March 26, 2009 'Local' is focus in AMD project Lawmakers fearful out of state laborers may take workload
By DREW KERR
dkerr@poststar.com
Updated: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 9:20 AM EDT
MALTA - State Sen. Roy McDonald doesn't want to see a cornucopia of out-of-state license plates parked at the Luther Forest Technology Campus.
And he isn't alone.
The Republican from Saratoga is one of several state lawmakers and union leaders who say they fear the GlobalFoundries computer chip factory slated for the Malta tech park could be built by workers from outside the area.
Such a prospect, McDonald and others say, is disconcerting, given the state's offer of a $1.2 billion incentive package for GlobalFoundries to build in Saratoga County. Millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades and a local sales tax exemption worth up to $28 million have also been used to lure the company to the region.
Those investments, McDonald said, make the GlobalFoundries factory akin to a public works project.
"It's nice that people from South Carolina say they'll travel here and work here, but they're not the ones who are paying the taxes that helped bring this project here," he said this week from Albany. "The public does not want to see all this money being spent and all of these people from out of state reaping the rewards.
"We can't depend on the trickle-down effect. We've got to put in a couple of dams and say, 'This is how it's going to flow.' "
On Tuesday, though, GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard said the company expects to use local laborers for at least 70 percent of the work needed to build the chip factory, also called a "fab." The $4.2 billion project is expected to require as many as 1,900 construction workers over the next two years.
"We fully expect, just because of the sheer size of this project, that we will require a huge majority of unionized labor," Bullard said.
Some specialized workers will likely be brought in to complete the more technical aspects of the factory, he said.
The company is resisting calls to enter a formal project labor agreement that would specify labor conditions and wages, however.
The state Senate's Labor Committee took issue with the lack of such an agreement in a letter last week to Gov. David Paterson.
In their letter, lawmakers on the committee pointed to a loss of nearly 20,400 construction jobs statewide over the past year, creating an "abundance" of trade workers who are "ready, eager and in need of work."
They urged the governor to get a commitment from the company to hire local and pay the prevailing wage.
"The frustration and bad faith experienced by the local building trades on this project has left them, understandably, with a sense of injustice," the letter stated.
The governor's office said in a brief statement this week only that conversations are ongoing and that the governor believes "this important issue can be resolved."
Bullard also said conversations with local union representatives and state officials have not been combative or confrontational, and that an accord would likely be met soon.
While the state is a "large stakeholder" in the project, he said, the company is also channeling significant capital into the $4.2 billion project and should be given some flexibility in its hiring strategy.
"At the end of the day, this is a commercial project," Bullard said.
Bob Mantello, the president of the Greater Capital Region Building Trades Council, declined to comment on the issue when reached by phone.
"We're not going to negotiate in the newspaper, so there really is nothing that I can comment on," he said.
Larry Bulman, the business manager for the Local 773 Plumbers and Steamfitters union in South Glens Falls, said he was not involved with the negotiations.
GlobalFoundries has received a soil disturbance permit from the town of Malta and hopes to begin clearing the 220-acre construction site in early April. Groundbreaking could occur sometime this summer.
The land at Luther Forest still has not been purchased, and a formal commitment to the project has not been made.
Bullard said it was important the labor issues be resolved swiftly in order to keep with the company's projected timeline.
"It is critical that we complete this project on schedule and within budget," he said. "Any startup delays could put this project at risk."
