Unions Leverage in the AI Boom includes Advocating For Data Centers

Here’s a role reversal worth noticing: labor unions are now fighting to protect data centers — against their usual Democratic allies.

More than 300 bills landed in statehouses this year to rein in data centers, including outright construction bans in 11 states. Union opposition helped kill regulatory bills in the Democrat stronghold states of Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. In Colorado, the sponsor added tax incentives to win labor over and the unions opposed her bill anyway. She pulled it.

Why is this happening? Unions need the work. BLS data shows data center construction jumped more than 34% in a single year and now makes up nearly 30% of all construction value — more than shopping centers, hospitals, and schools combined. The building trades call it their best opportunity since NAFTA.

When Democrat Govs. Shapiro (PA) and Sherrill (NJ) rolled out data center “guardrails,” both came with prevailing wage, workforce training plans, and minimum jobs requirements. Twelve-plus states now tie wage or labor standards to data center tax breaks. And the tech side is playing along — NABTU cut deals with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft.

To me, this is the smartest play organized labor has made in years. They’re not picketing the AI boom — they’re making themselves the toll booth on it.