We Have the Power to Turn Manufacturing Investments Into Good Jobs in the South

During the Biden administration, new manufacturing investments — particularly in clean energy sectors — began to pour into the South. Although money has slowed under President Trump, new projects continue to be announced. 

In January, Meta and Corning announced a $6 billion agreement to expand manufacturing across North Carolina to support the rapid buildout of data centers. In March, Create Energy, which is focused on renewable energy infrastructure, announced an expansion in Middle Tennessee.

Business leaders and politicians have claimed that these kinds of manufacturing investments will “create quality jobs” and “drive economic prosperity” across the region. But if the past is any guide, most Southerners are unlikely to reap the rewards. 

That’s because a long-standing failed Southern economic development model — characterized by low taxes, low wages, and large public subsidies — has championed corporate profits over communities. This is by design — the model is rooted in racism and economic exploitation to benefit the few at the expense of the many.  

As a labor leader in the South, I can speak directly to the ways in which corporations and the politicians they fund have worked to obstruct workers’ ability to join together in unions and build power to change our communities. The same kind of fervently anti-working-people agenda we see now from the Trump administration has been our reality in the South for generations. 

The good news is we have the power to change that. Through community benefits agreements (CBAs), labor-community coalitions can negotiate contracts with private developers to ensure these new manufacturing investments provide good jobs with strong labor standards, environmental protections, and other community priorities. And better yet, these legally enforceable agreements don’t require any government action. 

A recent report from the Economic Policy Institute provides important insights into how CBAs can ensure that Southern manufacturing growth yields long-term shared prosperity for workers and communities.

For example, by securing employer commitments to respect workers’ rights, CBAs can remove obstacles to unionization and help workers win union contracts, which the report shows typically yield significantly improved pay, access to employer-paid health coverage, and paid sick days. The report also documents examples of how CBAs can enable communities to secure enforceable commitments to environmental protection and limits on pollution and energy use, even in contexts where these types of wins are difficult to achieve through policy change.

We’ve seen this model succeed here in Tennessee. In 2018, the labor-community coalition Stand Up Nashville negotiated a successful community benefits agreement (CBA) for the construction of a new professional soccer stadium.

The Nashville Soccer CBA included a $15.50 minimum wage for stadium workers — far higher than the $7.25 federal minimum wage — and a commitment to hire locally, particularly from higher-poverty areas. The coalition was also able to secure key community priorities, including affordable housing and the development of a child care center. Through organizing worker and community power, Stand Up Nashville was able to translate public investment into lasting economic gains for the region.

The wave of manufacturing investments in the South is an opportunity to replicate this success across the industry — and region. Organizing powerful labor-community campaigns to win community benefits agreements can fundamentally shift power away from corporations and billionaires and build and advance a real common-good agenda.

By forging the coalitions needed to secure community benefits agreements, we can build the power necessary to upend the failed Southern economic development model and create truly shared prosperity in the South.