New York, NY, September 15, 2022 – As part of its ongoing work to strengthen the US and Australia alliance, Scale Facilitation® has announced it will convene in NYC on October 14, 2022 leaders from some of the respective nations’ largest and most consequential labor unions, including the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF), part of the AFL-CIO.
Scale Facilitation® will host the event as part of its Australian Union “Listening and Learning Tour,” which will bring together leaders of Australian and US unions from sectors Scale Facilitation® is engaging with in both countries.
The tour will focus on manufacturing and research partner site visits related to the technologies Scale Facilitation® is in the process of bringing to Australia, including lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, and rare earth magnets. It will also include visits to Florida State University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Binghamton.
Since its inception in 1886, the AWU has been one of the most influential Unions in Australia’s political and industrial history, as well as being the largest. Mr. Ronnie Hayden, the AWU Lead Construction Organiser, as will Mr. Wayne Spence, President of PEF, which forms part of the AFL-CIO. More union leaders are expected to attend, and we will update this release accordingly.
“As Australia organizes quickly to adopt green technology manufacturing at scale, unions play an essential role in establishing industrial relations agreements, setting training and safety requirements, as well as playing an influential role in the direction of finance for the next generation of advanced and sustainable manufacturing,” says David A. Collard, CEO of Scale Facilitation®.
“It’s an honor to bring these legendary and powerful unions together. The experience and the mutual learnings from this convening will strengthen bi-lateral trade, technology, talent, and labor ties, which is essential in these times of geopolitical uncertainty. This effort is at the core of what Scale Facilitation® is all about.”
Known as Friend Shoring™, Scale Facilitation® excels in creating large-scale, advanced manufacturing and innovation partnerships between Australia and the U.S. (and soon with other nations). Recharge Industries™ is a recent example - a large-scale lithium-ion battery cell battery production facility coupled with a bilateral state-of-the-art research partnership.
Recharge Industries™ is a ‘Priority Project’ of the Australian Government and has successfully negotiated an industrial relations agreement with the Australian Workers Union. Scale Facilitation® facilitated numerous talent visas in both Australia and the U.S. to support the project and successfully secured intellectual property and technical know-how from the U.S. to enable a sister manufacturing facility to be established in Australia. The intellectual property portfolio is valued at over USD $500 million. Recharge Industries™ and Scale Facilitation® also played a major role in securing a competitive AUD $50 million funded research and development program in Australia.
Scale Facilitation® has several similar Friend Shoring™ projects underway involving large-scale critical industries such as semiconductors and rare-earth magnets that will see sister facilities of the U.S. primary facility established in Australia.
For the U.S. manufacturing and technology firms involved in Friend Shoring™, the Scale Facilitation® team has opened access to Australia’s abundant supply chain, including its critical minerals, along with providing alternative sources of capital, healthy union and workforce relations, government support and research partnerships.
More details about this event and the Listening and Learning Tour will be shared closer to the time of the event.
About Scale Facilitation®
In its simplest form, Scale Facilitation® is a company that creates companies. Experts in empowering innovation from an idea through to commercialization, Scale Facilitation® manages and has delivered several strategic projects between the United States of America and its long-term ally Australia, including Recharge Industries™.
About Recharge Industries™
Using world-leading artificial intelligence (AI) and multinational research partnerships, Recharge Industries™ is finding ways to make batteries better, safer, and longer lasting. Recharge Industries™ is powering the transmission to a low emissions future by creating battery research and advanced battery manufacturing capabilities on shore.
The Australian Worker’s Union (AWU) was established in 1886 and exists to protect the rights of its member who work in a diverse range of industries. With six branches across Australia and roughly 80,000 members, AWU is one of Australia’s largest and oldest trade unions.
The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) is one of the largest local white-collar unions in the United States, representing professional, scientific, and technical public employees in the State of New York. It is New York’s second-largest state-employee union.