Secretary-Treasurer Aguilar at UT: Unions Merit a Key Role in Development of Hydrogen Energy

Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Leonard Aguilar highlighted the value of good union jobs in a growing clean energy industry during a Hydrogen Workforce Summit on the University of Texas campus earlier this week.

 In a panel on “Driving the Hydrogen Workforce Innovation From Development to Deployment,” Aguilar argued for a major union role in construction and maintenance as the industry grows. Texas is taking advantage of $1.2 billion in federal funding for the HyVelocity Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub anchored in the Houston region — a project made possible by the Biden/Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

 Aguilar celebrated the role of the Texas Climate Jobs Project, a partner of the Texas AFL-CIO, in making the connection between fighting climate change and good union jobs as our nation’s energy mix undergoes a historic transition. And he noted the essential role of registered union apprenticeship programs that historically have kept pace with exactly the sort of quantum leaps in technology now taking place in the clean energy industry.

 Describing the apprenticeships as the “gold standard,” Aguilar pointed up that unions and contractors get together to devise programs that offer state-of-the-art preparation for working people. “Just in a nutshell, how those registered apprenticeships work, it’s a union and a contractor in partnership…They come together to figure out the needs.”

 Aguilar added that pre-apprenticeship programs, such as a new one overseen by TCJP, funnel working people into construction trades for which they show the most aptitude. 

 The panel was moderated by Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation President Lacy Wolf and included two technical experts — Michael Lewis, Director of the Center for Electromechanics at the University of Texas, and Krystal York, Senior Engineer, Low-Carbon Resources, at the Electric Power Research Institute.

 At an event well-populated by representatives of energy companies, Aguilar said unions are a vital “piece of the puzzle so we can…get this project done.”

 “It’s almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Aguilar said.