VIDEO: Union Workers Protest at Outlets

MERRIMACK - Dennis Robertson stood along Industrial Drive, outside the main artery channeling a steady flow of traffic into the new Merrimack Premium Outlets, which officially opened to shoppers at 9 a.m.

He was flanked by about 40 fellow union members and a giant inflatable rat.

They weren't there to stop anyone. They weren't trying to disrupt the hoopla associated with the grand opening.

On behalf of Labors Local Union 668, which includes about 14 various building trades unions, Richardson said they were there to make a statement. The giant inflatable rat was the punctuation – signifying the Simon Malls, which Robertson said reneged on previous promises made by the national mall management company to hire local workers.

According to a flyer handed out by Richardson, workers from as many as 17 states were hired to complete the $100 million outlet mall, while many New Hampshire union workers, willing and able to work, remained unemployed.

Following an earlier protest by labor unions in May, 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."