Building trades leaders back Pennsylvania’s new data center rules and name project labor agreements as the workforce standard
Data center PLAs have a new set of allies in Pennsylvania. In an Aug. 26 release from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office, the administration rounded up endorsements for its new data center rules from labor leaders who put project labor agreements at the center of responsible data center construction.
The Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, requirements took effect under Executive Order 2026-05, signed Aug. 18. The order directs state agencies to hold every data center proposal seeking a Commonwealth permit to GRID standards on energy affordability, community engagement, workforce and economic development, transparency and environmental protection. It also removes AI data center projects from the state’s permit fast track program and bars the use of nondisclosure agreements with developers.
Building trades tie data center PLAs to responsible development
North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey said responsible development means planning early for workforce needs and “establishing strong labor standards through project labor agreements,” along with local hiring and registered apprenticeship. He described the order as reasonable and measured, and said clear standards serve communities better than the blanket moratoriums other states have adopted.
Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, laid out his union’s five principles for data center construction. First on the list: build with a project labor agreement and a union workforce. The others covered community benefits, environmentally sound design, local hiring and a requirement that developers replace the power their facilities draw from the grid.
Environmental and consumer advocates, including EEN Action and Vote Solar, also backed the order while calling for lasting legislative action to follow.
What the endorsements mean for union carpenters
Pennsylvania’s GRID requirements put workforce standards on the same footing as energy and environmental rules in the state’s data center permitting process. As data center construction accelerates across the Eastern Atlantic States, the endorsements from NABTU and LiUNA put data center PLAs squarely in the conversation about how Pennsylvania’s next wave of projects gets built. For the 42,000 union carpenters across the region, that conversation is where the work begins.
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