As the majority of the labor working on the New England Clean Energy Connect are Maine union workers, the Clean Energy Corridor is incredibly pleased to have the support and endorsement of our country’s largest federation of unions, the AFL-CIO, and its Maine affiliates. This project will employ 1,600 total workers annually while removing millions of metric tons of carbon from our atmosphere. We look forward to employing more Maine union members as construction expands while moving our state closer to its carbon emission goals.
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May 13, 2021
MAINE AFL-CIO ENDORSES NEW ENGLAND CLEAN ENERGY CONNECT
The Maine AFL-CIO executive board has voted to endorse Central Maine Power’s $950 million New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project, which will will create 1,600 construction jobs to build a 145-mile transmission line that will bring 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydropower from Quebec to the New England energy grid in Lewiston. Currently, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 104, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 327 and International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 4 are already working on the project doing tree clearing, right-of-way building, specialty pole foundations and matting and installing environmental protections and controls. IBEW 104 members will begin constructing the line later this month.
“The Maine AFL-CIO is proud to stand with our brothers and sisters in the Building Trades unions in our support for the New England Clean Energy Connect Project,” said Cynthia Phinney, President of the Maine AFL-CIO. “This will put several hundred Maine union members to work building the electrical infrastructure we need for a clean energy future.”
The NECEC is giving preference to Mainers to fill all positions to do the work on the project, including a mix of union and non-union labor, paying an average salary of $38 per hour and other benefits, according to the developers. Currently, over 70 percent of the IBEW 104’s available worker-hours are dedicated to the project, which is expected to increase as the work on the NECEC accelerates. The company is seeking to hire line workers, apprentices seeking on-the-job-training, equipment operators, ground workers, heavy equipment operators and ground cutters.
“Building Electrical Infrastructure is what we do and we are proud to be working on the NECEC project and to help reach the renewable energy goals recently set by our President and the Governor,” said Tim Burgess, Assistant Business Manager of IBEW 104. “Many of our members often find themselves traveling to other states in New England, or even further to other regions of the country to work on these types of Infrastructure projects, which enhance the stability and reliability of our nation’s electric grid. Our future electrical energy needs will require a large mix of generation sources, and transmission methods — projects such as the NECEC are a small but necessary piece of a larger puzzle. The construction of the NECEC project is a welcomed opportunity for our members to showcase their construction skills here at home, where they are consumers, voters and taxpayers.”
“LIUNA is an ‘all of the above’ energy union; we know we must be nimble in order to meet Mainers’ energy needs – today and into the future,” stated Lewis Overlock, Business Manager of LIUNA 327. “Not only have our longtime members leapt at the opportunity to work on this groundbreaking project, but it has also served as an entryway for new members to join the union and set out on a pathway to a middle class career with good benefits for themselves and their families. We couldn’t be more proud to partner with our brothers and sisters in IBEW and IUOE to help make this clean energy jobs project a reality.”
“The NECEC is a great opportunity to not only reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but also to secure good-paying, family-sustaining, union jobs with benefits,” said Robert Burr, Business Agent for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4. “We know that making substantial investments in renewable energy is the only way we’ll be able to prevent climate instability and leave a habitable planet for our grandchildren. The Operating Engineers are already on the ground working on the project and we look forward to completing this critical addition to our electrical infrastructure."