Organizing Workers in Renewable Energies: Experiences and Challenges. (Sustainlabour, 2013)

Organizing workers in renewable energies: experiences and challenges
Organizing workers in renewable

energies: experiences and
challenges
December 2013
Index
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Organizing green energy workers................................................................................................................. 4
1. Organizing workers in production sites of wind and solar energy ...................................................... 4
Case 1: IG Metall, Germany ............................................................................................................... 4
Case 2: Trade union strategy at VESTAS Denmark ........................................................................... 7
Case 3: IG BCE, Germany ............................................................................................................... 10
Case 4: United Steel Workers (USW), United States ....................................................................... 12
Case 5: Unite the Union – UK ......................................................................................................... 14
Case 6: ACV BIE, ACOD-CGSP, ACLVB-CGSLB (Belgium) National organising through social
dialogue ............................................................................................................................................ 16
2. Training for organizing: vocational training in renewables energies ................................................. 18
Case 7: Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United States ........................................... 19
Case 8: Unión Obrera de la Construcción (UOCRA), Argentina .................................................... 20
Case 9: Laborers´ International Union of North America (LIUNA), United States ......................... 21
3. Assessment ............................................................................................................................................. 21
4. Conclusions and suggestions for future work ........................................................................................ 22
Introduction
The expansion of renewable energy production has increasingly been seen as opportunity for
job creation. Many trade unions also perceive the potentially positive impact this trend could
have in the re-industrialization of areas where industry has declined as a consequence of
manufacturing relocation in other countries. The cases of Germany, Pennsylvania (USA) and
Navarra (Spain) are good examples of the latter. In addition, manufacturing of renewable
energy-related technologies has not only been a synonym of new investments but has also
meant improved access to affordable cutting-edge clean technologies in the energy sector, very
much needed in most developing countries of the world.
Renewable energy employment has expanded strongly in recent years, on the strength of
supportive government policies, expanded investments, and a rise in installed production
capacities, especially in wind and solar energy, which development has taken place through
large-scale production sites.
Those countries that have shown stronger support to renewable energy production have also
devoted human and financial resources to assess its economic and social impacts, including the
quality and quantity of jobs created.
Despite growing dramatically in past years, the involvement of China in the solar photovoltaic
sector has transformed it substantially, leading to a sharp reduction in costs but also closures or
restructuring of manufacturing sites in Europe and USA.
In this context, trade union support for renewable energy is often framed within broader
discussions around energy policy or support for climate change mitigation. While acknowledging
different levels of ambition within the labour movement, trade unions generally understand the
importance of energy efficiency and clean energy production as key elements of the response
to climate change, and therefore support them.
If trade union policies in support of renewable energy development have been extensively
studied, the strategies for organising workers in this new sector have been far less documented.
In order to fill this gap, a study on trade union strategies for organising and improving working
conditions in the electricity renewable sector is needed.
This is a first attempt to review different union experiences in this regard, including those at the
industrial federations’ and company’s level.
Similar initiatives are being carried on other energy-related sectors, not addressed by this
report, such as the case of biofuels, where CUT Brazil is trying to promote a social dialogue
mechanism and collective bargaining strategy for improving working conditions in the sector.
An in depth-analysis of renewable energies implies understanding that they are cut-across by a

variety of subsectors: energy, transportation, construction or industry. The diversity of
renewable energy sources implies also a diversity on the workers’ profile involved in them: from
metal workers in the production sites of wind energy and chemical workers in photovoltaic
technologies to agriculture and rural workers in the supply chain of biofuels. Services workers
and public workers are also involved in the power generation and maintenance phases while
workers in the construction sector are engaged in civil works (roads, foundations of windmills
and photovoltaic systems, etc.) related to energy production sites. This diversity also has
impacts on the strategies designed for organising them.
This report intends to (i) summarize the different trade union approaches to organize new
workers in renewable energy sector (ii) explain factors considered by union organizations to get
active in the sector and to develop their strategies (iii) give details of the trade union strategy,
(iv) provide results achieved, and (v) provide conclusions lessons learned and barriers
encountered of examples assessed that can be drawn on by other unions that want to develop
their own strategies to organize workers in renewable energy, from developed countries where
there are not taking place at the moment, to those countries where renewable energy
supporting policies are currently being defined like Latin American and African countries.
The level of information and details differs among cases. Some strategies are too recent to be
assessed; others are not assessing the impact on workers’ affiliation, etc.
Organizing green energy workers
The way trade unions are dealing with the renewable energy sector and organizing new
members greatly differs among regions and organizations, and renewable energies are not an
exception. A few European unions have developed specific strategies to actively engage with
those working in renewable energy, particularly in countries where they have grown to a
considerable size. Unions have tended to develop those strategies when the sector has
reached a significant economic, industrial and social impact in the country
In a study on labour relations in the electricity sector, the tripartite European Union agency
Eurofound 1 indicated that the sector is heavily populated by small-sized companies, where
union presence and collective bargaining coverage rarely happen. Belgium was singled out as
an exception, as trade union representation seemed well developed even in new, smaller
renewable energy companies. In other countries, trade unions are targeting the renewable
energy sector to boost their membership.
Examples of unions with specific organizing campaigns in the renewable energy sector include
IG Metall (Germany), which is implementing specific strategies to organise workers in wind and
solar energy and has succeeded in concluding some agreements with employers and has
established a number of works councils in this sector. Another German federation, IG BCE
actively works in the solar energy sector. However due to decline of the solar sector in the
country much of their efforts have had less results.
In the UK, unions are seeking to recruit new members in the emerging part of the electricity
sector. Unite – The Union is working specifically in the off-shore and tidal energy sector and
have signed an agreement with the main employer association in the sector committing to work
together for the best of companies and workers in the sector.
Beside trade union strategies, there are also other factors that could increase union density in
the renewable sector. As for the rest of the economy, industrial relations setting on a country
and national labour legislation have an important impact on easing or dificulting workers efforts.
Employer strategies and company policies are key too. Employer organizations role is
sometimes as important to build collective bargaining that workers organizations strength. An
active employer organization strategy to attract new companies, as the case in Belgium
included in this report, can have a direct impact. Friendly companies, such us Vestas, or SMA,
can also make a real different combining environmental and labour results.
The following sections will detail those experiences and their results at workplace level (IG
Metall and IG BCE - Germany), at company level (VESTAS- Denmark), at national level through
agreements with employer association (Unite the Union - UK) as well as through professional
training strategies.
1. Organizing workers in production sites of wind and solar energy
Case 1: IG Metall, Germany
Brief introduction to the union

IG Metall is the largest DGB-affiliated union, the German Metalworkers’ Union (IG Metall) with
2.2 million members.
Latest figures from the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) show that membership of
its affiliated trade unions fell by 0.6% in 2011. This was smaller than the 1.1% decline in 2010,
and the 1.7% decline in 2009, showing a slowing of the steady decline in union membership in
recent years.2
1
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1202028s/tn1202028s_7.htm
2
European Industrial Relations Observatory On line
The German metalworkers’ union managed for the first time in 22 years to stabilise its
membership levels and to record a small growth of 0.3%. Previous years the European
economic crisis impacts on industry and on car manufacturing in particular, produced decreases
of 1% for 2010 and 1,6% lost for 2009. In order to counteract this membership reduction IG
Metall started an ambitious internal restructuring programme to free up resources, stabilise its
strongholds in manufacturing and reach out to new emerging industries such as renewable
energy workers.3 This strategy is giving its fruits.
Brief introduction to the renewable energy sector

Germany was one of the first countries to support renewable energy production. Nuclear power
production was not fully supported by German population for many years and it was necessary
to find a replacement for this energy supply. In fact, and after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in
Japan, Germany embarked on an ambitious "energy revolution", deciding to phase out its
nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 and further bolster renewable sources of energy such
as solar and wind power. In addition, renewable energy production was seen as an excellent
opportunity to re-industrialize some areas of the country and create new jobs.
The number of jobs in renewable energy sector is about 320,000 total and around 100,000
employees in the wind energy. In general, wages in the producing sites related to wind energy
are about 20-30% lower than average metal workers salary, who have the best collective
agreement in the country.
Labour relations in Germany

