Labor Draws a Line: Unions Offer a Pro-Worker, Pro-Growth Vision for Washington's Tech Future

In a significant move, Washington’s leading labor coalitions have formally broken ranks with a state-level work group, arguing that its recommendations on the future of data centers will kill good jobs and harm working families.

Climate Jobs Washington, in partnership with the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, submitted an official "minority report" after disagreeing with the direction of the state's Data Center Work Group. The unions argue that instead of finding solutions, the group’s primary recommendations demonize a critical industry and create a false choice between a healthy economy and a healthy environment.

Conflict Around Data Centers

The conflict centers on data centers—the massive facilities that power our digital world. While they are a major source of family-wage construction jobs, their high energy use has made them a flashpoint in climate policy discussions.

Labor's report rejects the idea that Washington must choose between having these facilities and meeting its climate goals. They argue that the current path is based on a flawed premise: that blocking development here solves a problem. In reality, the unions say, it just exports the opportunity. These essential facilities will simply be built in other states, often with weaker labor laws, lower safety standards, and dirtier energy grids.

What the Minority Report Says

The minority report instead offers a different path forward—one that focuses on partnership and proactive solutions. The unions are calling for the state to focus on building the necessary infrastructure, like upgrading our energy grid, to support both industrial growth and the transition to clean energy.

This fight is part of a larger pattern for labor leaders, who see promising, next-generation projects getting bogged down by opposition and delays. They point to new developments like Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) facilities, such as a proposed project in Walla Walla that promises hundreds of long-term union jobs, as the kind of innovative work Washington should be attracting, not discouraging.

What is Needed for Progress

Whether it’s data centers or clean fuels, the message from labor is consistent: progress requires building things.

The minority report is more than a policy disagreement; it's a declaration that Washington's unions will not accept a future of de-industrialization. It is a call for state leaders to embrace a pragmatic vision where Washington leads not just in climate ambition, but in building the innovative industries and creating the good union jobs that will secure a prosperous future for all.