Against the wind: despite Trump's attacks, unions are fighting for good US clean energy jobs

The 2012 wake-up call

Hurricane Sandy in 2012 served as the catalyst for a new labor-climate movement, according to Mike Fishman, president and executive director of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center (CJNRC). At the time, Fishman was secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The superstorm convinced union leaders that "climate change is real and it's only getting worse, and that workers are getting hit first and worst," Fishman said. That realization pushed labor leaders into a policy space they had previously avoided, marking a fundamental shift in how unions engaged with environmental advocacy. The early climate movement, Fishman noted, was focused narrowly on emissions reduction "at any cost," with little attention to whether the resulting jobs would be good jobs.

Nine gigawatts by 2035

The labor coalition's first major policy victory came in New York, where Climate Jobs New York pushed for a nine-gigawatt offshore wind buildout that was far more ambitious than what environmental groups were demanding. Under pressure from labor leaders, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo adopted that target in 2019, and the state legislature later enshrined it in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The coalition, which recruited New York organizations representing 2.6 million workers, also secured prevailing wage and project labor agreement requirements for large renewable energy projects, along with labor peace agreements that make it easier for workers to unionize on operations and maintenance work. These wins, according to Lara Skinner, founding executive director of Cornell's Climate Jobs Institute, "completely changed unions' orientation" toward wind projects. The IRA under Biden then turbocharged this vision at the federal level, creating what unions saw as a generational opportunity to expand unionized clean energy employment.

Revolution Wind's pause

The Trump administration has moved to slow that momentum. On August 25, 2025, the administration ordered construction to halt on Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project off New London, Connecticut, disrupting union workers who had been building their careers in the industry. For workers like Ryan McElroen, an IBEW Local 3 member who transitioned from repairing the New York City subway to working on Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind, the attacks threaten a career path he had embraced as a "welcome change" from underground work. The administration's strategy, according to the article, attempts to revive an older framing in which workers must choose between good jobs and climate action. Labor leaders say that framing is false and that they are prepared to fight back, positioning unionized clean energy employment as a core economic stake rather than an environmental luxury. The outcome of this confrontation will shape both the trajectory of US offshore wind and the quality of jobs in the broader energy transition.