Michigan Unions Launch Coalition to Create Clean Energy Jobs

Why It Matters

Union‑led clean‑energy initiatives combine climate goals with high‑pay, secure jobs, boosting Michigan’s economic resilience and workforce competitiveness.

Key Takeaways

• Michigan Climate Jobs coalition unites multiple trade unions
• Focus on unionized clean‑energy projects and apprenticeships
• Blueprint targets grid upgrades and public infrastructure decarbonization
• Follows similar coalitions in New Jersey and Oregon
• Aims to deliver family‑sustaining wages and safety

Pulse Analysis

The rise of union‑backed clean‑energy coalitions reflects a broader shift in how states are aligning climate ambition with workforce development. By placing organized labor at the helm, policymakers can leverage collective bargaining power to secure higher wages, robust benefits, and rigorous safety standards—attributes that have historically attracted skilled talent to infrastructure projects. This model also addresses a lingering criticism of the green transition: that it may create low‑pay, precarious jobs. When unions negotiate contracts for solar farms, wind installations, or grid upgrades, the resulting employment tends to be more stable and better compensated, fostering broader public support for renewable initiatives.

Michigan's Climate Jobs coalition builds on the Climate Jobs Institute’s Blueprint, which outlines a phased strategy for decarbonizing the state’s power grid, retrofitting public buildings, and expanding transmission capacity. The coalition’s membership spans pipe trades, electrical unions, carpenters, and engineering societies, creating a pipeline for apprenticeships that match the technical demands of modern energy systems. By integrating training programs with upcoming projects, MICJ aims to reduce skill gaps and accelerate project timelines, delivering both environmental benefits and economic stimulus in regions that have historically relied on manufacturing jobs.

Compared with the earlier coalitions in New Jersey and Oregon, Michigan’s effort benefits from a robust manufacturing legacy and a sizable skilled‑trade workforce. The state’s policy environment, including recent incentives for renewable investments, dovetails with MICJ’s objectives, potentially attracting private capital while ensuring that the jobs created remain unionized. As other states observe Michigan’s progress, the union‑centric approach could become a template for scaling clean‑energy employment nationwide, marrying climate resilience with equitable economic growth.

Michigan unions launch coalition to create clean energy jobs

By Billy Ludt, Managing Editor, Solar Power World

Michigan labor leaders today launched Michigan Climate Jobs (MICJ), a coalition of labor unions centered on building careers and projects in clean energy. Michigan is the third state to announce a coalition of this kind that is guided by the principles published in a report by the Climate Jobs Institute at Cornell University.

Image description: A group of people stand on a stage with a banner that says “Michigan Climate Jobs” and hold signs that read “Builds Cleaner Power Future.”

Labor leaders gathered to announce the launch of Michigan Climate Jobs, a coalition hoping to create clean‑energy jobs in the state.

“Today, we launched Michigan Climate Jobs to ensure a worker‑led clean energy future that puts labor in the driver’s seat to lead on combating the climate crisis, making energy affordable and reliable, and protecting workers today and for generations to come,” said Ryan Bennett, chair of MICJ and President of the Michigan Pipe Trades Association. “The jobs needed to create the clean energy economy absolutely must be union jobs because it’s union jobs that will deliver family‑sustaining wages, good benefits, and safety for workers.”

MICJ’s union partners represent groups in building and construction, electrical work, piping, carpentry, engineering and education, among others. The coalition’s mission follows the plans and policies laid out in the Climate Jobs Institute’s “Michigan Climate Jobs Blueprint for an Equitable Clean Energy Future.” Those tenets include decarbonizing public infrastructure, upgrading the state’s energy grid and building more union careers and apprenticeships.

“Clean energy jobs are our future, and just as important, the careers they create are our future too. These projects don’t just produce energy—they produce long‑term, skilled careers that allow people like me to support our families, stay in our communities and build a life with dignity and security. When these projects are built by union‑skilled trades, they’re done safely, professionally and in a way that creates real opportunities for the next generation,” said Natalya Craig, Operating Engineers 324 journeyperson and graduate apprentice.

Michigan follows new clean‑energy‑jobs coalitions formed in New Jersey and Oregon.

Image description: A white male with dark brown hair and glasses smiles into the camera.