Ocasio-Cortez slams Bright Power for firing unionised solar workers

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Image credit: Dimitri Rodriguez / Flickr

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called on New York City solar installer Bright Power to rehire workers fired after forming a union.

“Many have told me they think the pro-justice & worker provisions in the Green New Deal are ‘unnecessary,” Ocasio-Cortez, the sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution in the House, wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Yet this example is why a just transition is vital. Without it, oil barons turn into energy barons, & workers are hurt all the same. Bright Power must be held accountable.” 

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

According to a report in Vice, Bright Power’s installation crew voted to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union in April. They claimed that their firing was a result of unionising.

The Democratic Congresswoman for New York's 14th District, which includes parts of Bronx and Queens, also updated her website to include an online petition that demands that the solar installer rehire every union worker, and recognise their contract.

Last week, while in the middle of negotiations with the freshly-unionised workers' contracts, Bright Power fired its entire in-house construction crew and announced that those workers would be replaced with subcontractors.

Jeffrey Perlman, Bright Power CEO, said in a company email accessed by Vice: “We have come to the conclusion that our resources have been spread too thin with so many different kinds of work all being done in-house. It makes business sense to return to a fully subcontracted solar installation model.”

The altercation between Bright Power and its employees comes a month after a federal administrative judge found that Elon Musk’s outfit Tesla violated labour law on 12 different occasions when it tried to stop its workers from unionising.

One of those instances was a tweet by Musk that implied employees would lose their stock options if they voted in favour of a union.

The missive in question read: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.”

Workers’ rights are central to the Green New Deal, a framework that argues that the climate crisis and economic inequality can be addressed simultaneously. The resolution calls for a federal jobs guarantee, workforce retraining, the strengthening of collective bargaining rights, and retirement security.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

August 29, 2025
US-based climate insurance provider kWh Analytics has launched a new renewable energy insurance cover for extreme weather events.
August 29, 2025
US grid interconnection agreements grew by 33% in 2024, reaching 75GW, with three-quarters signed for solar PV and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, according to a new report from energy market analyst Wood Mackenzie.
Premium
August 29, 2025
PV Tech Premium hears from Renewable Properties and Silicon Ranch about the new 'start of construction' rules for US solar projects.
Premium
August 28, 2025
US solar companies could potentially pay “tens of billions” of dollars in retroactive duties on products imported from Southeast Asia between June 2022 and June 2024, following a decision from the US Court of International Trade (CIT).
August 28, 2025
Boviet Solar has completed exterior construction work on its 3GW PV cell manufacturing facility in Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina. 
August 27, 2025
The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, has signed a new legislation that seeks to build 3GW of new community solar by 2029.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines