Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast from the Yotta Conference in Las Vegas, more than 6,000 attendees gathered to discuss data centers, AI infrastructure, hyperscale energy and behind-the-meter power generation.
Hager described the conference as a major networking opportunity with hyperscalers, builders, developers and multinational general contractors, some of whom are actively looking at Ohio for future projects. He discussed the Central Ohio building trades' workload trajectory — from 4 million manhours a decade ago to a projected 20 million this year — including Google's 6.5 million manhours of work in the Columbus area last year alone.
Hager also addressed a potential new Honda plant proposed to be built in Union County, according to media reports in Japanese and domestic press. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining long-term relationships across Columbus's diverse construction market, as well as population growth and infrastructure concerns. Finally, Hager offered sharp criticism of the proposed temporary suspension of the Ohio gas tax, which Gov. DeWine has estimated would remove approximately $750 million from the state transportation budget.
Dorsey Hager spent this week at the Yotta Conference in Las Vegas, a gathering that has grown rapidly since its founding four years ago. The first year drew 1,500 attendees. Last year drew 3,000 and outgrew the venue. This year, about 6,500 people filled Caesars Forum, and the conference has already outgrown that facility. Next year, it moves to a larger space, and organizers expect attendance to double again.
The conference brings together hyperscalers, data center developers, behind-the-meter energy companies, builders, and multinational general contractors. Hager said it has been an extraordinary networking opportunity. General contractors already working in Columbus and Central Ohio, including Kiewit, Bechtel and Turner, are present. So are developers and builders who are not yet in Ohio, but are actively looking at the state. They have been reaching out to Hager for one-on-one meetings to discuss the labor climate, the skilled trades workforce and what the Central Ohio building trades can deliver.
The conversations at the conference centered on several recurring themes: public opposition to data centers in communities, the need for earlier and more transparent communication with residents rather than arriving with non-disclosure agreements, the national shortage of skilled trades workers, and the role of elected officials in either welcoming or blocking these projects.
Hager shared two examples of communities that embraced the model and have benefited significantly. A data center in Louisiana has pledged $50,000 toward every teacher's salary in the local school district. Loudoun County in Northern Virginia, the highest-density data center jurisdiction in the country, receives approximately $1.2 billion annually in tax revenue from data centers, funding new roads, bridges, water systems, schools, pools and parks. He said what was once public opposition in Loudoun County has become broad community support once residents saw the results.
On energy costs and the grid, Hager said the factual data supporting the claim that data centers are driving up residential electricity bills is thin. Utilities are upgrading grid infrastructure to handle the load, and some of that cost is being passed on to consumers. The underlying problem is decades of underinvestment. Ohio has closed power plants without replacing them and has allowed grid infrastructure to lag behind population growth, particularly in Central Ohio, Hager said. When those existing deficiencies are compounded by rising fuel costs, every electricity bill rises. He said developers need to take responsibility for grid upgrades rather than leaving those costs to ratepayers. He pointed to the Google data center project in Scioto County as a positive model because Google's commitment to maintaining grid reliability means the county's history of summer brownouts will end once the facility comes online.
Battery storage is another emerging piece of the conversation that Hager expects to discuss further in the coming months. The goal is to reduce the hours that behind-the-meter gas turbines need to run by storing excess electricity and drawing on it during peak demand, reducing emissions and fuel consumption.
The numbers Hager shared about the Central Ohio building trades’ workload tell a striking story. A decade ago, the region’s tradespeople worked 4 million manhours. Three years ago, that figure was 10 million. This year, the trades are on pace to eclipse 20 million hours, a new record and more than double the total from just three years prior.
Google's three Columbus-area campuses alone accounted for 6.5 million manhours of maintenance and new construction work last year, employing approximately 4,000 building trades members at wages and benefits that allow them to support their families.
Hager emphasized the importance of not letting the focus on area data centers crowd out the trades’ other markets. Approximately $2 billion in healthcare construction is currently active across Columbus, ranging from $30 million clinic expansions to a $780 million hospital project. The Ohio State University, state government facilities, commercial construction and public schools all continue to generate significant work, he added. Maintaining those long-term relationships while managing the data center surge is a challenge the trades are taking seriously.
Reports emerged this week, first from Japanese business news outlet Nikkei and then picked up by the Columbus Dispatch and the Associated Press, that Honda is considering building another car plant in Union County. Hager lives in Marysville, Honda’s Ohio home. He read the reports while in Las Vegas and noted that nothing had been confirmed. The reports are just reports at this point.
The C/COBCTC and Honda have worked together for more than 50 years. The building trades recently completed the Fayette County battery plant and are in discussions on a project labor agreement for $300 million in upgrades to that facility. Whenever Honda undertakes work at scale, project labor agreements have been the preferred structure because Honda knows that building trades members deliver work safely, on time and under budget.
Hager said his first task upon returning from Las Vegas is to meet with Honda officials, understand their plans and position the building trades as their partner, as they have been throughout the relationship.
Columbus is projected to double in population by 2050. Union County and Delaware County, immediately north of Franklin County, consistently rank among the top 10 fastest-growing counties per capita in the United States. The building trades’ labor base is growing across every craft to keep pace with demand, Hager said.
The infrastructure implications tied to the projected population growth are significant. Roads, bridges and highways require sustained investment from both the city and the state to keep pace. Hager said the state transportation budget needs to grow alongside the population, not shrink. The trades’ long-term members who work on infrastructure projects have a direct stake in that investment, he added.
Speaker of the Ohio House, Keith Faber, and the Ramaswamy campaign called a press conference last week to propose suspending the Ohio gas tax. Gov. DeWine estimated the suspension would cost the state transportation budget approximately $750 million, but signed the bill this week approving an immediate 90-day suspension of the gas tax.
Hager said it is a very bad policy. At a moment when Columbus is growing rapidly, when the electrical grid needs major investment, when roads and bridges need to keep pace with a population projected to double, removing $750 million from the transportation budget to offer temporary, marginal relief at the gas pump is the wrong trade-off. The per-gallon savings would be pennies, while the lost investment in infrastructure could affect projects and jobs for years, he said.
He described the proposal as a political response to tight polling. A recent Marist poll of likely voters in the Ohio governor’s race showed Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton leading Ramaswamy by 6 points. Ramaswamy's campaign has outspent Acton approximately 6-1. President Trump's approval rating, which Hager cited at approximately 32 percent, has complicated the Republican path in Ohio.
More information on the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council is available at columbusconstruction.org.
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