Building trade unions have made repeated overtures about their support for data centers in recent months, hailing them — despite their many, many drawbacks — as job creators.
Now, leadership as well as the rank-and-file of a number of building trade unions are officially getting involved, by knocking on doors, issuing statements, and ultimately threatening to withhold support from anti-data center politicians.
In an internal memo viewed by the Wall Street Journal, the Steamfitters UA Local 602 explained that it’s drawing a “clear line” between those politicians who do and don’t support the data center boom.
“This is an existential moment for Local 602,” the memo explained. Covering the area of Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia commonly known as “data center alley,” the members of Local 602 are surely dining out on massive contracts awarded by big tech’s shell companies.