Employers and trade unions can act as collective bargaining parties. Though there is a trend
towards decentralisation, the main pattern today remains sectoral collective bargaining.
At their workplaces, employees are mostly represented by works councils or alternative bodies
of interest representation. Works councils can be set up in any establishment with a minimum of
five employees. All employees except those in executive or similar positions are allowed to vote
for, or stand for election to, works councils. Trade union membership is not a prerequisite and
the works council has co-determination, information and consultation rights. However, issues
subject to collective bargaining are excluded from its bargaining powers and do not have the
right to call strikes or initiate other industrial action.
The majority of employees work in companies bound by the sectoral collective agreement for
their industry. At the end of 2010, roughly 1.7 million employees worked in 3,712 member
companies bound by the sectoral collective agreement in the metalworking and electrical
industry. Only nearly 335,000 employees in 2,725 companies were not covered by the sectoral
collective agreement4.
IG Metall trade union action strategy

A number of factors were decisive for IG Metall to launch its campaign to organize workers in
production sites of wind and solar energy.
First, there was a growing number of jobs in wind energy generation companies, a majority of
which were new. There was therefore a growing need to organize the sector as expressed at
different local, regional and national bodies of the union.
There was as well a second category of companies. Those that were already active in the
electricity sector and extended their business to the renewable energy sector, but in those, most
of them large-sized companies, such as Siemens, unions were already active and had collective
contracts whose conditions were applicable to new workers.
Past efforts to organize workers in the operation and maintenance of wind energy companies
were not well organized and led to poor results.
3
Heiner Dribbusch, Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Eurofound, 2011.
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2011/03/articles/de1103019i.htm
4
According to the German Works Constitution Act
All these elements led to the decision by the IG Metall executive body in 2009, in dialogue with
local unions to embark in the organisation of workers in production sites of wind energy and to
design a specific sectoral union strategy. IG Metall’s objective was to regulate the whole sector:
from workplace to the company and industry level.
The first and most important step required was the creation of a works council in every
production site. This is the anchor for trade union action at the company level, as they are the
channel for demanding improvements to working conditions. Works councils are well developed
in large companies, but almost never in SMEs.
As a means for protecting workers from the often very negative employers’ attitude to works’
council’s creation, which include facing serious risks of dismissal, downgrade or wage losses,
a preparatory, confidential phase was considered critical to build trust between workers and the
union. As joining a union is an individual decision, and each worker has to express his or her
willingness to join, the strategy is developed in an individual basis. This trust-building phase can
last a relatively long period of time, in average between 2 and 3 years.
Once there is a good percentage of workers who have expressed their wish to be part of the
union in the company, IG Metall goes public.
The decision about which companies and workplaces are to be targeted, as well as the action
plans and timelines are decided by IG Metall headquarters and local unions.
One of the most important elements of the strategy was to create an “organising expert team”
for the wind industry, which has coordinated the efforts for the past four years.
This team works on the ground, visiting workplaces and talking to workers, local and district
unions. They are the ones running the campaign.
The creation of this team is the first experience of top-down approach in the organization and it
has been evaluated very positively in the union.
Twice a year there is a meeting of works councils’ representatives (20-30 reps). This meeting is
seen as very useful by works’ councils reps, who learn from each other, and complement their
knowledge of the sector with more political inputs, including the chance to engage with
government officials that sometimes take part in the meetings.
The strategy includes as well the development and use of the so-called Renewable Score-
Cards5. Renewable Score-cards were created to inform those who are in charge of selecting
which technology to install (including local governments which own some of the wind-mills in
Germany) how sustainable the different technological options available in the market are, from
an economic, environmental and social perspective, including the labour dimension. The score-
card applies to wind and solar technologies. Social indicators assessed include the number of
employees working at the EU, average working hours, share of temporary workers. Other
questions include budget committed to R&D and whether or not the company collaborates with
public research institutions.
These score-cards have an important role in framing the activities of IG Metall in renewable
energy sector.
Main Results
As a result of this work the number of workers who are member of the union has raised the last
years.
Working conditions have improved greatly in those companies where specific action has been
taken.
Here are some examples of companies organized by IG Metall and their results:
5
The campaign from IG Metall here: http://www.igmetall.de/scorecard-nachhaltig-erneuerbar-10999.htm (in German)
Repower (www.repower.de)
The company employs 2000 workers. Two years of work and two strikes have resulted in high
density unionisation and a good collective agreement that includes a transparent and just wage
system, special collective contract for call-on-duty workers and better wages. After achieving a
good collective contract this company is a model for the other companies in the sector.
Enercon (www.enercon.de)6
The company employs 12,000 workers, 2,400 of which in service companies.
The employer wanted to have union-free company. IG Metall worked for more than a year in the
preparatory phase, to build workers’ trust, collecting their demands and asking about their
willingness to join the union. IG Metall’ position was clear: only a collective expression of
workers would prevent layoffs from those considered as leading the effort to organise.
They focussed first on service workers (highly qualified, also known as white-collars), because
they are very often more reluctant to become a member of union than non-service workers, and
were present in vey high numbers in the company. Once the support was very high among
them, they presented publicly the election committee, which is the first step to create a works
council.
This is one of the most successful cases. The creation of works councils is being extended to
other offices of the company in Germany. A new website (http://www.windstärke13.info) was
created that explains the success in creating a works council, reasons to be part of the union,
and demands that have been met already. The main objective is to offer accurate information
about the process of unionization and the reasons for it. Questions such as how to set up a
works council and how it worked in other Enercon different locations are answered. The website
receives more than 500 and 1000 clicks a day.
One of the areas where more attention is being paid is working conditions of casual jobs
(temporary contracts), as they have worse working conditions than permanent workforce, they
usually earn less and often do not know how long they remain in the company.
Ambau (http://www.ambau-windservice.de)
That was one of the most difficult cases. Employers were very hostile and even fired a person
identified as a union organiser7. Fortunately, there has been progress since then. There is a
good density of unionization now and the works council is working well.
SMA (www.sma.de)
The company employs 5000 workers. Contrary to the other cases, that was an easy case. The
relation with the employer is very good, they understand the role of trade unions and supported
their work within their company. One of the reasons for this openness was the fact the owners
of the company came from the non-for profit green sector and were more sensitive to the social
side of business. IG Metall and the company worked closely to set works councils in the
different sites of the company.
Case 2: Trade union strategy at VESTAS Denmark
Brief introduction to VESTAS

Vestas was founded in 1898 in Denmark, producing steel windows for industrial buildings and
agriculture machinery at first. In the 70’s, after the second oil crisis, they decided to invest in
wind mills, as a source of clean energy. Vestas is today the world leader in wind energy, is
present in 73 countries and provides jobs for around 17,000 people at service and project sites,
research facilities, factories and offices all over the world.
According to the 2012 Annual Report, and in order to reduce costs, the company reduced its
workforce by 23% (4,943 workers) compared with 2010 numbers. Vestas plans to keep
6
See information about trade union in Enercon in this article:
http://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1213917/germany---enercon-lifts-trade-union-ban
7
To learn more about this case see an interview with the person how was fired, Ali Can http://www.igmetall.de/ambau-
cuxhaven-ali-can-plant-betriebsratsgruendung-und-wird-4843.htm.
reducing number of employees in 2013 to be no more than 16,000. The lay-offs were distributed
among salaried employees (60%) and hourly-paid employees (40%).
Number of workers in VESTAS worldwide

2008-2013
25000
Number of workers
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Serie1 20829 20730 23252 22721 17778 16000
Year
Source: Author, based on VESTAS 2012 Annual report data.
Source: VESTAS 2012 Annual report
This reduction is the result of the new company strategy which aims at externalizing the
production of some of elements of its production process. On the other hand, the number of
service technicians increased by around 450 during 2012, since Vestas expects further growth
in the service business. Despite this situation, industrial relations are Vestas are highly
appreciated by their unions.
Labour relations in Denmark and in Vestas

