An agreement in Illinois between 17 labor unions, government officials, and a private company would ensure that unions would have first pick of the approximately 620 jobs involved in Morgan County?s carbon-dioxide storage facility. The facility is estimated to cost about $1.6 billion, of which the federal government has promised to contribute about $1 billion, with FutureGen, the company designing and overseeing the construction of the facility, and other private sources paying for the rest. The CEO of FutureGen said that this project ?can?t be accomplished without union support?, at the ceremony celebrating the agreement. The agreement includes clauses preventing lockouts and strikes and places the responsibility of finding and credentialing new hires for the project on the unions.
See "Agreement gives labor unions first preference for FutureGen jobs", Tim Landis, The State Journal-Register, April 14, 2014