North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey announced two major agreements with high-tech firms during the organization’s annual legislative conference.
Held April 19-22 at the Washington Hilton, the Annual NABTU Legislative Conference brings together leaders from the U.S. building trades to hear from elected officials and other speakers on a number of different political topics. Some International Unions also send delegates to Capitol Hill, where they speak with staff members or elected officials about topics important to their industry.
OpenAI Signs Project Labor Agreement for $7 Billion Stargate Project
During the conference, McGarvey told delegates that OpenAI signed a Project Labor Agreement with NABTU for its $16 billion Stargate project in Michigan, which is expected to create more than 2,500 jobs for members of the building trades.
The proposed artificial intelligence data center campus is located in Saline Township (Washtenaw County). Dubbed “The Barn,” the project is being built on 250 acres. The campus will consist of at least three 550,000-square-foot buildings.
Expanded Partnership With Microsoft
McGarvey also announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft to support a strong workforce pipeline and help workers across North America build the skills needed to succeed in an AI-powered economy.
The agreement will bring Microsoft-supported AI education to building trades instructors who train more than 300,000 apprentices nationwide, building on a partnership that has already trained 1,500 instructors from JATCs across the nation.
NABTU and Microsoft are now launching no-cost AI literacy courses and industry-recognized credentials to help make foundational AI skills accessible to millions of skilled craft professionals across North America.
“This means our JATC system — the strongest workforce pipeline in America — is preparing our members not just to build the infrastructure of the digital economy and the AI era, but to use the tools shaping its future,” McGarvey said. “Brothers and Sisters, this is huge.”
McGarvey framed the broader significance of both announcements.
“Big tech is learning fast. If you want to build it right in America, you need the highest-skilled workforce,” he said. “You need credibility, and you need community trust. You need a partner who delivers. That partner is us. We’re not nice to have — we’re essential. We’re the bridge between developers, utilities and communities. The building trades are not reacting to change. We’re shaping it.”
For affiliated members of the C/COBCTC, data center construction has meant significant work opportunities in the Central Ohio region.
According to C/COBCTC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager, about 40 percent of the work performed within the Council’s jurisdiction comes from data center construction and maintenance.
Over the past three years, the total work hours performed by all affiliated C/COBCTC members have roughly tripled, thanks in large part to the data center construction boom within the Council’s jurisdiction, he added.
Record Membership and Apprenticeship Growth
McGarvey also provided an update on the growth of the union construction industry.
“Last year, we added 47,000 new members and 88,000 new apprentices — on top of 100,000 new members and thousands more apprentices in ‘23 and ‘24,” he said. “Today, we have more than 300,000 men and women in our pipeline. That doesn’t happen by luck. It happens because demand is real.”
Progress on Suicide and Overdose Deaths
Next, McGarvey addressed suicide and overdose deaths in the construction industry.
“The latest data shows that overdose deaths in the construction industry dropped nearly 30 percent over one year, and suicides are declining too,” he said.
The drop is attributed to a range of factors, including naloxone, improved training, peer support and NABTU’s RESPECT program. McGarvey applauded the work of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Bechtel and CPWR, who launched a new partnership with NABTU to create suicide prevention training standards for the entire industry.
“With these shared standards, we are making it normal and expected to talk about mental health on every job site — and to break the stigma around asking for help,” he said. “Physical safety, mental health, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters going home to their kids at the end of the day. This is what caring for each other looks like. This is what unity and solidarity look like. This is what the building trades do.”
AFL-CIO President Shuler on AI and Data Centers
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler followed McGarvey to the podium and addressed AI, advanced technology and the building trades’ role in the digital economy.
“The building trades have always been on the front lines of technological change,” Shuler said. “We embrace technology that makes our jobs safer and better. We learn to use it proactively and harness its power.”
Shuler pushed back on calls to pause data center construction.
“Some people would say we should stop building data centers until we get guardrails on AI,” she said. “That’s like saying we should stop making steel, concrete or fiber optic cable until we have guardrails on AI. These are the infrastructure of our modern economy — in construction and far beyond. Data center moratoriums should not be used as tools to divide the working class. We can have good jobs and safe communities.”
Shuler also addressed the AFL-CIO’s Workers First AI Agenda, stressing the need to ensure technology benefits people and that the future is worker-centered and human-made. The agenda includes giving workers a voice in shaping technology in every workplace, ensuring AI training for workers, defending civil rights and protecting the right to organize.