Local 49 submitted a letter to the regulatory agency in charge of permitting a proposed Northern Natural Gas project in Minnesota. Local 49 Business Manager Jason George issued the following statement:
“No one has supported the oil and gas industry and the jobs they create more than Local 49. We talk a lot about how they do it right, by using local skilled union labor to build their projects safely and are a real benefit to our communities. Northern Natural Gas must not have gotten the memo. At a time when the oil and gas industry is under attack from every direction, we are the only ones that consistently stand with them in making the argument that these natural resources are needed, and that the skilled union jobs they create are important. We cannot continue to support this industry if they are going to start to cut corners by hiring low skill, low wage, non-union contractors from Texas to build projects in our backyard.
We are going to be extremely active in all regulatory bodies in our jurisdiction in all industries to raise this important point: If you are going to move your energy resources through our region, if our communities are going to support these projects, then we will demand that these projects are built safely by the best local skilled union construction workforce in the country, and that the workers benefit. Period.”
