While Amazon has pledged to create 800 jobs at its new 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Findlay, a top local union leader is ripping the company for using out-of-state labor to build the complex.
Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council, said Thursday the majority of the workers at the site are from out of state, including an electrical contractor from Georgia and a steel and iron contractor from Alabama. They are also nonunion, he maintained.
But Amazon, in a statement, pushed back against such claims, saying there are Pennsylvania contractors on the job. And the developer doing the construction said there was no effort to exclude local or state workers.
In an interview, Mr. Kelly called the decision to bring in the out-of-state help “a black eye on what Amazon is trying to do.”
“If you want to come here and do business, you sit at the table with us. You don’t make a big announcement promising a bunch of new jobs in Pennsylvania, then show up with cheaper labor from out of state,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement.
Amazon broke ground on the $30 million “fulfillment center” in July promising that when it’s built the facility will employ 800 full-time workers at a starting wage of $15 an hour. The building is being constructed by the Hillwood Group.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Gov. Tom Wolf have attempted to intervene to make the e-commerce giant “do the right thing,” Mr. Kelly said, but to no avail so far.
Amie Downs, spokeswoman for Mr. Fitzgerald, said he “believes there have been missteps, but that the parties can move forward positively from here.”
Despite Mr. Kelly’s complaints, there is no indication that Amazon or the developer involved specifically promised to hire local labor in the construction of the facility.
In a statement, Mr. Kelly said labor council officials will continue “to seek constructive conversations with Amazon going forward and continue to encourage them to act in a way that benefits Pennsylvania workers.”
Amazon said in a statement, however, that Hillwood has eight local subcontractors from Pennsylvania and Ohio under contract, including both union and nonunion workers, and that union and nonunion subcontractors were given an opportunity to bid on the project.
“Awarding of the work is an on-going process and is expected to continue for several more months,” the company said in the statement.
Gary Frederick, a Hillwood senior vice president, said the company acted in good faith in doing the hiring and that there was “no effort to exclude or work around” local trade unions or in-state firms. All of the work was competitively bid, he said.
Those working at the site now are not representative of the whole picture, he added, noting that there will be more contractors and workers arriving as the construction progresses. He said both in-state and out-of-state firms are represented on the job.
The huge size of the project, at 1 million square feet, is unusual for the Pittsburgh region, he said. That might have given some out-of-state contractors accustomed to such contracts an edge over local ones in the bidding, he explained.
As part of the fulfillment center project, Amazon will get $1.6 million in job creation tax credits from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Those credits, which offset state taxes, will come only after the full-time jobs are in place, according to the state.
First Published: November 22, 2019, 11:30 a.m.
Updated: November 22, 2019, 11:30 a.m.