Powering the AI Revolution: Chris Madello & Jim Snell on Data Centers, Skilled Labor & America’s Future

And Jimmy, you kind of lead me into the next question when I say wives are, you know, why are the data centers and the technology so important to the UA, right? And we talk about jobs, but also why is the UA so important to the end user, the individuals, the owners that are building these data centers and the impact on both.

And so having said that, Chris, jump on that if you would.

Yeah, I mean, well, obviously, and like Jimmy said, I mean, we're experts in a lot of things, but most importantly, we're experts as union reps, you know, not just our members are experts in installing service and maintaining and operating the systems, but we're experts in job creation for our members to make sure that them and their families are taken care of and provided for and they can have a long career.

but we're also as experts and we're not just looking at the industry for our current members we're experts in creating career pathways and opportunities for members you know young men and women that live in these communities to have a long-term career make earning a good wage and great benefits and we're also experts in trying to provide better opportunities for people that are already working in the industry so that's what we look at so There's a couple ways, you know, in your question, you had like sounds like a few different topics we could touch on.

And, you know, from a UA perspective, and I'm sure Jimmy can relate to this and offer some conversation about this as well.

You know, we're looking across the country at, you know, trillions of dollars worth of work, right? Trillions of dollars worth of work.

And this could mean if all of these projects move forward, which we hope that they do, sometimes at a little bit of a slower pace, but we're working on all of that, right? And, you know, we hope that all these projects move forward.

But, you know, we could be north of $4 trillion over the next five to seven years and just data center development alone.

For us, for the UA, you know, we have a little over 400,000 members right now.

And, you know, that can mean several hundred thousand jobs during that period of time.

What that says to us is it gives us the opportunity to, like Jimmy said, to not only have jobs for our current members, so they could take care of themselves and those families, but it creates a ton of opportunities for other people, young men and women, people that maybe are working in the industry that aren't represented by a union.

But other young men and women that don't have a career path right now that will have a great career path, earning six figures and getting phenomenal benefits.

It's a really great opportunity.

The other opportunity is, and it's kind of a pride thing, right? We all do it, you know, whether you're in Philadelphia or whether you're from the D.C.

area like me, you know, you drive around, you point at the buildings.

You know, my dad was a fitter, too.

He would point at the buildings and be like, hey, I worked on that building there.

I built that building like so.

There is also the opportunity for us to really take, once again, take a huge part in what's the latest advancement in technology and maybe probably the biggest construction boom in the history of the country because you know right behind these data center projects is going to be probably the biggest uh power generation boom that we've ever seen as well so um you know data centers are you know extremely important important infrastructure right um and we could talk about you know how they're getting a bad rap but they're it's an extremely part of our our nation and our world's infrastructure that needs to be built service maintained and operated it needs to expand because we're using it more and more every day and it is really cool to be able to take part of such a big part in building that the future of our world in many ways.

So I can tell you, you

And Jimmy, you kind of lead me into the next question when I say wives are, you know, why are the data centers and the technology so important to the UA, right? And we talk about jobs, but also why is the UA so important to the end user, the individuals, the owners that are building these data centers and the impact on both.

And so having said that, Chris, jump on that if you would.

Yeah, I mean, well, obviously, and like Jimmy said, I mean, we're experts in a lot of things, but most importantly, we're experts as union reps, you know, not just our members are experts in installing service and maintaining and operating the systems, but we're experts in job creation for our members to make sure that them and their families are taken care of and provided for and they can have a long career.

but we're also as experts and we're not just looking at the industry for our current members we're experts in creating career pathways and opportunities for members you know young men and women that live in these communities to have a long-term career make earning a good wage and great benefits and we're also experts in trying to provide better opportunities for people that are already working in the industry so that's what we look at so There's a couple ways, you know, in your question, you had like sounds like a few different topics we could touch on.

And, you know, from a UA perspective, and I'm sure Jimmy can relate to this and offer some conversation about this as well.

You know, we're looking across the country at, you know, trillions of dollars worth of work, right? Trillions of dollars worth of work.

And this could mean if all of these projects move forward, which we hope that they do, sometimes at a little bit of a slower pace, but we're working on all of that, right? And, you know, we hope that all these projects move forward.

But, you know, we could be north of $4 trillion over the next five to seven years and just data center development alone.

For us, for the UA, you know, we have a little over 400,000 members right now.

And, you know, that can mean several hundred thousand jobs during that period of time.

What that says to us is it gives us the opportunity to, like Jimmy said, to not only have jobs for our current members, so they could take care of themselves and those families, but it creates a ton of opportunities for other people, young men and women, people that maybe are working in the industry that aren't represented by a union.

But other young men and women that don't have a career path right now that will have a great career path, earning six figures and getting phenomenal benefits.

It's a really great opportunity.

The other opportunity is, and it's kind of a pride thing, right? We all do it, you know, whether you're in Philadelphia or whether you're from the D.C.

area like me, you know, you drive around, you point at the buildings.

You know, my dad was a fitter, too.

He would point at the buildings and be like, hey, I worked on that building there.

I built that building like so.

There is also the opportunity for us to really take, once again, take a huge part in what's the latest advancement in technology and maybe probably the biggest construction boom in the history of the country because you know right behind these data center projects is going to be probably the biggest uh power generation boom that we've ever seen as well so um you know data centers are you know extremely important important infrastructure right um and we could talk about you know how they're getting a bad rap but they're it's an extremely part of our our nation and our world's infrastructure that needs to be built service maintained and operated it needs to expand because we're using it more and more every day and it is really cool to be able to take part of such a big part in building that the future of our world in many ways.

So I can tell you, you