Today the Biden Administration announced that Micron plans to meet with the Communications Workers of America to discuss a labor peace agreement as part of $6.1 billion in federal funding from the CHIPS and Science Act to help the company build semiconductor plants in New York and Idaho. President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have set clear expectations that federal funds should be used to rebuild the middle class by revitalizing American manufacturing and creating good, union, jobs, and this is a major step toward that goal.
The Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) currently represents workers at one of the only union-represented chip factories in the country as well as at multiple semiconductor supply chain facilities.
“Once again, President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Schumer have made it clear that they stand with working people and understand that the best way to rebuild our middle class and our upstate New York communities is through union representation and a voice on the job,” said Dennis Trainor, Vice President of CWA District 1 in New York.
The proposed CHIPS funding will underwrite Micron’s plans to build the largest leading-edge memory fabrication semiconductor facility in the U.S. in Clay, NY. According to Micron, the megaproject will create around 50,000 jobs, including about 9,000 direct positions at its plants over the next thirty years.
Majority Leader Schumer, who championed the visionary CHIPS and Science Act, recently spoke about the bill on the Senate floor, noting that “Democrats are delivering in a big way on our promise to bring manufacturing back to the United States.”
“With Micron set to receive over $6 billion in federal funds, the Biden Administration and Senator Schumer want to ensure that workers will be recognized as equal partners in the company’s success,” said IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew. “We are looking forward to sitting down with Micron’s management to negotiate a labor peace agreement that fulfills the promise of this funding to create good jobs in this critical sector of our economy.”
“The passage of the CHIPS Act marked a historic investment in American manufacturing, and today’s announcement fulfills the President’s vision of growing our economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. “Our discussions with Micron will be focused on negotiating a written agreement that gives workers a clear and fair path to union representation and bargaining a first contract.”
IUE-CWA has been at the forefront of the movement to ensure good jobs are at the heart of chip manufacturing and is a member of CHIPS Communities United (CCU), a new coalition of labor unions, environmental organizations, and community groups organizing for the responsible and equitable implementation of the CHIPS Act. In November 2023, the union announced an agreement with a semiconductor company, Akash Systems, in Oakland, California that covered both construction and production workers. The agreement included an historic first-in-the-industry labor peace agreement for semiconductor production workers at a new $432 million Akash Systems factory set for construction.
