Season 3, Episode 228

Minnesota’s largest solar plant will be built with 100% union labor

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Guest Name:


Kevin Pranis

Guest Website:


https://www.liunaminnesota.org/about

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


Kevin Pranis, Marketing Manager at Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA) Minnesota and North Dakota, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed Xcel Energy’s Sherco Solar Project – the largest solar project in Minnesota’s history.


LiUNA Minnesota and North Dakota has 14,000 members.


The 460 MW plant will be constructed with 100 percent union labor, he said. He estimated the plant will create about 900 construction jobs.


The project will be built alongside some of the largest coal-powered facilities in Minnesota and will take advantage of their existing infrastructure as the plants are retired, Pranis explained. The project will also help offset jobs lost in the coal industry, he added. 


Pranis also talked about work coming to the area created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, all of which will use Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and largely employ union labor.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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