Unions throw weight behind gasline agreement, urge Senate to pass bill

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 13, 2026 – Alaska’s largest organized labor groups have formally lined up behind the Alaska LNG project, signing agreements with Glenfarne Alaska LNG and publicly urging the State Senate to pass legislation needed to keep the project on track before the June 19 deadline for the special session.

The move puts new pressure on Senate leadership, particularly Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Wielechowski, who have been among the most persistent roadblocks to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s efforts to advance the long-delayed gasline project.

At a rally in Anchorage on Saturday, Alaska AFL-CIO President Joelle Hall delivered a blunt message: Call your senators and tell them to pass the bill.

Hall’s appeal came just days after Glenfarne-AGDC subsidiary 8 Star Alaska signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alaska’s major building trades organizations, representing 18 unions and roughly 50,000 workers statewide. The agreement establishes a framework for future Project Labor Agreements governing construction of the Alaska LNG project and prioritizes Alaska workers for thousands of anticipated jobs.

The announcement marks one of the most significant demonstrations of labor support for a major Alaska energy project in years.

If completed, Alaska LNG is expected to create approximately 12,000 construction jobs and as many as 1,000 permanent operations positions. The project includes an 807-mile pipeline from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska and a liquefied natural gas export facility designed to serve both Alaska consumers and overseas markets.

The labor agreement covers future work associated with camp construction, logistics, gas treatment facilities, compressor stations, LNG export facilities, module installation, and related infrastructure. A separate agreement is being developed for pipeline construction trades.

Union leaders compared the opportunity to the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

“Alaska workers proudly recall the legacy of building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and are bringing that same enthusiasm to the construction of Alaska LNG,” said Alaska Petroleum Joint Crafts Council President Joey Merrick, whose wife serves in the Senate.

Bronson Frye, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Southcentral Alaska, said Alaska unions are uniquely positioned to meet the workforce demands of a project stretching more than 800 miles across some of the state’s most challenging terrain.

The labor support comes at a politically sensitive moment.

The Alaska House on Friday overwhelmingly approved legislation designed to improve the economics of the project by replacing certain construction-phase property taxes with a volumetric tax structure once gas begins flowing. The change removes a major obstacle for financing and strengthens Alaska’s competitiveness in global LNG markets. Five Democrats voted against it. but the rest of the House was united.

With only days remaining in the special session, the bill’s fate now rests with the Senate majority. Labor unions, which are a core constituency of many (if not all) majority members, are now publicly advocating for passage.

That leaves Senators Giessel and Wielechowski facing an increasingly uncomfortable question: Will they side with organized labor, which supports them and thousands of potential Alaska jobs, or continue resisting a project closely associated with Dunleavy’s Administration?

The project has moved beyond politics. Glenfarne, which owns 75% of the project, has signed commercial agreements with international customers, advanced engineering work, secured labor commitments, and continues negotiations to supply gas to Southcentral Alaska utilities.

The special session ends June 19. If the Senate fails to move the House bill before adjournment, supporters warn Alaska could once again miss a rare opportunity to advance a project that has been discussed for decades but never built.

For Alaska’s building trades, the message appears clear: The workers are ready. The question now is whether the Senate is.

Photo above: Saturday’s union rally for passage of the gasline legislation. Judy Patrick photo.