Dorsey Hager, Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss more new construction projects in the Central Ohio region.
On May 3, Google representatives announced the development of two new data centers in the Central Ohio Region. With this announcement, Google has promised nearly $2 billion of work in the region. There are only 13 data centers in the world, and with the three being built in the Ohio area, Hager joked that the state is becoming the new hub for Google. Early work has begun on the two new data centers, with nearly 3,000 union construction workers expected to be on-site within the next 12 months.
Hager also provided an update on some current projects, including the Intel plant. Phase One of the Intel plant is underway, with several local unions already working on site. Hager mentioned that thanks to their work with the Building Futures project, they were awarded the Mark H. Ayers Community Achievement Award at the NABTU Legislative Conference last month. The award recognizes the building trades that have done exceptional work in providing opportunities in their local communities.
With the current work and the upcoming projects covered by Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), there is nearly $26 billion worth of new construction planned in the Central Ohio region over the next five years. Hager believes that work will require an additional 12,000-14,000 tradespeople tocomplete. The local unions are working to add new members and grow their apprenticeship programs to have enough manpower to handle the workload.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.