The renewable energy industry is a developing industry, albeit an unusually fast one, with solar power playing a leading role in that growth. The industry is widely touted for providing high-quality, high-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced, mostly in the manufacturing and installation sectors. Now, with the industry receiving a valuable boost from the economic stimulus package, the focus on these jobs has grown more intense as labor unions and solar companies prepare for the upcoming boom.

National labor leaders are fighting hard to gain a foothold in the emerging solar and renewable energy sector. While most clean energy jobs offer relatively excellent compensation there are plenty of opposite examples that, union leaders argue, can only be addressed adequately by organized labor. A report by labor and environmental groups found a mix of well-paying jobs and those with “substandard wages, inadequate benefits and overall poor working conditions,” said Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First and lead author of the report.

While many solar projects utilize union labor, most commonly electricians unions, there appear to be no major solar industry unions representing workers specific to the field. The unions want in, but some solar firms are hesitant. Already there is an ongoing clash in Nevada that is permeating even the halls of the state’s legislature.

Unions want solar jobs to offer a living wage, healthcare, and training, but some solar firms claim that costs would be too high and too many jobs would be killed. In the Nevada case, Acciona Solar, the Spanish company who was constructing the solar thermal power plant, went so far as hiring Central American workers to come in, much to the ire of local union leaders who contend that tax incentives are going to companies such as this and these companies in turn hire workers who are not even from the state.

So are there solar unions? Outside of some possible power held locally by electricians, the high-paying attribute of solar jobs is contingent on the ethics or vision of the company in charge. For the most part this has been of little controversy so far. But again, the industry is growing fast and clashes are bound to increase and accelerate in intensity. The discussion for now, however, seems to be more about whether unions are necessary at all in the solar industry. Considering the amount of solar manufacturing that is already handled overseas, some labor laws and tax incentives are certainly necessary.

The whole idea of the stimulus package, and the rather large bandwagon behind renewable energy, is that it will create clean energy and heal our economic woes by providing high-paying jobs. Labor argues that only unions can ensure those jobs and, if history has anything to say, they are right. Since the start of the 1980’s union strength and participation has dwindled, down to roughly 7% of today’s workforce. At the same time the amount of jobs outsourced, mostly to China, has skyrocketed…an interesting correlation.

Look for the battle over solar unions to heat up over the next year or two. Solar is a blooming industry and everyone wants a piece of the pie in these tough times.

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Posted on March 12th in Solar Politics by Dan.