The renewables industry has to unionise and offer better conditions to its workforce, Labour energy and international trade shadow secretary Barry Gardiner said today.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference, Gardiner said: “There is a problem with the renewables industry – it is not unionised, and if is really going to get things together it needs to be”.

He pointed out that a transforming energy sector offered many jobs, from insulation to offshore wind, and in the case of areas like microgeneration or rethinking the grid, they were highly skilled roles. But he said that if the industry wanted to bring people onside, it had to offer “decent rates of pay, protection in the workplace, [so they are] not vulnerable to being laid off at the whim of employers”.

He said renewable energy companies in the UK need to get “properly involved with unions”, noting that  EDF Energy had built up a working relationship with unions over Hinkley Point C that was “the best in 15 years”.

Gardiner said “If the renewables industry wants to be serious… it needs to talk to its workforce about getting into partnership”.

Regulatory barriers

Gardiner also sent out a call to local and community energy organisers to provide information on regulatory barriers that are holding back local energy projects.

“I need to understand what regulatory barriers there are at government level. You are coming up against barriers. If I know what they are I can develop policy to get rid of them” he told local energy representatives.