Local leaders and community groups are calling for change regarding the Industrial Development Agency system in New York State. The effort was highlighted by VWR Education's decision to consolidate its Tonawanda Warehouse operations to Rochester.

As YNN's Kaitlyn Lionti reports, those opposed to the move say the company is shifting jobs down the thruway to take advantage of tax breaks.

TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Local worker and community groups came together outside Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories in Tonawanda Friday to share concerns about a decision they say impacts taxpayers across Erie County.

Science Kit's parent company, VWR Education, is consolidating its Tonawanda Warehouse operations into its Rochester facility.

Assemblyman Sean Ryan says the decision came around the time the company's tax breaks with the Erie County Industrial Development Agency ended, and they've been approved for tax breaks by the County of Monroe IDA.

"After 15 years of taking tax breaks, public benefit and walking away on that responsibility, they're actually moving the jobs down the highway to Rochester because the Rochester County IDA recently gave them another tax break which had in their language that said they had to create jobs. So to create their jobs, they took the jobs from Tonawanda," said Ryan.

The group says this demonstrates the problem with the IDA system in New York State, which pushes businesses to move around with little to no job creation.

Ryan said, "The IDAs have become a monster in New York State. So we need to look at this comprehensively and we need to clip the wings of the IDAs to stop this destructive policy."

Ryan says VWR's consolidation left 41 employees out of a job in Tonawanda.

"This is of importance to everyone whether they're still working or not. It's real money taken out of real pockets to essentially hand it over to a corporation for free, and then, when they've used it up, they leave," said Richard Lipsitz, president of the WNY Area Labor Federation.

VWR Education released a statement reading in part:

"The tax exemptions were in no way a factor in the decision to consolidate warehouses. At this time VWR Education is compliant with all tax requirements in both Tonawanda and Rochester. The decision to close our Tonawanda Warehouse operations was a difficult one knowing the effect it would have on our employees and their families."

Lipsitz says the groups have called on the County of Monroe IDA to withdraw its offer to VWR but they declined.