IBEW Local 271 Business Manager Jeimeson Saudino pushed back against claims circulating at a packed Sedgwick County town hall, saying modern data centers use closed loop cooling systems rather than millions of gallons of water daily and pointing to projects in Oklahoma and Kansas where data center development reduced local property taxes.
Lowell City Council voted 10 to 0 for a one-year data center moratorium after IBEW members and neighbors clashed over a Markley expansion, illustrating the broader political squeeze facing Gov. Healey as consumer anger over high energy costs collides with her AI driven economic agenda and a stalled data center tax exemption that remains unfinalized 16 months after she signed it into law.
Virginia lawmakers are divided over whether to eliminate a data center sales tax exemption that cost the state an estimated $1.9 billion last fiscal year, with teachers and fiscal advocates calling for repeal while IBEW Local 26 and other trades unions rallied to preserve the incentive they say drives well paying union construction jobs in the Commonwealth.
IBEW International Vice President Michael Monahan urges Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to stop promoting Gov. Janet Mills over Graham Platner in Maine Senate primary, citing Mills' fraught labor record
Profile of Nscale founder Josh Payne, Australian former coal miner who raised $2 billion at $14.6B valuation for AI data center company, with Sheryl Sandberg joining board amid infrastructure boom
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink announces a $100 million investment in skilled trades training, citing a growing shortage of electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians as demand for six-figure blue-collar careers surges.
Demand for licensed electricians is rising sharply as AI infrastructure and data center construction expand, with younger workers increasingly drawn to the trades for stable, well-paying careers.
A union electrician is entering the congressional race on Staten Island, aiming to mobilize the borough's labor base in a bid for federal office.
Construction unions including the IBEW are celebrating approval of a major AI manufacturing facility in Independence, Missouri, calling it a generational win for union jobs in the region.
Residents opposing the approved AI data center in Independence are organizing a referendum petition drive to challenge the city council vote on the project.