Labor & Employment Law

USW Signs Wind Farm Deals with China Power Companies

By James Parks

The United Steelworkers (USW) is partnering with two leading Chinese power generation companies to work together on all aspects of the companies’ U.S. market strategies?including manufacturing, assembly, component sourcing, distribution and wind energy project development.

The agreements with A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd. and Shenyang Power Group (SPG) provide a strong foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship between China’s renewable energy equipment manufacturers and U.S. workers, the union said in a press release.

?We will work with A-Power and SPG to create long-term, good-paying, green American jobs,? says USW President Leo W. Gerard.

The USW is committed to building a strong domestic supply chain that will be key to the future of America?s global renewable energy leadership.

A-Power and SPG anticipate purchasing some 50,000 tons of steel over time that will be manufactured in unionized American steel mills to supply the towers for a wind farm in Texas.

There was a major public outcry late last year over China?s plan to seek $450 million in economic recovery funds to build a wind farm in Texas that would create only 30 U.S. jobs and 2,000 in China.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked the Obama administration to block federal stimulus funds from going to the Texas wind farm unless it uses U.S.-made turbines. Schumer says stimulus funds should create jobs in the United States, not in China.

Gerard says the new deal ensures that the wind farm components would be made by union workers in the United States, and not imported from overseas.  

Many issues remain in our relationship with China?currency undervaluation, illegal subsidies, dumping, etc. But it is in the interest of working Americans that we always pursue any opportunity that will help to restore manufacturing in America.

BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director David Foster praised the agreement, saying:

This is an historic agreement that will serve as a model as we, along with the rest of the world, move forward with building the global clean energy infrastructure, and will position the United States to become a world-leading producer of clean energy technologies.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 09, 2010 (boomark / email).