CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Local labor unions say they are concerned about recent investments in AI data centers.
The unions, organizing as Jobs with Justice East Tennessee, say they are against tax incentives for large technology companies such as Oracle.
Recently according to a report from Forbes, Oracle laid off 30,000 workers globally at the beginning of this month.
Jobs with Justice says in the wake of those layoffs, they believe over $300 million in tax incentives by the state of Tennessee will not lead to widespread job creation.
In particular, they point to the recent approval of Jailhouse Studios, which will feature an Oracle data center, as a concern for the future Chattanooga job market.
They also state they are concerned about two other potential data centers that could go up in parts of downtown Chattanooga.
Katie C., a local entertainer, said, “Hamilton County and Chattanooga residents should be concerned and they should know what is going on in their city, in their backyard. Especially for those residents of downtown Chattanooga, they should be asking how is this going to affect local jobs and how is it going to affect our natural resources such as the water we get from the Tennessee River, and our electricity.”
Jimmy White, the CEO of Urban Story Ventures, previously told us that the data center inside of Jailhouse Studios will be small and only used to process the data of that building itself.
