By Ben Davis 

Voters expect companies to provide high-quality employment, support workers, and actively engage with the local community when investing in facilities connected to the clean economy. That’s what the BlueGreen Alliance (BGA) and Data for Progress found in a new nationwide survey. 

Voters think unionization is beneficial and they’re more likely to support clean energy projects that protect their workers’ right to organize. The poll found that American voters—across party lines—overwhelmingly want workers to have a voice in shaping their workplaces. A staggering 87% of voters—including majorities of Democrats (91%), Independents (84%), and Republicans (85%)—agree that workers should have a say in the projects they work on and the conditions they work under. This deep and bipartisan consensus extends to the role of unions in improving workplace standards, with strong majorities believing that unionizing helps secure better benefits (67%), wages (65%), worker safety (62%), schedules (61%), job security (59%), and overall worker satisfaction (55%).

Support for fair organizing conditions is just as widespread. Nearly two-thirds of voters (63%) back union neutrality agreements—commitments by companies to not engage in campaigns that discourage their workers from organizing a union—including 68% of Democrats, 64% of Independents, and 57% of Republicans. Voters overwhelmingly (63%) believe companies should be encouraged to sign these agreements to ensure workers have a free and fair chance to unionize, with just 25% siding with the argument that unions are burdensome. Similarly, project labor agreements—contracts between labor unions and employers that outline conditions of employment like wages and hiring practices—are backed by 73% of voters across party lines. Support for strong labor protections also extends to climate infrastructure projects, with a majority of voters (56%) saying they would be more likely to support a private company’s project if it agrees to union neutrality. Across industries and policies, voters consistently stand behind workers’ rights and fair labor practices.

More projects are breaking ground every day, thanks to the historic investments in clean energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure made under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act. Our country’s manufacturing renaissance need community support, and for that developers need unions.  

Although efforts made in the last few years to reinvest in U.S. manufacturing have started to yield progress, the nation is still recovering from a decline in domestic manufacturing driven by decades of offshoring, bad trade agreements, union busting, and poor industrial policy.  

But for the first time in more than a generation, domestic supply chains are growing again with the support of the federal government. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investments are rebuilding our infrastructure, revitalizing manufacturing, and building a clean economy that supports a livable climate. This historic wave of funding offers a hard-fought opportunity to help redress long-standing economic, racial, and environmental injustices by investing in communities that have endured decades of divestment.  

Seventy percent of the jobs that CHIPS, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act create will be available to workers without a bachelor’s degree. This unprecedented wave of federal funding is already creating good-paying jobs that provide family-sustaining wages, safe working conditions, and give workers the chance to have a meaningful say over their workplaces.   

As funding continues to flow to new projects, developers face the important task of crafting partnerships with workers and communities to ensure everyone experiences the economic benefits. Partnering with workers can facilitate project development, and this new polling from Data for Progress and BGA shows that communities are much more willing to lend support to a project that commits to empowering workers.  

Communities agree—investments in a clean economy should create good-paying jobs. As we fight to preserve these historic investments, developers should commit to supporting workers and uplifting impacted communities.