MONTGOMERY COUNTY, N.Y. -- They came out by the truckful. Hundreds of local union members, joined by plenty of politicians, just hours before the town's planning board meet to discuss moving forward on the $124 million project.
At issue though is a $3 million contract Beech-Nut gave to a North Carolina contractor for construction on the facility. With millions of dollars in state incentives to keep the baby food maker in the Mohawk Valley, workers are wondering why they're not using local labor.
“When you're going to subsidize a company to the tune of a $100 million in local state tax money you would hope the work would be done by local groups,” said Ron Deutsch.
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“We went with the guy who was most qualified to do the job and agreed to our scheduled,” said Beech-Nut project manager, Jim Ivey.
A project manager says it's in Beech Nut's best interest to use local labor and this contract represents a small fraction of what's going to be spent.
“From our stand point we're doing the best we can,” Ivey said.
Beech Nut representatives wouldn't talk on camera, but a statement from the company says additional bids of close to $100 million will be issued in the coming weeks and they estimate the construction of the facility will create 400 jobs in the 18 months that it's expected to take.
The planning board delayed voting on giving the company the final okay to break ground until after another meeting later this month.