As planned, Vineyard Wind and the Southeastern Massachusetts Building Trades Council have secured what they say is the first project labor agreement (PLA) for an industrial-scale offshore wind project in the U.S.
According to the partners, the agreement ensures “fair, family-supporting wages and thorough workplace protections” for the workers who will be constructing the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore project. The PLA also ensures that there will be “talented and skilled” laborers available during construction to meet the project’s needs and deliver Vineyard Wind 1 on schedule. Five hundred union jobs are expected to be created.
“The signing of this PLA is the culmination of our long-standing promise to the working people of Massachusetts,” says Vineyard Wind’s CEO, Lars T. Pedersen. “We now have an agreement in place that will make sure local residents on the South Coast, Cape and Islands, can reap the greatest possible benefit from this new and growing industry. And beyond that, it’s a commitment to make sure we have a diversified workforce that represents the communities where we work, so that we can open the doors of opportunity as wide as possible.”
Frank Callahan, president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, says, “The men and women of North America’s Building Trades Unions are the best trained, most highly skilled and most productive workforce in the world. They get the job done right while earning family-sustaining wages and benefits that provide them a secure place in America’s middle class.”