Union density in Denmark has declined steadily since 1996 when the rate was 73% to around
67 % in 2010. The so-called “Danish model” is characterised by the institutionalisation of
conflicts, relatively high membership rates, and a well-established pattern of cooperation
fostering industrial peace and stability. Labour market legislation is minimal regarding the
regulation of the Danish labour market. Central labour market issues – such as wages, working
hours, working conditions or the right to strike – are regulated by agreements between employer
and employees8.
Collective bargaining coverage 58% in 20109. The collective bargaining system is characterised
by multi-level regulation and a centrally controlled decentralisation – also referred to as
‘centralised decentralisation’.
8
Denmark industrial relation profile. Eurofound. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/country/denmark_2.htm
9
Shop stewards who are elected by workers under collective bargaining agreements; enjoy
statutory protection against dismissal; serve as channel between workers and management on
working conditions. Collective Agreement on Cooperation and Cooperation
Committees provides for information to be given to individuals and groups of workers in
advance so they can make their views known before a decision is taken and for the
establishment of cooperation committees.
Cooperation committees must be set up in all firms employing more than 35 workers (25 in the
public service). Joint committees to promote cooperation in day-to-day operations; they must be
consulted on the introduction of new technologies and the organization of production; some co-
determination rights on working conditions, training and personal data.
At national level, DA (largest employers association) and LO (main trade union confederation)
negotiate a basic agreement and a cooperation agreement, which have a longer validity period
than the collective agreements at sectoral level. These basic agreements build a bargaining
framework for sectoral agreements by defining fundamental procedural rules – including the
right to organise, a peace obligation, cooperation at the workplace or the handling of unfair
dismissals.
Based on this framework, most of the collective bargaining on pay, working time and working
conditions takes place at sectoral level. The sectoral agreements, in turn, are used as a
comprehensive framework that is implemented at company level.
Additionally, safety representatives are elected representatives required in firms employing at least
ten workers; they enjoy the same protection against dismissal and retaliation as shop stewards
and are entitled to reimbursement of official expenses. Safety Committees are required in firms
employing at least 20 workers. In firms with more than two safety groups, the safety committees
consist of workers elected from among safety representatives, two supervisor members and an
employer’s representative.10
When it comes to Vestas, dialogue between unions and employers has been fluent since the
creation of the company. There is no collective bargaining agreement applied at the country
level. Working conditions (wages, working hours, OSH, etc) are negotiated at company level.
Shop stewards are in charge of negotiating working conditions at the workplace level, they work
independently and very seldom consult with the Union. Nonetheless, at the European level,
Vestas has a European works council meeting, where representatives from different VESTAS
works councils meet twice a year to share information about their companies, try to find
common solutions to problems that affect workers of any company of the group.
Occupational health and safety is an important part of the company working conditions policies
and this translate into results. Vestas announced that the number of industrial injuries fell to 2.8
per one million working hours in 2012. In comparison, the corresponding figure was 15.6 in
2008.
Trade union action strategy in VESTAS Denmark
Two factors have demonstrated to be key to achieve high levels of union membership within
VESTAS Denmark. Firstly, deciding to work together. Several unions are represented and
active in VESTAS- Denmark (3F, Danish metal workers and an electricians union). They all
work together, sharing information, working plans and proposals. In fact, each shop steward
represents all different unions.That was a major step forward that helped the union to be more
effective in their work to improve working conditions.
Secondly, assisting workers with everything they may need, not only negotiating salaries and
other working conditions on their behalf but also helping them to solve any problem the worker
may have related to salaries, contracts or working conditions.
10
ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety
One of the tasks they undertake that has been highlighted by shop stewards as particularly
effective in getting new members is their welcoming to new workers in the very first day. They
explain them how the company is organized and how the union works. Most new workers
decide to join a union after that.
Shop stewards have changed their role in the company in about a decade. They have evolved
from devoting only a few hours as unionist to work full time currently.
Although the level of unionization in Denmark is high reaching 68,5 in 201011, the number of
workers that are part of a union in VESTAS is even higher achieving levels of 80%. It should be
noted however that unionization among young workers is much lower, very often they are not
familiar with the work of the unions, their tasks and their demands.
Main results. T
he original strategy developed at VESTAS; join approach from unions, widening the scope of
collective bargaining, and welcoming function for new workers has obtained important results.
High levels of unionization: number of workers that are part of a union in VESTAS is even
higher achieving levels of 80%. There is however lower levels of unionization among young
workers due to their lack of knowledge about the role of trade unions at the workplace.
A responsible structuring?
Vestas restructuring has been crafted on what employers would like to show as an exemplary
one. In Denmark, for instance, where 29 per cent of lay-offs took place in 2012, laid-off
employees were offered outplacement services, including individual competency assessments
as well as job seeking support.
In November 2013 VESTAS announced that the company would invest €10 million in the
production of wind turbine blades at its factory in Taranto, Italy. Employment will be offered to a
number of nacelles plant employees.
Thirty nacelles employees will be hired after professional retraining with a further eight
employees drawn from the Vestas Italia sales, installation and service unit. Sixty more nacelles
employees could be hired depending on market conditions and thirty employees in the
company’s facilities in the UK, Spain, Denmark or Germany, depending on individual
professional qualifications and company personnel requirements at each facility.
Source: http://www.energias-renovables.com/articulo/vestas-to-invest-in-italian-blades-factory-
20131125
11
OECD Statistics. Trade union density: http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=20167
Case 3: IG BCE, Germany

It covers workers from mining (especially of coal), chemicals, natural gas, glass, rubber,
ceramics, plastics, leather, petrol (and related products), paper, recycling, and water. With some
672,195 members in 2011 IG BCE represents about one tenth of all DGB members and is the
third biggest union within that confederation. 10% of its members are below 27 years old.
Membership reduction also affected IG BCE that lost 0.5% of its members in 2011, significantly
lower than the 1.7% decline seen in 201012. This halt in membership decline, through small net
increases or smaller decreases is shared by other German unions, as seen in IG Metall
example.
Brief introduction to the solar energy sector in Germany
Solar industries in Germany, similarly than in other countries, have suffered a very negative
trend. This fact is produce by a combination of two main factors. The first one is the reduction of
feed-in tariffs in Germany and in other countries where Germany companies export their
products; the second is the increasing share of the market by Chinese companies. Since these
companies, heavily supported by their government through among other measures access to
soft credit, entered the international market, PV solar panels costs have been sharply reduced.
Lower rates in feed-in-like systems drove customers to select lower-priced solar panels, most of
them made in China, resulting in closure of companies and job losses no only in Germany but
also in those countries such us Spain and United Stated.
Before the solar industry collapse, Germany had around 80% of the global market. Currently
more than half of the companies went bankrupted. German solar companies such as Q-Cells,
Solon and Conergy have had to file for insolvency, with parts of the production cycle wound
down or sold to foreign competitors. Other solar companies, like Arise, a Canadian PV
company, closed in 2011, three years after entering the German market, due to insolvency. The
production in Canada keeps running.
Large companies with PV solar branches such as Siemens and Bosch have also completely
opted out of their solar business. The same can be said for companies related to the glass
sector such as Pilkington and Schott, which stopped the production due to the crises in this
sector.
As the crisis deepened, other companies that were active in the silicon production process were
also impacted. The main company in Germany linked to silicon production is Solarworld. The
workforce was cut down by 50%, employing 1,000 people currently. A collective agreement was
in place since the company was created and salaries were higher than the average for their
region. Good working conditions made unions less needed: the union membership in the
company was approximately 25%, lower than the national average (around 50%). Currently,
working conditions and a new wage structure is being negotiated via collective agreement.
However, due to the solar energy crisis, it is not clear whether the company will be able to
survive.
However, some companies have escaped to this destruction, due to the specialization and high
quality of their products such as the converter manufacturer SMA. They have maintained their
production in Germany and opened new production sites in other countries where renewables
are growing (Latin America).
Labour relations in Germany
(read under Case 1 – IG Metall, page 4)
12
European Industrial Relations Observatory on-line.

