Fossil Fuel Infrastructure: Labor, Technology, and Expertise

• In Event: Power, Drivers, and Narratives in Sustainable Energy Transitions - II

Abstract

In this paper we combine science and technology studies research questions and findings with the sociology of labor and environmental sociology to better understand how labor unions and labor union members’ expertise might shape technology design and use, standards, or energy policy in the the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/New York region in the United States. These states are all part of the Marcellus Shale region, and each is host to a regional infrastructure that aims to extract, transport, and export fossil fuel. We focus in particular on five unions— North American Building Trades Union, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), Pipeliners Union, United Steelworkers Union (refinery workers), Steamfitters Union— that are involved directly with energy infrastructure. Drawing on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with labor union members, we discuss how labor union members make sense of their work, how and when they find that their expertise impacts technology design and standards, and when it does not. In all, we theorize that unions and union members are complex social actors who have varied and conflicting positions on energy issues, depending on their own political identities, their relationship to fossil fuel industries, and the cultural, political and historical factors that shape each union’s views and activities. By studying labor unions in particular contexts, we demonstrate how labor unions and their members are heterogeneous, as well as the roles labor unions can and do play in energy
 infrastructure.

Authors

• Kelly Joyce, Drexel University

• Diane Sicotte, Drexel University