When the coal and oil industries were becoming historically important, we were at a point of much stronger union density. Unions could negotiate strong contracts for oil refineries, for instance, which still have well-paid union jobs. In the coal industry, the bosses have tried to break up a lot of the unions and have succeeded, and there is still a core of strong union jobs that are being killed off, in no small part by the bosses.<\/p>\n
But the solar and wind industries are much more recent. The recent growth and importance of these industries has come along in a period of historic weakness for labor. And that’s beneficial in no small part for solar and wind companies, who would much rather have nonunionized workforces and pay bad wages. Even in unionized parts of the renewable sector, wind tends to have more union contracts than solar.<\/p>\n