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2012/03/articles/de1203019i.htm
IG BCE trade union action strategy
As for the IG Metall. IG BCE first step to organizing workers in the solar energy sector is the
creation of a works council. Representatives from IG BCE contact workers in those companies
where a works council does not exist yet. Once at least half f them had shown their interest to
join the union, there is a call for the creation of a works council, and the opening of negotiations
on working conditions. The absence of a organizing committee ad hoc makes this approach
very different than IG Metall strategy, and probably one of the reasons for different results.
Main Results
Despite IG BCE efforts to create works council and organize worker sin the PV solar industry
the recent crisis that has deeply affected the sector have directly impacted in number of jobs
and therefore number of members of the union. The reduction of the solar industry in Germany,
mainly in those companies where membership rates were lower, reveals some contradictions in
workers behaviour: when the activity was going well, unionization rates were not high, but the
danger of losing the jobs, creates a strong reason for organizing, maybe when is too late.
Case 4: United Steel Workers (USW), United States

USW is the largest industrial union in North America and represents 850,000 active workers
employed in manufacturing, energy, utilies and the service sectors. It is the dominant union in
metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, oil, chemicals, cement and glass, but also represents
professional and technical workers, nurses, pharmacists, hospital and municipal employees.
The organization has defended for years now that renewable energy production is positive for
the country for a combination of reasons: environmental ones (avoiding GHG emissions and
other type of pollution), economic ones (such as helping the country to reduce imported oil or
fostering local economies) and for social ones (creating green, industrial and good jobs that
benefit local communities and economies).
Brief introduction to renewable energy in United States
Renewable energy production was one of the sectors where Obama administration focussed its
efforts to overcome economic and social consequences of the 2008 financial and economic
crisis. The support provided was part of a broader programme called American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act1 that included support to infrastructure development, health and education
with the objective of saving and creating jobs in the short term through direct spending, federal
tax incentives and expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions.
The approximate cost of the economic stimulus package was estimated to be $831 billion
between 2009 and 2019 and approximately $30 billion were devoted to energy efficiency and
renewable energy related provisions.
The approximate cost of the economic stimulus package was estimated to be $831 billion
between 2009 and 2019 and approx
One of the measures of this package was the federal renewable electricity production tax credit
(PTC) originally enacted in 1992 and renewed and expanded numerous times, most recently by
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the American Taxpayer Relief Act in
2013. PTC is a per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity generated by renewable energy
resources. The Incentive Tax Credit (ITC) for eligible technologies is generally equal to 30% of
eligible costs13 (2,3 c$/kWh) with a duration of 10 years.
U.S. wind projects that use large turbines—greater than 100 kilowatts (kW)—are eligible to
receive federal tax incentives14. The Production Tax Credit has been the primary incentive for
13
US Department of Energy. http://dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US13F
14
U.S. Renewable Electricity: How Does the PTC Impact Wind Markets? Congressional Research Service, 2012.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42576.pdf
wind energy and has been essential to the industry’s research and development. Wind Power
development in the United States has shown a great dependence on the PTC. The wind
industry has experienced growth during the years leading up to the expiration of the PTC and a
dramatic decrease in installed wind capacity in years where the PTC has lapsed15.
The current trend of short-term extensions of the Production Tax Credit have led to a boom and
bust cycle of short-term planning and low number of investments16.
As a result of these uncertainties wind energy companies are reluctant to increase investment in
the USA market and in some cases like GAMESA have decided to close producing sites in the
country.
Labour relations in the USA

The National Labour Relations Act (NLRA)17 enacted in 1935 implements the national labour
policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining
industrial peace and recognizes the right of employees to collectively bargain through unions.
The Act Under the law, if a majority of a company’s employees vote to form a union, all
employees of that company are required to be a part of that union, unless the state in which the
company is located has implemented right-to-work-legislation. Labour relation at workplace: in
order for a petition to start the election process in a company to be filed at least 30% of
employees should show their interest in the process. Currently, 24 states have right-to-work
laws in place, while 26 states do not. The NLRA made union membership mandatory at
companies with unionized workforces the rule, not the exception.
A recent proposal by the Republican Party aimed to change the law and make right-to-work a
national law. That would mean that workers should decide in an individual manner whether or
not they want to be part of a union.
The AFL-CIO and its affiliates are calling for a major legislative campaign to reform federal and
state labor laws to expand collective bargaining rights for all workers and make it easier for
employees to exercise their voice in the workplace as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA),
has been so undermined for years by corporate interests and its legislative allies.
USW strategy on organising renewables and creating green jobs
As early as in the 70’s, the USW supported passing the Clean Air Act, combining support for
environmental regulations with the believe that stronger regulation would mean further
economic growth and job creation for the country. Some decades later, supporting measures to
fight climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting renewable energy
production was therefore a coherent follow up.
As an important industrial unions, USW is an important labour organization in many sectors

linked to renewable energy production supply chain. At national level, USW is leading the efforts
to organize workers in the wind energy production sector while IBEW is focusing on organizing
solar energy production workers.
USW’s strategy to organise the sector and increase the number of companies whose workers
are unionised is based on building partnerships with renewable energy companies willing to
enter the US market. They sign an agreement with these companies specifying each other
roles.
The USW would offer its fluent contact with decission makers related to renewable energy
policies at national and State level, and companies would facilitate the organization of workers
in their facilities. The strategy was clearly to build a political alliance for ambitious investments in
renewable energies that would ensure good working conditions for workers.
15
Production Tax Credit for Renewable Energy. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2013
16
Wind Energy production tax credits, American Wind Energy Association, 2012.
17
Information about Labour Relations in the USA can be found at the National Labour Relation Board.
http://www.nlrb.gov/resources/faq/nlrb#t38n3209
As part of this strategy, the union pushed for and strongly support clean energy policies and
programmes approved by the Obama administration to overcome the social and economic
effects of the financial and economic crisis in 2009.
The agreement with the Spanish wind energy company Gamesa was probably the most
successful experience in the short term18. Unfortunately, the company is facing difficulties
external to the improvements unions have managed to make for workers.
Main results
One of the key results of this strategy is exemplified in the agreement signed with GAMESA, a
Spanish wind energy company contributing to Pennsylvania’s Clean Energy Revitalization. This
agreement was of particular importance as Pennsylvania had seen in the last decades a
systematic closure of all its industrial tissue.
The arrival of clean energy investments –thanks to a target of 18% renewable energy
generation by 2021- since 2005 changed the landscape, and new jobs were created. One of the
companies attracted by these new policies was Gamesa19, a technological wind energy
company, leader in the wind mills manufacturing.
Gamesa’s decision to base itself in Pennsylvania was a result of a concerted, cooperative

efforts from state and local government, workforce development groups, and the United
Steelworkers. Workforce groups created a detailed database of the skills available from
dislocated steel workers, which they presented to Gamesa to prove the region could staff its
plants.
Between 2006 and 2008, the United Steelworkers of America signed the first collective contract
with Gamesa that included agreements on raises, bonuses and benefits and a skill-based
incentive program. The partnership between Gamesa and the United Steelworkers was the first
agreement between a trade union and a company to support renewable energy production
through local manufacturing and the development of a local value-chain.
In 2010, a new collective bargaining agreement was approved for the company in the USA. In
addition to wage increases and benefit enhancements, the agreement also includes a new gain-
sharing incentive system, with monthly payouts based on achieving quality, productivity and
production targets.
Currently, USA market means 14% of total sales (in MW) of GAMESA in the world. However,
due to the uncertainties and changes in the supporting programmes to the sector the situation
has completely changed.
It seems that GAMESA will close its installations in Pennsylvania keeping some 25 workers
from the 2,000 that used to work there. The production will be relocated to China ending with
the effort, determination and dreams of a group of workers and trade unions leaders.
USW will keep being a strong trade union organisation in the oil, chemicals and nuclear sectors
however, US legislation uncertainties, together with the preference of many companies to
relocate the production to China, have left some twenty workers in the wind energy and “a few”
18
A second example is the agreement signed with two of China's leading power generation companies in renewable energy
equipment manufacturers entering the USA market: A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd and Shenyang Power Group. USW
committed to work with both companies to create long-term, good-paying, green American jobs and to build a strong domestic
supply chain, key to the renewable energy leadership of the country. Both companies committed to purchase 50,000 tons of steel to
be manufactured in unionized American steel mills to supply the towers for a 615MW wind farm in Texas. A wind turbine assembly
plant in Nevada was expected to be created by these companies.
19
See information about GAMESA decision to invest in Pennsylvania: http://www.mapagroup.net/2005/09/gov-rendell-
announces-gamesa-coming-to-pa/
workers from the solar energy sector as the only members of the renewable energy sector
affiliated to the union.
Case 5: Unite the Union – UK

