Glenn Kelly, President of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) Local 8 Southeast, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed how the Vogtle nuclear plant, one of the largest union construction projects in the country, is taking place in Georgia, despite it being a So-Called “Right to Work” state.
Local 8 represents about 2,000 Georgia BAC members.
Work to construct reactors three and four at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant started out as a non-union project, but the project was plagued with multiple issues including falling behind schedule and cost overruns. Union construction workers were brought in to bring the project back on track, Kelly said. He noted 100 percent of the work is now being performed by union building trades members. Plant Vogtle is one of the largest union construction projects in the country, he noted. While the project has been criticized for its high cost, it would have been considerably cheaper had it been an all-union project from the start, he added.
Kelly also talked about the challenges of organizing in Georgia. It is challenging to recruit both contractors and workers, but both ultimately benefit from working union, he said.
Kelly then discussed how Georgia has become ground zero not only for voting rights, but workers’ rights after the state voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election. He explained the importance of educating and increasing the number of union members, which is critical in the fight to keep Georgia a blue state and perhaps repeal So-Called “Right to Work” legislation and laws that ban Project Labor Agreements.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.