Yesterday's Values, Tomorrow's Industry: Considering the Development and Evolution of a Local Wind Energy Manufacturing Cluster through a Relational Understanding of History

Brendan Davidson, Colorado State University; Randolph Macon College

This paper, part of a larger research project, considers the development and evolution of a local wind energy manufacturing cluster in Colorado, those associated with Vestas, from the mid-2000s up to today. It helps reveal the tensions and ambivalences that exist between trade unionists and “green industries” and the reasons for tensions in some settings. To do so, I elaborate how Vestas—a multinational wind energy company—made its decision to locate operations in Colorado and the consequent evolution of workplace social relations within and across Vestas locations and surrounding communities. The history I build relies on archival information from the state of Colorado and a series of semi-structured interviews with those knowledgeable about the case. In recounting this history, I help reveal that a dialectical tension exists between contemporary “green” workers in varied localities, past periods of labor militancy, and consequent institutional responses of the state. More specifically, this case reveals how “green” capitals, like other capitals, consciously leverage perceived attributes of the workforce that take on classist and racist dimensions in line with the theorization of Anibal Quijano (2000). Despite this outcome, I explain how more just eco-social relations might be realized that bring organized labor and environmental movements into alignment.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 115. Labor and Environment