Massive computer complexes mean big paydays for skilled labor.
Electrician apprentice Christopher Howsen, working at the Mass General Brigham hospital expansion in Boston, calls data-center projects a golden opportunity for skilled tradespeople.
For many residents of Western Massachusetts, a proposed massive data-center complex in Westfield looks like a nightmare. For Jeremy Dunn, it looks like a dream.
“It means an absolute astounding number of jobs,” said Dunn, business manager of Local 7 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the union that covers Westfield.
Michael Langone, business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 104 in Holyoke, is equally enthusiastic. “It would be an absolute game-changer,” he said. “This goes above and beyond any construction project we’ve ever seen in Western Massachusetts. This would be hundreds and hundreds, thousands of construction jobs.”
While critics worry that huge facilities will strain local water supplies and drive up electric bills, construction union leaders see high-paying work and a major chance to train the next generation of skilled tradespeople.
That is why Dunn spoke in favor of the $4 billion Servistar Realties data-center proposal at a recent Westfield City Council meeting. It is also why the IBEW and the United Association (a major plumbers union) have run letter-writing campaigns urging federal, state, and local officials to support data-center development. North America’s Building Trades Unions, an alliance of 14 major construction unions, has partnered with Microsoft and OpenAI to train workers specifically for AI data-center projects.
Politicians across the spectrum—from Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace—have called for moratoriums on data-center construction, reflecting bipartisan public opposition shown in polls. That leaves the unions as one of Big Tech’s strongest allies.
Unions do not always welcome new technology. The Teamsters have fought self-driving trucks, and SAG-AFTRA has pressed studios to limit AI use in entertainment. But building a data center is different: it can mean hundreds of high-paying jobs. And if AI eventually displaces many occupations, skilled tradespeople do not expect it to replace theirs anytime soon.
Robert Wilson, a Local 7 electrician with 39 years of experience and nearing retirement, wants to secure good jobs for newly licensed journeymen and apprentices. “This is a generational project,” he said of the Westfield proposal, “an opportunity to work on a long-term overtime project, [to] be able to save money for a down payment on their first home.”
He has people like Thomas Dagenais in mind. Dagenais, 28, a Marine reservist, got his journeyman’s license in April after years in landscaping and roofing. “I couldn’t seem to crack my way into like the stable-living blue-collar life,” he said. A softball teammate suggested the union. He entered the IBEW apprenticeship, spent five years learning the trade, and now helps rewire an elementary school in Holyoke.
Construction work is inherently temporary. “Anybody that works in construction basically is working themselves out of a job,” said Lou Antonellis, business manager of Boston’s IBEW Local 103. Big projects change that. Dagenais recalled tradespeople who worked three years on the MGM casino in Springfield and called the earnings “life-changing.” Some unlicensed apprentices bought homes in their early 20s.
A data center could offer similar scale. Servistar expects a decade-long build of 10 buildings, projecting 1,800 construction jobs for licensed electricians, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians—many earning six-figure wages.
The project’s size is also why opposition is intense; at full build-out it would be the largest data center in New England. Westfield City Councilor Kristen Mello supports good jobs but not at the cost of quality of life. “I think it is possible to invest in infrastructure, buildings, scientific laboratories, all kinds of things, including housing, without threatening our natural resources and our ability to live comfortably in our communities,” she said. “I would love for them to have all of those apprenticeships and opportunities for high-tech jobs in areas that do not threaten whether or not we can drink water or breathe air.”
Wilson notes that the same residents who oppose data centers have also blocked a gas-fired power plant, a Target distribution center, and a large battery storage facility. “Nobody wants anything built in their town,” he said. “Everything is a fight.”
The controversy led the Westfield City Council to impose a one-year moratorium on new data-center proposals beyond Servistar’s. Nationally, public backlash has been effective: Data Center Watch reported that at least 75 projects worth $130 billion were canceled in the first quarter of 2026 alone, largely due to local pressure. Lowell and Holyoke have also enacted moratoriums; Everett and Mansfield have set strict size limits.
Unions emphasize another benefit: data centers serve as ideal training grounds. Becoming an electrician, pipefitter, or HVAC technician requires classroom work plus a five-year apprenticeship under a journeyman. The pipeline needs a steady flow of large projects.
Christopher Howsen illustrates the appeal. A Stoughton resident with a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales, he once worked as executive chef at Boston’s Federal Reserve Bank and later in a nursing home. At 40, he switched to electrical contractor Sullivan & McLaughlin. Now 45 and in his final apprenticeship year, he is wiring a large new inpatient building at Mass General Brigham’s $2 billion Boston expansion, expected to finish in 2031. His 19-year-old daughter plans to enter the program this fall.
Demand is strong. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the economy needs 81,000 additional electricians each year to meet growth and replace an aging workforce; other skilled construction trades face similar shortages. Because training happens on the job, a continuous stream of projects is essential. One data center can create apprenticeship slots for hundreds of new workers.
Hospitals and hotels can do the same, but with U.S. developers currently spending more on data centers than on office buildings, trade unions see clear reason to keep the projects coming.