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The UAW Has a Vision for Green Industrial Policy in California
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/uaw-abundance-energy-industrial-policy-labor/California has enough lithium for 375 million EV batteries and massive offshore wind potential. The UAW wants to harness these resources to create a pro-worker clean energy manufacturing boom.
There's one constituency whose voice is missing and sorely needed in that debate: industrial workers and their unions. A new report from the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 6 titled “Organize, Industrialize, Decarbonize: A Pro-Worker, Green Industrial Policy for California” takes up the challenge, providing a compelling example of how labor can weigh in on the reindustrialization conversation.
The report presents a vision for how the state can deploy a range of industrial policy tools to expand clean energy industries like offshore wind, electric vehicle batteries, and heat pumps. The same strategies would ensure that jobs created in this build-out become high-quality union careers. It’s precisely the kind of forward-thinking approach labor needs to take on industrial policy.
Trump’s return to office has effectively killed the momentum behind pro-labor clean energy investment that built up under Biden. Even while the current administration has expressed support for nuclear and geothermal development, its lack of appetite for competent state capacity throws serious doubt on its ability to follow through on a build-out.
In this bleak federal context, states can partner with trade unions to lead on industrial policies that show how a clean energy transition can create good jobs. The more progress is made on forming these coalitions now, the better positioned they’ll be when a more favorable national political climate emerges.
The report presents a vision for how the state can deploy a range of industrial policy tools to expand clean energy industries like offshore wind, electric vehicle batteries, and heat pumps. The same strategies would ensure that jobs created in this build-out become high-quality union careers. It’s precisely the kind of forward-thinking approach labor needs to take on industrial policy.
Trump’s return to office has effectively killed the momentum behind pro-labor clean energy investment that built up under Biden. Even while the current administration has expressed support for nuclear and geothermal development, its lack of appetite for competent state capacity throws serious doubt on its ability to follow through on a build-out.
In this bleak federal context, states can partner with trade unions to lead on industrial policies that show how a clean energy transition can create good jobs. The more progress is made on forming these coalitions now, the better positioned they’ll be when a more favorable national political climate emerges.
Report (PDF)
Organize,
Industrialize,
Decarbonize!
A Pro-Worker, Green Industrial
Policy for California
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/660d87225fd47705e02f11bf/t/68ae1f79e596314eed46927a/1756241785971/Reg6_whitepaper_25-08-26-web%5B1%5D.pdf