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Article

16 Aug 2024

Author:
Houston Chronicle

Exclusive: Texas clean energy jobs can be dirty business for a precarious workforce, new research shows

BHRRC Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark Briefing

As Texas’ solar energy industry booms, thousands of workers across the state roast in the pounding sun each day to hoist 50-pound solar panels into place, often with no breaks.

On especially hot days, the laborers start to drop.

“The sun is too strong, they collapse or feel sick and then the bosses kick them out for good,” said Francisco, a worker who has helped construct solar farms across Texas since 2019. 

...his experiences are echoed in the first major study surveying clean energy construction and manufacturing workers in the state ...

[...]

A field team surveyed 1,224 non-union workers in Texas’ solar or wind construction and manufacturing jobs about their labor conditions, then conducted in-depth interviews with some respondents. They found that nearly half of all the construction workers surveyed had gotten sick from the heat, and many had also been injured on the job. 

The survey also found disparities in pay and benefits between white laborers and workers of color. Respondents who answered the survey in Spanish rather than English were also much less likely to report benefits like health insurance and workers’ compensation, or to get breaks on the job. 

... Texas [is] the only state that does not require workers’ compensation coverage, where less than 2% of construction workers are unionized and the state government made national news in 2023 when it outlawed local rules that required water breaks for construction workers. 

[...]

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas lawmaker ... said the Inflation Reduction Act had already driven opportunity across the state’s renewable energy industries, which would allow officials to “use the power of the federal government to finally make sure that rules are enforced.”

“The government does have significant levers, we can pull back funding and we can pull back tax benefits,” [U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas lawmaker] said.

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