Union electricians welcome data center boom

0:00Across the country, data centers have hit a nerve. Communities are rallying against them. But just outside DC, where the data center boom began, a labor union has become one of the nation's most ardent supporters of data centers. And Pierce Andrea Shoe reports, at a training center run by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 26, fourth year apprentices practice wiring up devices, following a diagram. Like everything up, as shown in the picture, I make sure that it starts. I would be able to stop it. Jimmy Herrera and the others here are in class only about two days a month. The other days, they're at job sites. Herrera is working for a contractor in Chantilly, Virginia, in an area known as Data Center Alley. We just got a lot of the women in. We're just going to start tying everything in right now. He likes the work, likes how intricate it is. He is aware that what he's building is now controversial. Yeah, seeing it online. Some people oppose the data centers. Opposed to the vast amounts of energy and water they consume,

1:01the constant hum, the pollution from backup generators among other issues. But Jimmy Herrera sees a career. He just got bumped up to 60 hours a week. They're trying to get that job site done as quick as possible. So he's pulling in time and a half and double time on top of the $43 an hour he makes as a fourth year apprentice. With a seven year old daughter at home, he's got goals. Trying to say, well, to get a home. I have something for us. So he's really looking forward to his next paycheck. It's going to look, it's going to look good. The explosion of data centers has meant good times for Herrera's union local 26. Close to half of the work its members are doing right now is at data centers. We haven't seen this kind of growth for skilled tradespeople in generations. Don Slamen is the union's political coordinator. This is the opportunity now for blue collar workers to get another crack getting into the middle class. For years, Slamen says he ran all kinds of campaigns to try to save union jobs as blue collar communities were being ravaged. I mean, listen, I would love to bring back

2:02all the American industry that was off shore. That's not happening, but this is an issue tomorrow being formed today. Data centers weren't a flashpoint for most of the eight years Slamen has been with this union years ago. Virginia welcomed them with favorable zoning rules and tax breaks. Hundreds have been built nearly all with union labor. We build 90% of them. But these days, Slamen is spending hours upon hours at local council meetings. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. Trying to appeal to elected officials and residents who are dead set against new construction. He talks up the new technology designed to save water and energy. He talks about the economic opportunities and not just for electrical workers. These things are cash registers basically. He points out in Loudoun County, Virginia, home to Data Center Alley, attacks on the servers and equipment inside those buildings has funded new schools, libraries and rec centers and a property tax cut for residents. Still, the opposition only seems to grow. It's both parties now. It's the right end to left.

3:03It's really a fever that's caught hold. According to recent Gallup polling, seven in 10 Americans said they don't want data centers built for AI in their area. Now, most of the ones local 26 is built are for things like cloud storage, banking and streaming services. But the union does have a massive upcoming project in Southern Virginia. That is for AI, a $100 billion investment. I'd rather have a data center in my community than another neighborhood full of people. That's just me. We have enough people around here. Chris Brooks, who's now on the business side of the union, first worked on a data center site in 1999. Through the boom, he's seen his union brothers do well. But now? I don't know, because every time I own a TV, I'm hearing more touring, we've been put in place because people don't want data centers. It's popular not to want a data center now. And that's how long ago no one knew what they were. He says nothing lasts forever. And reissue NPR News.