Unite is Britain's biggest union with 1.42 million members in every type of workplace. Unite the
Union has an extensive and organized membership in all industrial, service and agricultural
sectors, including in the energy production sector: coal, gas, nuclear and renewable energy
sectors.
Brief introduction to renewable energy in the UK

Interest in renewable energy in the UK has increased in recent years due to new UK and EU
targets of CO2 emission reduction linked to climate change objectives and the promotion of
renewable electricity power generation through different incentive programmes. As a result
renewable energy sources provided for 11.3% of the electricity generated in the United
Kingdom in 201220.
UK is ranked as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power and wind is the second
largest source of renewable energy after biomass. 2010 saw a 38% drop in onshore
installations but a 230% increase in offshore installations with 653 MW installed21.
In 2010 the sector was estimated to employ directly 10,800 workers (full-time equivalents), with
56% in large-scale onshore wind, 29% in offshore wind, 7% of in small-scale wind and 8% in
wave and tidal energy. Since 2007, employment in large-scale onshore and offshore wind had
nearly doubled, with employment in large-scale onshore wind increasing by 48% and
employment in offshore wind increasing more than fourfold22.
In UK all multinational energy companies such as Siemens, EDF have created their own
renewable energy branches.
Labour relations in UK
The system of industrial relations in the United Kingdom (UK) 23 is traditionally characterised by
voluntary relations between the social partners. A conservative government, led by Margaret
Thatcher, was elected in 1979 on an anti-trade union, neo-liberal platform. Successive
governments of this political stripe pursued a legislative programme that placed legal
restrictions on trade unions’ ability to engage in industrial action, and that privatised many areas
of the public sector, while managing the public sector in an anti-union fashion. During this
period, trade union membership also declined markedly, and the majority of sectoral collective
agreements in the private sector were dismantled as companies abandoned them.
After that, a ‘New Labour’ government, led by Tony Blair, was elected in 1997, offering a
moderately conciliatory approach to the trade unions, through the use of legal individual
employment rights to protect workers. Most notably, a national minimum wage was introduced.
Many of these legal rights emanated from the level of European Union, and the post-1997
period saw a marked increase in the influence of legal regulation in the employment
relationship. Nonetheless, trade union membership continued to decline, and in 2011 trade
union density stood at 26%. (private sector was 14.1% and stood at 56.5% in the public sector)
and 37% of collective bargaining coverage in 2011 (covering 67.8% of public sector compared
with 16.9% for the private sector).
Collective bargaining: In the UK, the dominant level for the setting of pay and working time is
the company or plant level in the private sector. There are no national intersectoral agreements.
The UK is notable for the disorganised nature of its levels of collective bargaining and the lack
of legal backing and promotion that collective agreements are subject to. In line with the UK
20
Department of Energy and Climate Change of UK, 2013.
21
Department of Energy and Climate Change of UK, 2012
22
Working for a Green Britain Vol 1, RenewableUK, 2011
23
Section based on information included in UK Labour Relations Profile, Eurofound undated
voluntarist tradition, collective agreements are voluntary instruments that are ‘binding in honour
only’. However, the terms of collective agreements are normally incorporated into individual
contracts of employment that are then legally enforceable. Collective agreements are not
subject to extension and so are subsequently never extended by legislation, and there are no
voluntary mechanisms for doing so. In practice, trade unions in different companies and sectors
often share information with one another, and agreements in certain companies and sectors
often act as informal ‘benchmarks’ for negotiators in other areas.
There is no multi-employer collective bargaining in the electricity industry (as with most parts of
the UK private sector). In both production and transmission/distribution, all bargaining occurs at
the level of individual companies or, more commonly, at sub-company level. In the electricity
sector collective bargaining that stood at around 58% in 2010, occurs for at least some
employee groups at all the main production and distribution companies, but there are no reports
of bargaining at the small companies that operate in new areas such as wind and marine
generation.
Workplace level: The main channel of employee representation in the UK is via the recognition
of trade unions by employers for the purposes of collective bargaining. Another channel of
employee representation in some workplaces is that of joint consultative committees (JCCs) –
sometimes known as works councils or employee forums. These are broadly concerned with
consultation rather than negotiation.
Unite the Union renewables strategy

Unite believes that renewable energies have an important role to play in the energy system and
the sector can be an important resource of job creation as well, off-shore wind energy in
particular. The objective of the union is to equal working conditions of new workers in renewable
energy sectors to the existing energy sectors (fossil fuels, nuclear).
One of the first steps undertaken by Unite to organize the sector has been to sign a
Memorandum of Understanding with RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave
and tidal industry to commit to campaign together to ensure that the development of the
renewable energy industry provides significant benefits to UK businesses and the workers they
employ.
Both bodies recognise the potential of the sector, in which nearly 12,000 people are already
working full-time, to create long-term skilled employment for the UK, and to help boost growth.
Major companies have already identified the specific sites they want to develop into the wind
turbine factories of the future, and submitted planning applications to turn their vision into reality.
Main results
As a result of this MoU, a number of local unions have already approached off-shore wind and
tidal companies. Decisions about which companies and how to face organizations of their
workers are taken by local unions with little engagement of Unite Headquarters that has not a
dedicated team to follow the issue and give support to local unions.
Case 6: ACV BIE, ACOD-CGSP, ACLVB-CGSLB (Belgium) National organising

through social dialogue 24
Brief introduction to trade unions in Belgium

The three major trade unions in Belgium are organized by sector and regionally. All three are
active in the energy sector and are strongly established and embedded at the workplace in
many companies. Unions present in the sector are:
■ ACV BIE: Christian origin, the union is a collaboration of the blue-collar and white-collar
sector federations since 2004 at the Flemish side; at the Walloon side the white-collars
are still defended by CNE, the blue-collars by BIE.
24
Section based on the EUROFOUND report “EIRO CAR on the Changing Business Landscape in the Electricity sector
and Industrial Relations in Europe” published in 2012. Research of Belgium case carried out by Van Gyes Guy, HIVA-K.U.Leuven.
■ Gazelco ACOD-CGSP: socialist origin.

