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The Good Jobs & Equitable Jobs Access Working Group hosted a town hall panel Tuesday night to discuss Micron Technology’s future in central New York. The panel was a collaboration with the Urban Jobs Task Force of Syracuse, the Greater Syracuse Central Labor Council and other local groups.

During the panel, organizations outlined their requests of Micron ahead of its arrival in nearby Clay, including hopes for local residents to receive equitable access and up-front communication. Micron is investing $100 billion into its new, 1,400-acre semiconductor facility in Clay that’s expected to bring 40,000 jobs in the region.

Other requests included granting workers’ rights to organize unions without employer opposition, providing sustainable wages for families, safe working conditions, equitable hiring and employment practices, transparency about job statuses and increased accessible transportation.

Mable Wilson, an attendee and current community liaison for the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance, spoke about Syracuse’s housing crisis during the panel.

Wilson said the problem of abandoned housing in the Southside neighborhood of Syracuse should be a focus for local officials as well as Micron. She also emphasized the importance of creating jobs for young, marginalized communities inside the building rather than outside of it, referencing her time as a flagger, or construction zone traffic controller, with the Interstate-81 Viaduct Project.

Andre Johnson, president of the Central New York Chapter Coalition Black Trade Unionists, discussed a pattern of companies coming to Syracuse with the potential to bring high-paying jobs and projects to the community, but not following through on hiring from inner-city communities.

“Who’s doing the background check to make sure (the workers) are indeed from the Syracuse area? We have people who are taking courses through EOC for different labor jobs and trades, but when it comes to the I-81 project, they’re flaggers,” Johnson said.

Johnson also emphasized his organization’s aim to bring good-paying union jobs into the area.
While Micron’s new semiconductor fabrication plant is not set to begin construction until 2025, the company has already secured federal and state subsidies for the project.

Jobs to Move America aims to create good jobs and healthy communities across the United States by combining research and policy advocacy to take control of public dollars, according to its website. Khadeejah Ahmad, the Syracuse organizer for Jobs to Move America, said the organization’s goal is to build its efforts into a community benefits agreement, to be co-signed by Micron if accepted.

Mark Spadafore, president of the Greater Syracuse Labor Council, also spoke at the panel. Spadafore said CNY communities, specifically Syracuse, have been “over-promised and under-delivered” for years.

Tylah Worrell, executive director for Urban Jobs Task Force of Syracuse, said that while Micron needs to continue its commitments, it’s up to the people to prove to Micron that they want the promises to be delivered upon for their community on a local and regional level.

Spadafore brought up the importance of the Green CHIPs Act and the provisions within it, including a requirement for companies to meet with unions to discuss a labor peace agreement.

To build accountability, Worrell said Micron’s project data and metrics must be public information. The community needs to be engaged throughout the entire process, Worrell said.

“We need folks like you to come down to our young people and hear them and represent them. They think nobody cares, but I care, and then other community members care, and other allies out here care too,” Wilson said.

Published on October 2, 2024 at 1:44 am

Contact Madeline: mmgoodhe@syr.edu