Posts tagged data centers
Building trades unions emerge as a key ally of tech giants in push for AI data centers
May 4, 2026 // Unions have aggressively answered complaints about data centers in ways that executives at tech giants and the development firms rarely do, unafraid to bluntly confront concerns about energy and water shortages, rising electric and water bills, or noise and quality-of-life objections. “When people say, you know, ‘data centers are the root of all evil,’ we’re just saying, ‘look, they do create a hell of a lot of construction jobs, which we live and work in your communities,'” said Rob Bair, president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council.
Why the Building Construction Unions Love Data Centers
March 25, 2026 // There’s a building boom going on in America – but it isn’t so much housing or office buildings. It’s data centers. This explains why even though liberals are rebelling against data centers, union workers love the high-paying jobs they create. Here’s a construction industry milestone
AI Needs Data Centers—and People to Build Them
October 6, 2025 // That brings us to the second tool for expanding the skilled workforce: convincing more people to pursue a career in the trades. Here, policymakers should tap into the vast potential workforce among young men released from prison for nonviolent offenses by expanding inmates’ access to vocational education. Only a small fraction of this group currently receives such training. And to train more would-be tradesmen in general, we need to make training more effective—and more interesting. Technology can help here, too. Leading construction-equipment makers already use virtual reality and augmented-reality systems for their training simulators. Tests show VR training significantly improves users’ training-completion and employment outcomes.