■ ACLVB-CGSLB: liberal.
Trade union density is about 50% in Belgium, gradually decreasing from a 56% in 2006 until a
50% in 2011 (latest data available)25
Brief introduction to renewable energy in Belgium

Belgium is a federal country and is divided into three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels-
Capital. The regional governments are responsible for designing and implementing policies for
energy efficiency, renewables, non-nuclear energy R&D and gas and electricity (< 70 kV)
market regulation on the distribution level. The federal government is responsible for the gas
and electricity regulation on the transport level, nuclear energy (including R&D, generation,
waste… ) and other issues that need to be dealt with on a national level (e.g. large storage
facilities and tariffs).
Despite the energy market liberalisation that took place years ago, in practice, the Belgium
electricity market is largely covered by two electricity companies EDF-Luminus and Electrabel.
Besides the major companies many smaller companies are active in the renewable energy
sector.
Regional and Federal governments jointly developed a national action plan on renewable
energy that aims to increase renewable energy production to 13% in 2020 from 6 % in 2010 and
green certificates were chosen as the system to promote them. The existing network should be
adapted to be able to integrate this energy. This is an important challenge linked to renewable
energy production in the country. In 2003 the Belgian parliament agreed to phase-out nuclear
power between 2015 and 2030, if the electricity provision would not be threatened. The planned
closure of the nuclear power plants is recently confirmed in parliament, with the exception of
one plant (Tihange 1) who’se lifetime is prolonged with 10 years.
Labour relations in Belgium

Trade unions in Belgium are consulted on energy issues on a regular basis. They have been
involved and politically active on the key initiatives related to energy production:
• The pricing in the electricity market
• The stimulation packages for renewable energy
• The nuclear monopoly of Electrabel, its market effects and phasing-out
• The prospective studies on the energy mix of the country
At different levels and places, the social partners have been consulted on sub-parts of the
implementation of the EU Directive on renewable energy26
In Belgium companies are automatically assigned to a sector joint committee, where collective
bargaining takes place that applies directly to all employees of the companies. New business,
when grow to a significant size in labour, social or economy terms, are urged to become
members of their respective employers organisation. Most of the newcomers in renewable
energy sector are as a result member of FEBEG (Belgian Federation of Electric and Gas
industries)27. Only those new companies where renewable energy production is not the core of
their business but only part of it, are not pushed to be part of FEBEG. They represent a small
portion of total employment in the sector
Labour relations works at sectoral level. Joint Committee 326, covering the electricity, gas and
renewable energy sectors, is the main body for negotiations, settling disputes, and reaching
collective agreements.
25
See OECD Data http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=20167
26
Recommendation on the project of Directive by the European Parliament and the Council on the stimulation of using
renewable energy sources by the General Council of the Commission for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas; Recommendation on
the transposition of the EU-Directive on renewable energy by the Flanders social and economic Council and the Environmental
council; Recommendation on the project of Royal Decree that defines the product norms for bio-fuels by the Central Economic
Council; Recommendation on a project of Royal Decree on providing information on the net cost or benefits and the energy
efficiency of machinery and systems for the use of heating, cooling and electricity on the basis of renewable energy sources by the
Federal Council for Consumption.
27
ODE Flanders (ODE Vlaanderen, de Organisatie voor Duurzame Energie Vlaanderen) is the regional organisation on
sustainable energy in the Flemish region. The Walloon counterpart is EDORA.
Trade union action strategy

There are not specific campaigns to organize workers in the sector, because a very high
percentage of workers of renewable energy sector are covered by collective bargaining that
applied automatically since their companies are part of the employers association.
Main results
As a result of a legislation than encourage collective bargaining agreements and the fact that
employers organizations push new comer to the sector to become members of the existing
employers associations, workers collective bargaining coverage is almost 100% in renewable
energy sector. The binding force of all collective agreements concluded in the joint sector
committee 326 is extended by Royal Decree and apply to all employers and their employees of
the sector.
Labour relations in UK
The system of industrial relations in the United Kingdom (UK) 28 is traditionally characterised by
voluntary relations between the social partners, with a minimal level of interference from the
state. A conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, was elected in 1979 on an anti-
trade union, neo-liberal platform. Successive governments of this political stripe pursued a
legislative programme that placed legal restrictions on trade unions’ ability to engage in
industrial action, and that privatised many areas of the public sector, while managing the public
sector in an anti-union fashion. During this period, trade union membership also declined
markedly, and the majority of sectoral collective agreements in the private sector were
dismantled as companies abandoned them.
After that, a ‘New Labour’ government, led by Tony Blair, was elected in 1997, offering a
moderately conciliatory approach to the trade unions, through the use of legal individual
employment rights to protect workers. Most notably, a national minimum wage was introduced.
Many of these legal rights emanated from the level of European Union, and the post-1997
period saw a marked increase in the influence of legal regulation in the employment
relationship. Nonetheless, trade union membership continued to decline, and in 2011 trade
union density stood at 26%. (private sector was 14.1% and stood at 56.5% in the public sector)
and 37% of collective bargaining coverage in 2011 (covering 67.8% of public sector compared
with 16.9% for the private sector).
Unite the Union strategy
Unite believes that renewable energies have an important role to play in the energy system and
the sector can be an important resource of job creation as well, off-shore wind energy in
particular. The objective of the union is to equal working conditions of new workers in renewable
energy sectors to the existing energy sectors (fossil fuels, nuclear).
One of the first steps undertaken by Unite to organize the sector has been to sign a
Memorandum of Understanding with RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave
and tidal industry to commit to campaign together to ensure that the development of the
renewable energy industry provides significant benefits to UK businesses and the workers they
employ.
Both bodies recognise the potential of the sector, in which nearly 12,000 people are already
working full-time, to create long-term skilled employment for the UK, and to help boost growth.
Major companies have already identified the specific sites they want to develop into the wind
turbine factories of the future, and submitted planning applications to turn their vision into reality.
Main results
As a result of this MoU, a number of local unions have already approached off-shore wind and
tidal companies. Decisions about which companies and how to face organizations of their
workers are taken by local unions with little engagement of Unite Headquarters that has not a
dedicated team to follow the issue and give support to local unions.
28
Section based on information included in UK Labour Relations Profile, Eurofound undated
2. Training for organizing: vocational training in renewables energies
A number of trade union organizations are very active in vocational training in renewables
energies. Providing education workers and vocational training for example to unemployed
workers, or participation in the life learning education programs could be an efficient way to
contact new workers and attract them to the union. Some unions have signed specific
agreements with their respective education institutions (different levels local, regional or
national) to arrange and organize professional training in different green areas including
renewable energies.
These programmes are in general characterized by providing a combination of theoretical and

practical tools and knowledge; training and trainers are closely linked with the day to day labour
practices in; rapidly evolving training programmes to match labour market needs; and the
issuing of official training certificates that in most countries are indispensable conditions to find a
job.
Vocational training experiences could also be important for a broader education in trade union
culture and values. In addition to providing technical capacity, trade unions offering the courses
could use the opportunity to educate in labour rights, collective bargaining or trade union’s role
improving working conditions. Courses are an entry point for raising awareness that could lead
to increase union density.
In some cases, trade union training institutions have signed specific agreements with sectoral
employers association to hire those participants trained at union programs.
Training has been seen by several unions as a means to reaching workers traditionally difficult
to reach, such as construction workers, because of the composition of their companies. There is
however a lack of information about how these programmes are translating into higher union
membership.
This report incorporates examples from SEUI and LIUNA in United States and UOCRA in
Argentina.
Case 7: Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United States
SEIU's membership includes nearly 300,000 property service workers-building superintendents

maintenance workers and janitors in commercial office, residential and public buildings such as
schools.
The trade union believes that transforming the economy through renewable energy, energy
efficiency and reducing toxic pollution has the potential to create millions of jobs while reducing
global warming emissions and making our air and water cleaner.
SEIU’s members are in charge of maintaining heat, cooling and electricity systems in all range
of building scales, consequently, if appropriately trained, these workers have the possibility to
reduce pollution in buildings, which account for nearly 40 percent of country energy use and
nearly 72 percent of national electricity consumption.
In order to provide with green and energy efficiently skills to their members, SEIU set up a
programme in New York City to train 1,000 of their members on energy efficiency practices.
Emerald Cities Collaborative
SEIU is member of Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC), a national non-profit network of

