--- title: "You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Centers" description: "Trade unions are increasingly siding with some of the most powerful billionaires on Earth against the wishes of their communities." date: "2026-05-07" modified: "2026-05-07" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/union-labor-data-center" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" --- # You’ll Never Guess Trade Unions’ Position on AI Data Centers ![A construction worker wearing a white hard hat and a black-and-gray checkered shirt stands with hands on hips, facing away. The worker has a tool belt with various tools around the waist. The background features a blue and red abstract design with grid lines overlaying it.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* Trade unions have a centuries-long history of squaring up against the might of industrial capitalists to fight for rights that workers now often take for granted, from the [eight-hour work day]() to the [federal minimum wage]() to [workplace safety laws](). If you were to imagine how unions are responding to the tech industry's massive push to build AI data centers across the country — an issue that's [currently uniting the grassroots left and right]() to an almost unprecedented degree in opposition — you might reasonably assume they're staunch foes of the projects. But in the topsy-turvy world of AI, where alliances often seem to contradict [traditional political categorization](), you'd be dead wrong. Instead, unions are playing a pivotal role in the tech industry's push to ram data centers through [local opposition](). According [to the *Associated Press*](), they've become a publicly visible force alongside pro-business Republicans and big tech corporations — two famously anti-labor cohorts, ironically. The core factor underscoring this contradictory stance is construction employment. When data center developers approach communities in search of land to erect their computational complexes, one of the main carrots they wave around are jobs, both temporary construction labor and permanent full-time labor. At this point, we know that data centers aren't a major source for quality, [full-time]() [jobs]() after they're built. They do require tons of contract construction gigs, however, which generates short-term work for building trades workers, and growth for their craft unions. "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,'" president of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council Rob Bair told the *AP*. In effect, these unions are abandoning their communities in favor of narrow self-interest — prioritizing immediate, short-term gains while ignoring the [material]() [harm]() data centers inflict on their communities. It's not a new phenomenon, but one which has become increasingly common as trade unions have [been defanged](). For example, the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of trade unions in the US, infamously supported the [US war on Vietnam]() for its stimulating effect on industry, siding with [conservative]() and [military industrial complex]() forces over the progressive anti-war movement. The real tragedy here isn't that unions have forgotten how to fight — but that increasingly, they seem to have forgotten who it is they're fighting for in the first place. **More on data centers:** *[A Tiny Town Is Building So Many Data Centers That There’ll Be Almost Nothing Else Left]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()