Union protesters massed at a Putnam County construction site Wednesday, charging that the owner employs out-of-state and possibly illegal foreign builders despite getting state and county incentives to create local jobs.

“Tasty Blend asked for help from taxpayers to build their new facility,” said Steve White, director of the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation, a labor umbrella group that organized the protest. “They got plenty of help, but we didn’t get the jobs.”

Eight workers at the job site, future home of the biscuit-mix maker Tasty Blend Foods, didn’t have documentation to verify their legal status when the state Division of Labor inspected earlier this month.

State officials said at the time they were beginning an investigation, but they did not return calls Wednesday inquiring about the status of the probe.

Scott Depot-based Tasty Blend is building a new factory at the Putnam Business Park in Fraziers Bottom. The state Economic Development Authority authorized a $1.25 million low-interest loan for the project last year, and the Putnam County Commission granted Tasty Blend a 20-year tax break on county tax payments.

Representatives from the state Development Office and Putnam County Commission said they had no say in the choice of construction contractors.

The EDA helps projects that “create good, permanent jobs for West Virginians,” said Jan Dickinson, a spokeswoman for the Development Office. “We have no authority over the construction.”

“That’s a decision that’s up to the owner,” said Putnam Commission President Steve Andes. “We have no influence over it.”

Tasty Blend’s main contractor for the project, Ponderosa Industries Inc., is based in St. Albans. But Ponderosa is subcontracting a portion of the job to an out-of-state builder called Carolina Metal Building Technologies, which employed the eight undocumented workers.

In the same inspection, the Division of Labor found that Carolina Metal lacked a contractor license and wage bond, prompting it to issue cease-and-desist orders. The company later got the license and funded its bond, allowing it to resume work, White said.

Neither Tasty Blend nor Ponderosa would return calls for comment. Carolina Metal representatives could not be reached.

White said he suspected that the undocumented workers were aliens working illegally.

“I mean, they didn’t even have driver’s licenses, so you have to wonder,” he said. “To ask the taxpayer to support this construction and then to ignore local construction workers makes no sense.”

To contact staff writer Joe Morris, use e-mail or call 348-5179.