organizations working together to advance a sustainable environment while creating greater
economic opportunities for all by retrofitting building stock, creating high wage jobs, and
revitalizing the local economies. Municipal buildings, universities, schools, hospitals, multi-family
housing, and large commercial buildings are considered for energy-efficient retrofits &
improvements.
Main activities of the organization include training, creation new jobs, and observing labour
standards to support the growth of a well-paid, well-trained green workforce to develop
sustainable local economies. ECC is currently working in Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Angeles,
Milwaukee, New York, Oakland, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Seattle.
ECC is focused on integrating workforce development and job creation components into local
initiatives around the municipal, university, school, hospital, and multifamily affordable housing
market. Currently, the organization is actively engaged in the development of a $60 million
municipal retrofit project and over 25 million square feet of downtown commercial and public
space. ECC is leveraging the platform of the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings
Challenge to recruit and support owners of public, institutional and commercial buildings.
ECC has focussed as well its activity in community colleges by greening their campuses,
creating and training for high-wage jobs, engaging faculty and students in building liveable
communities, and meeting the needs of local residents and businesses to benefit from the
emerging green economy. Finally, ECC’s Public Housing Initiative focuses on large-scale, deep
and comprehensive retrofits of the public housing stock in participating cities while undertaking
substantial energy and water retrofits.
www.emeraldcities.org
Case 8: Unión Obrera de la Construcción (UOCRA), Argentina
Trade unions are nowadays an essential actor in vocational training (public and private
management) in Argentina. For example in Buenos Aires 60% of all professional training
centres (Centros de formación profesional) are managed by trade union related organizations.
In 2010 64% of participants that enrol in a professional training programme chose a centre
managed by a union organization29.
UOCRA and UOCRA Foundation have committed to carry out different action programmes to
raise awareness and provide skills for a sound use of natural resources.
One of its projects, undertaken by the Environment and Sustainable development department,
is “Good Environmental Practices in the Construction sector: building renewable energies”.
The program combines skills development for assessing environmental risks at the workplace,
occupational health and safety approaches, sustainable buildings and renewable energies’
techniques and good practices on sustainable construction, renewable energy use and
bioclimatic housing.
Last years a variety of courses have been organized:
1) Theory and practice on photovoltaic Systems (in partnership with the Social
Development Ministry and the department of Youth Policy).
2) Environmental training for photovoltaic and solar thermal systems
3) Providing renewable energies and energy resources conservation to rural communities

of the National Park of Campo de Alisos.
4) Renewable energies course including gas provision through biodigesters, solar thermal
systems installations to heat water and electricity provision through photovoltaic solar energy
systems.
29
Organizaciones del mundo del trabajo en la formación profesional en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Dirección General de
la Evaluación Educativa de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 2013
5) Project on “solar suitcase30” in partnership with the British Council. Theoretical and Practice
knowledge to self-construct a PV suitcase.
Training materials such as on “Sustainable Houses”, “Good environmental practices in

construction” and “Good environmental practices on renewable energies” are available for
workers.
Case 9: Laborers´ International Union of North America (LIUNA), United States
LIUNA develops its training programmes through the LIUNA Training and Education Fund. It is
a joint labour-management training trust established in 1969. It provides services to more than
70 affiliated training funds in United States and Canada.
LIUNA Training and Education Fund offer training programmes in different areas related to
green jobs, such as building retroffiting and renewable energies installation and maintenance. It
provides industry and professional skills credentialing and affiliate capacity building. The fund
provides independent accreditation awarded by the International Accreditation Services in 2008.
LIUNA training partners include institutional agencies, industry and professional organizations,
community-based organizations and education institutions and professionals.
3. Assessment
Renewable production has impacts across sectors (sector involved range from chemical to
construction, metal workers, farmers and agriculture workers) and job profiles (from high skilled
workers -engineers-, to low skilled ones -SHS installers-).
Two kinds of companies can be found in the renewable energy generation side: large
companies present in the ‘traditional’ energy sector which have opened renewable energy
departments to make the most out of governmental support, which are so far leading the sector,
and newly created companies, exclusively dealing with renewables, most of them falling under
the category of small and medium entreprises (SME).
In addition, the sector heavily relies on small and medium-sized business as providers of
materials and services at the manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance phases.
Those companies work as well for other sectors, not only renewable energy production, and are
usually not considered as part of the renewable energy sector.
Trade unions are progressively developing strategies for organising workers in these areas. A
number of them are very active, while following very different approaches, shaped by the needs
and realities of workers in their country and the different kinds of renewable energies sources
targeted.
Organising at the level of big, traditional energy companies is a relatively easy task. Generally
speaking, and at least in Europe, energy workers have good working conditions, high levels of
unionization and social dialogue structures with employers. Collective agreements have been
negotiated over the years in these companies that have ensured relatively good working
conditions for their workers, including the ones in renewable energy production.
In order to organize further, unions have to focus on specifically reaching out to the small and
medium companies, where union membership traditionally is lower, collective agreement
coverage is uneven and consequently working conditions are worse (longer working hours,
lower salaries, higher level of temporality (casual jobs), etc.). This is most of the times a
pendant subject for unions, though trade unions future will depend on their availability to
organize this space. Succeeding organizing the renewable energy sector means also
succeeding organizing its small and medium enterprises. IG Metall and IG BCE in Germany and
Belgium unions are examples of it.
30
See more information about solar suitcase here: http://www.pv-magazine.com/services/press-
releases/details/beitrag/solar-suitcases-catch-flight-and-earn-solar-flare-award_100010494/#axzz2lAJQMUPG
Among the decisive factors shaping union strategies is the industrial relations framework in the
country or its functioning. In some countries, like Belgium, of the functioning or employers
organizations and collective bargaining has led to a 100% coverage of workers in the sector. In
countries like the United Kingdom, labour legislation does not facilitate collective agreements
but voluntary employer-union agreements. As a result, Unite the Union, signed an agreement
with the main employers’ association in the sector to organize and enhance working conditions
in wind and tidal energy companies.
Even in union friendly countries, such us Germany, working conditions are defined by
workplace-based works’ councils, which can only be created if there is sufficient support among
employees for their establishment. In order to do it, unions have to fight non union friendly
employers. Both IG Metall and IG BCE need to confidentially talk to workers, company to
company, building a critical mass to establish a work council. But in order to do that, their
strategies differ, IG Metall has created its first top-down organizing structure, an organizing
expert group to design the strategy for the sector, and target company after company.
In United States, where trade union affiliation has decrease sharply due to unfriendly labour
legislation and economic development factors such as decrease in industry sector or
outsourcing, USW decided to get embarked in an ambitious industrial policy campaign jointly
with renewable sector employers. This political alliance with companies wishing to enter the US
renewable energy market that unions support them at the political arena in order to build RE
progressive legislation, companies agreed to establish from the very first moment, unionized
facilities.
What is important to understand is that no matter how good the union strategy, the friendly the
companies or the sound the labour legal framework, not much can be advanced if the proper
framework for developing renewable energies is not in place. Uncertainties due to policy
changes in supporting programs together with the growing share of China of the renewable
energy market have deeply impacted trade union action results. This has been the case of solar
energy in Germany or wind energy in the USA, where companies have decided to leave the
country and jobs have been lost after trade unions’ efforts to organize them.
Other strategies to increase membership and improve working conditions include the provision
of professional training in renewable energy fields. In these cases, unions in partnership with
institutional agencies and/or employers’ organizations carry out vocational programmes offering
certified qualifications, enabling workers access to better quality jobs. These courses usually
include information about labour rights, labour legislation, trade unions’ role and how and why to
affiliate the union and they offer an extremely good entry point for organizing. There is however
a lack of data regarding impact of these training programmes in union membership.
Some trade unions support and push for the creation and promotion of cooperatives and other
mechanisms that ensure social ownership and distribution of benefits of the renewable energy
sector.
4. Conclusions and suggestions for future work

Trade unions active in organising in the renewable energy sector have highlighted a series of
difficulties when it comes to increasing the number of union members in the sector:
- Difficulties related to the type of workers/companies: Workers’ age (they tend to be younger
than average energy workers, and therefore less familiar with unions’ work and role),
atomisation of workers (workplaces tend to have very few workers, increasing the human
resources needed to reach out to them), company’s size (with SMEs being know for small union
presence), employers’ attitude (some have been particularly hostile to trade union-related
activities). Most of these difficulties are general barriers to organize all sectors, for which the
labour movement must find common solutions, such as youth organization or SMEs, but as the
ratio is higher than in traditional industries.
- Difficulties related to the industry itself: lack of representativeness of employer’s associations

