St. Paul (June 21, 2021) - On behalf of more than 70,000 union construction professionals, the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council supports passage of the full Skilled and Safe Workforce bill during this special session. A proposal to settle for a study will tell us what we already know – that oil refineries are the highest hazard facilities in the state and need to be staffed with the mostly highly ... View Article

The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council announced that President Harry Melander is retiring, and the Council Executive Board has elected Joe Fowler, Business Manager of LiUNA Local 563 as President. “Harry has dedicated his career to the labor movement and to the union construction professionals of Minnesota,” said Craig Olson, Secretary Treasurer of the Building Trades. “His passion has been growing the union construction ... View Article

Ashlyn Curtis gathers her hammer and power tools and secures her harness. Altogether, Curtis suits up with almost 20 lbs. of equipment on her body before she looks up and begins to climb. Her goal: to reach the top of a 300 ft. vertical wind turbine located in the farming country of southwestern Minnesota and repair the power cell on top. The turbine is one of dozens that comprise a wind farm, one of the many wind farms that are being built ... View Article

By MIke Ganz, President of the Central Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Union - Across our state and even here in Central Minnesota, we are seeing a transition from legacy energy, such as coal power, to clean energy, such as wind, solar and someday, hydrogen power. As momentum builds for clean energy in our region, I think it’s important for us to understand that someone has to build, maintain and upgrade not only the new clean ... View Article

By Nate O’Reilly, President, Southeastern Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council - All around Rochester and throughout Southeastern Minnesota, the transition to Minnesota’s energy future is on full display – gigantic wind turbines towering over the horizon, utility-scale solar farms soaking up the sun, and electric vehicle charging stations starting to appear at local service stations. As the momentum accelerates toward ... View Article

Elgin, Minnesota — Nick Schneider, a laborer out of Local 405 in southeastern Minnesota, says more Minnesotans should consider the benefits of wind energy -- for both their source of electrical power and their future career plans. Schneider’s seen enough wind turbine sites and builds across Minnesota and the greater Midwest region to advocate for the benefits they bring to communities and professionals in the construction ... View Article

Each year, Earth Day (April 22, 2021) reminds people all over the world about the value and importance of caring for our planet and taking action to protect it. As Minnesota transitions to a clean energy future, someone has to build and maintain Minnesota’s energy infrastructure – the wind farms, solar farms, carbon capture systems, hydrogen power plants, and natural gas power plants that will be part of that cleaner energy future. Those ... View Article

April 16, 2021 (St. Paul, MN) – The Minnesota Building Trades issued this statement following the National Guard leaving the St. Paul Labor Center Building on Wednesday evening. “The National Guard was called to duty by Governor Tim Walz to keep our communities safe, following civil unrest after the death of Daunte Wright. Leaders of the St. Paul Labor Center offered its building as a place of rest and preparation as the Guard ... View Article

When Rosey Grab decided to make a mid-life career-changing decision to become an operating engineer, the last place she envisioned herself would be helping to build one of Minnesota’s newest wind farms.   Grab is among the thousands of union construction workers throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest who are building Minnesota’s next generation of energy infrastructure – wind farms, solar farms, utility-scale battery storage and ... View Article