Beech-Nut Awards Union Contracts
POSTED: April 24, 2008 LATHAM, NY — After questions were raised about the Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp.’s commitment to using local union labor at meetings Tuesday, the company announced it has awarded several contracts to union companies in New York state. Hero/Beech-Nut announced Wednesday more than $20 million worth of contracts to various companies for construction of its new 550,000-square-foot facility in the Florida Business Park. Of that amount, $17 million was awarded in contracts to union companies. In a news release, Beech-Nut Vice President of Business Development Edouard Feller said construction of the manufacturing and processing facility would create well-paying jobs in Montgomery County. The company hopes to finalize the agreements with contractors once the project receives all of the necessary approvals to begin construction, according to the news release. Beech-Nut spokesman Earl Wells said the construction would take up to two years to complete and employ about 400 highly skilled construction workers. Jack Rifenburg of Rifenburg Construction said the company would do excavation of the site and install some utilities. The Rifenburg contracting group has sites in North Carolina and another operation in Troy. The construction company Beech-Nut hired is the only unionized subsidiary of the company, Rifenburg said. Twenty-five to 30 workers will be employed at the Florida site from Rifenburg Construction alone. The contracts are contingent on permit approvals by Montgomery County agencies, including the Florida Town Planning Board. Beech-Nut also said it has tentative agreements with Rochester Structural Steel Fabrication of Rochester and Stonebridge Iron Workers of Gansevoort, Saratoga County. Both companies use unionized labor. “This is an open bidding process and everyone is being encouraged to submit,” Wells said. “We are asking local union companies to submit bids for work.” Feller echoed Wells’ statement in the news release. “It should be noted that this is just the start of the construction of the new Beech-Nut plant and that we are continuing to urge local companies to respond to the various bids that we will be issuing throughout the construction process,” Feller stated in the press release. “This facility and its employees are union employees,” Wells said. “They’ve been union for many years and it will continue that way in Florida.” Beech-Nut’s final environmental impact statement was accepted by the town Planning Board on Tuesday. The company is now waiting for a 10-day additional comment period to expire. Buckner Steel Erection of Graham, N.C., was given a $3 million tentative contract for steel work at the new site. Many local labor leaders who spoke at Tuesday night meetings of the Florida Planning Board and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors said they had a problem with the first contract awarded going to an out-of-state non-union company. Wells said Buckner received the contract because of an excellent track record with safety and finishing projects on time. He said Buckner presented the best bid for the type of work needed. “All the companies had outstanding records in these areas,” Wells said. “They all have extensive experience with this kind of work as well.” Hero/Beech-Nut officials had hoped to break ground at the new site in late March or early April. Feller said in an interview in February the company needed to break ground by this spring in order to have the site enclosed by December. This would allow workers to continue finishing the inside of the building and have the facility up and running by late 2009. Beech-Nut is planning to move 350 workers from Canajoharie and 15 from Fort Plain. Those sites will close. About 135 new jobs are proposed in the plan as well.