(which makes difficult sectoral bargaining), aggressive attitude by traditional energy companies
(which try to slow down RE development and target unions as potential supporters for that
action). Additionally, the RE companies have followed a development in some cases

intermittent, linked to the state support to the sector, through subsidies for example. They have
rapidly flourished and decreased in regions and countries, and generating drastic job losses.
- Challenges related to union’s own actions: tendency to wait for the sector’s to become big to
engage with it, lack of top-down organizing policies (in general trade unions seem to wait until
spontaneously a workplace is organized by its workers) , lack of knowledge among trade union
officials on renewables (i.e. how they work, environmental, social and employment impacts,
costs, difficulties they face to access the energy market, etc.), little inter and intra regional
dialogue among trade unions, which is specially significant taking into account that most
companies active in the American, African and Asian markets are Europe-based companies,
where as said already, unions are already active.
Based on these challenges, some strategies have proven to be successful in addressing them
and should be considered in the way forward:
The first has to do with the deliberate ad-hoc organizing strategies for the sector, as in the case
of IG Metall. This is a top-down approach led by a team which analyzes all sector companies
and decides how and when to begin the organization in the different facilities. The team is
conformed by industry sector experts who are familiar with its working conditions, technical
solutions and economic reality. These strategies have not been so common in European
industry federations, especially for small companies, but evidently is giving results as the IG
Metall affiliation figures start to show.
Sometimes trade unions have done more to support legislative progress to encourage
renewables, than have worked to organize the sector. Therefore there is a need for a horizontal
(cross-sectoral) and vertical (from national to workplace) dialogue within the trade union to
design an organising strategy for renewable energies. Experience and needs from all levels
need to be taken into account and reflected in a union action plan, along with a thorough
identification of the human and financial resources needed. In such a strategy, national centres’
involvement can play a key role, in promoting coherence within the union and ensuring interests
from all sectors involved are considered and reflected in the strategy31.
In this regard, there is also the need to encourage a fluent dialogue between trade union bodies
at different levels (confederation, federations, regional, local unions and works council
representatives), before and after the action plan is implemented, as well as with public
authorities at the local, regional and national levels are as well seen as very useful.
The unity of action, or a coordinated union approach pays off, for example in large companies
with presence of different unions. Vestas is an example: a fully coordinated work council is
highly valued by the company workers.
Renewable companies are new companies, therefore as mentioned above, are often formed by
younger workers who have better average technical training. A collective bargaining of broader
spectrum, beyond wages, can increase affiliation figures, as seen in the case of Vestas.
Unions have to understand the renewable energy generation sector in their two approaches: as
an industrial sector, developing organizing strategies, assessing working conditions and
vocational training needs accordingly, and as an environmental issue, accompanying workplace
strategies with active union participation at national and regional energy policy debates,
alliances with other civil society groups to support renewable energy generation. Participation
though this second approach can contribute to the success of the firt one, increasing the
visibility of trade unions in the sector and its entrance in companies.
Political alliances on industrial policies have proved to be very interesting, as in the case of
USW, though there have to be reviewed in the light of last years development, for example
31
This could facilitate a progressive positioning of unions on energy policy debates, considering environmental impacts
together with employment creation and economic development of each energy system. See Energiewende proposal by German
DGB and Energy Agreement for Sustainable Growth [Energieakkoord voor duurzame groei by FNV from The Netherlands )

related to the volatility of companies. In order to build real sustainable industrial policies,
alternative models such as cooperatives and public companies could have an important role to
play.
Sustainlabour would like to thanks all persons contacted that have provided key information
about their respective trade union actions in the renewable energy sectors. It would have been
impossible to produce this report without their help.
Germany:
IG Metall general union policy department- Angelika Thomas- environment, energy and climate
policy advisor.
IG Metall Executive Committee- Sören Niemann-Findeisen- Director Strategic Organizing
Projects
IG Metall Executive- Sascha Treml- Operating industry policy
IG BCE Marc Welters- Dept. tariff policy
DGB (German Trade Union Federation) Federal Board of Management- Daniel Schneider-
Department of Industry, services and structural policy
DGB Bavaria - Ludwig Meier, Economic Policy
DGB NRW- Achim Vanselow- Dept. economic, structural and technology policy
Spain:
Comisiones Obreras (CCOO)
Confederation: Secretary for Environment: Carlos Martinez Camarero and Pablo Frutos
Cataluña regional union: José Manuel Jurado
Argentina:
UOCRA- Unión Obrera de la Construcción de la República Argentina. Romina Castro
Belgium
CSC-FEC-(Confederation of Christian Trade Unions)- Thierry Demuysère
ACV-CSC (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions)- Bert de Wel, Advisor
Romania
NTUC “Cartel-Alfa”: Luminita Vintila, Head of international Department
Denmark
United Federation of Danish Workers (3F)- Jesper Lund-Larsen, Environmental and
occupational health and political consultant
United Kingdom
Unite the Union- Neal Evans, Energy and Utilities, research officer
IndustriAll Europe
Corinna Zierold, Policy Advisor
Mischa Terzyk, Policy Advisor
Luc Triangle- Deputy General Secretary
Americas
Mapa Group (United States)
Michael Peck, Founder
BlueGreen Alliance (United States)
Michael G. Williams, Director of Policy and Legislation
Trade Union Confederation of American Trade Union (TUCA)
Daniel Angelim

Organizing Workers in Renewable Energies: Experiences and Challenges. (Sustainlabour, 2013)

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Organizing Workers in Renewable Energies: Experiences and Challenges. (Sustainlabour, 2013)

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Organizing workers in renewable energies: experiences and challenges

Organizing workers in renewable

An in depth-analysis of renewable energies implies understanding that they are cut-across by a

Organizing green energy workers

1. Organizing workers in production sites of wind and solar energy

Case 1: IG Metall, Germany

Brief introduction to the union

Brief introduction to the renewable energy sector

Labour relations in Germany

IG Metall trade union action strategy

Case 2: Trade union strategy at VESTAS Denmark

Brief introduction to VESTAS

Number of workers in VESTAS worldwide

Source: Author, based on VESTAS 2012 Annual report data.

Source: VESTAS 2012 Annual report

Labour relations in Denmark and in Vestas

Trade union action strategy in VESTAS Denmark

Case 3: IG BCE, Germany

Brief introduction to the union

Brief introduction to the solar energy sector in Germany

European Industrial Relations Observatory on-line.

IG BCE trade union action strategy

Case 4: United Steel Workers (USW), United States

Brief introduction to the union

Brief introduction to renewable energy in United States

Labour relations in the USA

USW strategy on organising renewables and creating green jobs

As an important industrial unions, USW is an important labour organization in many sectors

Gamesa’s decision to base itself in Pennsylvania was a result of a concerted, cooperative

Case 5: Unite the Union – UK

Brief introduction to the union

Brief introduction to renewable energy in the UK

Unite the Union renewables strategy

Case 6: ACV BIE, ACOD-CGSP, ACLVB-CGSLB (Belgium) National organising

Brief introduction to trade unions in Belgium

■ Gazelco ACOD-CGSP: socialist origin.

Brief introduction to renewable energy in Belgium

Labour relations in Belgium

Trade union action strategy

Unite the Union strategy

2. Training for organizing: vocational training in renewables energies

These programmes are in general characterized by providing a combination of theoretical and

Case 7: Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United States

SEIU's membership includes nearly 300,000 property service workers-building superintendents

Emerald Cities Collaborative

SEIU is member of Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC), a national non-profit network of

Case 8: Unión Obrera de la Construcción (UOCRA), Argentina

Last years a variety of courses have been organized:

3) Providing renewable energies and energy resources conservation to rural communities

Training materials such as on “Sustainable Houses”, “Good environmental practices in

Case 9: Laborers´ International Union of North America (LIUNA), United States

4. Conclusions and suggestions for future work

- Difficulties related to the industry itself: lack of representativeness of employer’s associations

action). Additionally, the RE companies have followed a development in some cases

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