legislation in the U.S. Yes, it’s also the only federal legislation. Yes, it’s imperfect. Yes, parts of it are downright vile. Yes, the negotiations exacerbated tensions between insider green organizations and those on the front lines.

    But let’s be real, nothing more is going to pass at the federal level in the foreseeable future. So now that the IRA is the law of the land, how do organizers and movement players work with it? Read More.