Union workers protest Amtrak construction plan

East Lyme — About 80 people representing a variety of trade unions around the state are marching in Niantic today to protest Amtrak's decision to use an out-of-state company and potentially bypass local workers when replacing the Niantic River Bridge.

The union workers are marching at 13 Hope St., in the Burke's plaza, near a temporary satellite Amtrak office. The union representatives started marching a little before 7 a.m. and plan to protest again during the next couple of days, including potentially going to the job site.

Amtrak has already begun work to replace the 102-year-old bridge, a project that includes tearing up and replacing part of the Niantic Bay Boardwalk.

The federal passenger rail company received $105 million in federal stimulus money for the project, which is the largest Amtrak project to be funded through the stimulus.

In January, Amtrak awarded a $104.7 million contract to Cianbro/Middlesex VII for replacement of the movable bridge over the Niantic River.

Though Cianbro has not outright stated it won't hire local workers, the Connecticut Laborers' District Council along with the New London-Norwich Building & Construction Trades Council said previously that the company has never signed a project labor agreement in previous projects. Project labor agreements ensure local people have an opportunity to work on a given project.

The three-year project calls for about 700,000 man-hours and will need between 250 and 300 workers, according to union representatives.

"Our biggest concern is, what's left?" said Keith Brothers, president of the Norwich-New London Building & Construction Trade Council. "What can we ensure for our people? What are the subcontracts that are out there that Amtrak's gonna award to local contractors? Take the union out of it – we're looking to put local people to work. At least do that for us."

Cianbro Corp., of Pittsfield, Maine, is involved in heavy industrial and civil construction projects. Some of the projects completed by Cianbro include the replacement of the Thames River railroad bridge, the construction of the Tomlinson Bridge in New Haven, two 12,000-ton offshore semi-submersible oil drilling rigs, a 1.5 MW General Electric wind turbine and decommissioning work at the Yankee Rowe Nuclear Plant.

Cianbro's joint venture with the Middlesex Companies, of Littleton, Mass., is currently performing work on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge over the Quinnipiac River and the replacement of the Brightman Street Bridge in Fall River and Somerset, Mass.