Premium Outlet Demonstrators Frustrated by Lack of Local Job Creation

Local building trades union workers spent the morning quietly demonstrating in front of the Merrimack Premium Outlets, standing near the entrance to the multi-million dollar shopping center with signs that say, "Simon Malls Built on Lies."

The group of about 20 builders, painters, brick layers, carpenters and more, have been out since at least 6 a.m. They are protesting what they say is Simon Property Group's lack of support of local union workers. They say they were promised job creation for New Hampshire tradesmen and women, but they say the majority of construction workers on site come from as many as 30 states including California, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas.

Some of the demonstrators, including Dan Franklin of Manchester, stood with placards around their necks with the names of non-local builders and contractors being used on the site in favor of local union workers.

Franklin is one of about 10 standing out there who have been laid off from the jobs they were doing at the mall site, and while there is still plenty of work to be done in these final two weeks until the mall is scheduled for its grand opening, that work is being done mostly by out of staters, they say.

Franklin said he worked on the site for two and a half to three months doing some framing and drywall and installation of interior fixtures before he was laid off last Monday, May 21.

Franklin was hired by Consolidated Contractors, a Pennsylvania company that brought in a lot of their builders from out of state and then hired some additional local help.

"There are a lot of out of state companies who bring in out-of-state guys," Franklin said.

He said he came out to the demonstration in support of the local unions because he thinks Simon should be honoring its word that local jobs would be created.

As a car drove by beeping and giving a thumbs up, Franklin said they'd seen a lot of support throughout the morning, but they'd seen a good deal of negativity, too, in people flipping them off as they drove by.

The demonstrators handed out flyers (pictured above) to people who would take them as they drove into the construction site.

"SIMON SAYS ... LIE!" the flyer reads in big letters.

As Liz Skidmore, with the Local 118 carpenters' union, explained, the New Hampshire unions gave the property developers a lot of support during the approval process for the mall, and the developers promised good jobs with responsible contractors in return.

What they've seen more and more, she said, is non-local contractors using non-union employees who she and Union president John Jackson say are not covered by workers' comp insurance.

The developer saves approximately 30 percent on hiring workers who aren't covered by workers' comp because they aren't required to pay into the workers' comp fund for those people, Jackson said.

"It's their cheaters premium," Skidmore said.

According to the mall's fiscal numbers as of December 2011 , Simon Property Group had more than $4.3 billion in sales last year, netting more than a billion dollars of profit and the company grew by almost 9 percent in 2011. This mall is costing about $100 million to build and will be home to more than 100 high end and designer retailers, like its other outlet centers.

By those numbers, Skidmore asked, "Really? They can't make sure people have worker's comp?"

"When Simon Property Group started construction in 2010, they broke their promises to the community," the flyer the group was handing out says. "Instead of hiring local, responsible contractors, they hired out-of-state contractors who brought out-of-state workers, a number of whom are illegally misclassified as independent contractors, aren't covered by worker's comp and are being exploited with bottom-feeding wages."

Skidmore said the union has repeatedly asked Simon to provide them with detailed information the tenants on site in order to get information about the work being done up there, but their requests have been ignored.

Jackson said from their own investigation, they know concrete was poured by a Massachusetts company with workers from Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the initial site work was also by Massachusetts contractors.

"When you bring in workers from out of state, without worker's'comp insurance, you can't beat that," Jackson said, in terms of cost.

Jackson said the reason they were out there today, just two weeks before the mall opens, rather than earlier in the process, is because they thought Simon "would live up to its promise."

"It became clear after the last week or two weeks that they weren't going to live up to that promise," Jackson said. "We've got guys up there there from Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and all that and they are up their working today, while these guys from around here, have been laid off."

Skidmore said, if nothing else, they were out there trying to bring to light their frustrations in an effort to drive more local jobs as fit out work continues on the property.

There's also a second phase to the mall that will require more building trades jobs and Skidmore and Jackson said they want to see those jobs go to more local, unionized builders.

For Bill Legrand, who was there representing the local painters union, it was an email from Mark Kroeger, the assistant project manager that made him upset.

He provided Patch a copy of the email that includes a paragraph of text that was supposed to be sent to the tenants of the mall regarding use of local labor unions.

The email, signed by Kroeger, sent to Local 490 says:

"Below is the language that we are going to be sending out to all tenants reinforcing that union labor needs to be used. We again appreciate all the cooperation you have given us and hope to continues to work together. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Please be reminded that you are required to use union labor in the construction of your store at MPO. We recognize that certain trade services may not have a union labor option and those are the only circumstances under which non-union labor will be permitted. You are directed to the handbook for a list of union labor trade services available in the area of the Merrimack Premium Outlets. All tenants at Merrimack Premium Outlets are required to tak no action which would create a work stoppage, picketing, labor disruption of dispute at the site. We look forward to working with each of you to ensure a smooth and uncomplicated build out for each store location.

"If I never got this letter, I wouldn't be angry," Legrand said.

Merrimack Patch submitted a handful of questions to be answered by MPO management, responding to the assertions made by the demonstrators. A response to those questions came in the form of a one-paragraph statement submitted through Kortenhaus, their public relations firm:

"We have cooperated with the unions from the beginning of the project. The project was always planned as a publicly bid open shop," Merrimack Premium Outlets Management said. "Unions have had the opportunity to bid on all work. The process resulted in about 50 percent of the labor being union. We are pleased that Merrimack Premium Outlets has already brought many new jobs to the area and we look forward to our opening which will employ hundreds of area residents in new retail jobs."

No further comment will be made at this time, a representative from the Boston-based PR firm wrote in the emailed statement.

Jackson said the demonstration will continue tomorrow and maybe further than that.

Skidmore added that they may be out there the weekend of the grand opening.