May 08, 2009 Labor deal said to be holding up Malta chip fab
By LARRY RULISON, Business writer
Last updated: 1:01 p.m., Friday, May 8, 2009
A spokesman for GlobalFoundries Inc. said this morning that the company won't proceed with its $4.2 billion computer chip factory project in Malta until it comes to a labor agreement with construction unions.
GlobalFoundries has been saying for weeks now that its deal to purchase 222 acres at the Luther Forest Technology Campus was just days away as the complex deed and other documents were finalized.
Once the deal closes, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is expected name the general contractor, award the first bid to clear the site, and send a letter to New York state officially accepting $650 million in grant money for the project.
However, company spokesman Travis Bullard said today in Pittsfield, Mass., that while the land deal has been worked out, the real estate closing and the awarding of contracts won't occur until a deal is worked out with the unions. That means it may be weeks, not days, until the land is acquired and site clearing begins.
Labor unions have been demanding project labor agreements be used at the site, because the project is getting state incentive money. PLAs are pacts between project owners and union and nonunion shops that govern wages and work rules on big construction sites.
