Key Points:
- Building trades unions are partnering with the world’s richest technology companies to construct massive artificial intelligence data centers.
- The boom in data center construction pushed North America’s Building Trades Unions to reach a record number of members and apprentices in 2025.
- Union officials actively defend tech companies at local meetings against residents who complain about noise, water use, and electricity demand.
- Major tech companies, including Google and OpenAI, openly support union labor and spend tens of millions of dollars to train the next generation of skilled workers.
Building trades unions historically presented themselves as the voice of the everyday American worker. Today, these same organizations tightly intertwine with the wealthiest technology companies on the planet. Together, they build the physical foundation of the American artificial intelligence economy.
Union workers currently find massive employment opportunities building giant data centers. The explosive demand for these facilities forces unions to scramble and recruit new apprentices just to keep up with the heavy workload. In the process, labor groups serve as powerful allies for tech giants and friendly government officials. They loudly echo the common political talking point that the United States faces a critical national security race with China to achieve superiority in artificial intelligence.
This alliance turns unions into a highly visible force against local opposition. Communities often fight data center projects, and some politicians propose hostile legislation to stop the construction. The unions frequently align with traditional pro-business Republican groups. This strategy puts intense pressure on Democrats, forcing them to choose between their strong union base and progressive voters who demand stricter rules on technology companies.
Labor representatives aggressively defend data centers against local complaints. Executives from tech giants and development firms usually avoid public confrontation. Union leaders, however, show no fear when confronting angry residents worried about energy shortages, water use, rising utility bills, or loud noise.
Rob Bair serves as the president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council. He explained their direct approach to the public. When people call data centers the root of all evil, his group reminds the community that these projects create thousands of local construction jobs. Bair believes communities should stop saying no to every new development. Instead, he suggests locals should ask tech companies to fund community needs, such as delivering millions of dollars to local schools. He noted that communities will never get these benefits if they refuse to ask the developers for help.
As data center construction accelerates, unions expand their training centers across the country. Union leaders report that their ranks grow faster than anyone has seen in decades. In several states, total work hours skyrocket month after month. Apprentice classes often double in size as groups prepare for even more projects down the road.
Dorsey Hager, a top official with the Columbus-Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, estimates that data centers currently consume at least 40% of the work hours logged by his members. In metropolitan Washington, D.C., International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26 spokesperson Don Slaiman said the number is even higher, at 50%. Overall, North America’s Building Trades Unions announced they hit a record number of members and apprentices in 2025.
Sean McGarvey, the president of the umbrella organization, compared this current boom to the massive expansion the building trades experienced back in the 1950s. He credits this massive growth directly to data centers and new power plants. He also pointed to legislation passed under former President Joe Biden that heavily subsidized the construction of semiconductor factories and electric vehicle battery plants.
These data centers require massive amounts of electricity to run their servers. This extreme hunger for power triggers a simultaneous boom in power plant construction. This creates a double victory for unions, as their members also build and maintain the boilers, pipelines, and heavy equipment needed for new power infrastructure. For example, the Boilermakers Local 154 in southwestern Pennsylvania watched older power plants shut down for years. Union official Shawn Steffee said the group went from recruiting zero apprentices over four years to assembling a massive class of more than 200 people today.
Tech companies actively encourage this growth in labor. They admit they need to train hundreds of thousands of new workers in the skilled trades. To make this happen, tech giants spend tens of millions of dollars on training programs and form direct partnerships with the unions they hire. Google stated that union members perform the majority of the labor in its data centers. The company also highlighted a $10 million grant it gave to a union-backed electricians training program, aiming to expand the workforce pipeline by 70%.
Mark McManus acts as the general president of the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters. His members work heavily on pipelines, data centers, and power plants. He acknowledges the criticism that organized labor now sleeps in the same bed as the world’s richest companies. However, he rejects the criticism as completely unrealistic. McManus noted that if his union boycotted data centers, the tech companies would just hire non-union workers to build them anyway. He proudly stated that his members currently work on over 90% of the massive data center projects across the United States.
Union representatives make sure politicians hear their voices loud and clear. They pack local council meetings from St. Louis to small towns in Pennsylvania. Sometimes, union workers act as the only people in a crowded room who speak in favor of a massive corporate project. They actively campaign against any state laws that might slow construction, proving they will fight hard to keep the artificial-intelligence building boom alive.
