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8/16/2011
Safety Services are in full swing at ABC!
By Donny Hines, ABC Safety Specialist
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8/16/2011
ACE(Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Mentor Program- Twin Cities, Looks for Volunteers
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March 21, 2011 11:38 AM CDT
The time to change your safety culture is now!

ABC Calls for Immediate Reform of Minnesota's Archaic Prevailing Wage Law

by Phil Raines, Gov't Affairs for the Minnesota Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors

Eden Prairie, MN- Minnesota Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (MN ABC) strongly supports Minnesota HF 722/SF454 to reform the biggest government inefficiency in state government today—the antiquated and archaic Prevailing Wage Law.

The law was written 38 years ago with the goal of preventing local wages from being undercut by out-of-state contractors using cheap labor. However, it has turned into a law that negatively impacts contractor access to work opportunities. The Prevailing Wage Law not only artificially inflates construction rates by as much as 10% according to the MN Taxpayers Association; it prevents many qualified small and minority-owned businesses from bidding on public work, because the complexities and inefficiencies make it nearly impossible for small businesses to compete.

Robert Heise, MN ABC President said, “One word makes the law a travesty for taxpayers—the word is ‘mode’. Look at any elementary school math book and it will indicate the mode is the poorest statistical calculation and should be avoided.” Here’s how it works: Minnesota requires that construction wages be calculated on the actual wages paid to the largest number of workers. The most frequently occurring wage is called the mode. This calculation increases wages more than 10% on roads, bridges, schools and any project where state money is used. Amazingly, Minnesota is an island in this calculation with 48 states and the federal government using the “average wage” to establish labor costs, which brings more value to taxpayer’s dollars and makes more money available for new schools, additional classrooms and other needed public facilities and infrastructure.

Here’s a prime example of how artificially inflated public financed projects can become with prevailing wages. Our state has spent about $1.7 billion on schools, building projects, and transportation projects every two years for the last decade or about or $8.5 billion. Simply multiply $8.5 billion by 10% of inflated prevailing wage costs and you get an extra $850 million of taxpayer money being wasted just in the last decade!

Minnesota’s outdated Prevailing Wage Law inflates state construction costs by millions every year. Taxpayer’s can no longer afford this unfair law. We cannot allow politics to get in the way of good policy and sound economic decision-making. It’s time for our legislators to act!

Association update: Builders Have Concerns About Health Care Reform
by Robert Heise, Associated Builders and Contractors, Minnesota chapter, Guest Commentary

In a recent poll of members of the Associated Builders and Contractors — a national association with 79 chapters representing 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with 2 million employees — health care reform was ranked as their primary concern for the 111th Congress. However, as details of these health care proposals emerge, we are finally beginning to see what some elected officials in Washington mean when they say they want to “even the playing field” in a hurried attempt to provide health insurance to all Americans.

What is being proposed by some in Congress does nothing to address ongoing health care concerns for the vast majority of the American populace. Instead the proposals will dramatically increase an already bloated national debt, place billions of dollars in new taxes on the American people and their
businesses and put health care decisions into the hands of untrained Washington bureaucrats.

One such proposal to “even the playing field” is to enact a government-run public insurance option, a plan that will decimate the private market for health insurance. The idea is for the federal government to use their unfair advantage over private competitors that would result in less competition and less choice. A study by the Lewin Group found that two out of every three people will lose their current health insurance coverage, including more
than 114 million people who receive health benefits through their employer or another provider.

While health care reform is important, our focus must be on ensuring that each of us have the freedom to choose what health care best suits our needs, and make certain that federal governmental intrusion and inefficiency into the insurance market is kept to a minimum. But, the current proposals seek to accomplish the exact opposite. Do those in Congress honestly believe that putting our health care decisions into the hands of federal government officials will even the playing field?

Instead of the free choice that we currently enjoy, some want to appoint a new Health Care Commissioner, and give him or her unprecedented authority to determine what “acceptable” health care coverage is, and set all the rules for what health care coverage must include and what treatments patients could receive and at what cost. This forced choice runs counter to the freedoms we have today.

The health care proposals in Congress fail to provide people with health care solutions that are practical or affordable. Health care is best administered on free-market principles and support meaningful reforms that make quality health care more affordable and accessible to all people.

Association update: Ideas For Jump-starting The Construction Business
by Robert Heise Guest Commentary

The nation’s construction industry is in the tank. With building in this country nearly at a standstill and the industry unemployment rate at a staggering 24.7 percent — more than twice the national average — contractors are struggling to stay in business.

The faltering economy, along with federal legislative and regulatory anti-business proposals, has created much uncertainty in the construction industry and have made it difficult for firms to adequately plan for the future. Currently, employers are unwilling to hire additional employees or invest in equipment or facilities.

Associated Builders and Contractors has developed a wide-ranging package of recommendations that will help to stimulate the construction industry and put Americans back to work. The proposal includes measures to:

•Increase access to financial capital for new construction projects; provide meaningful tax relief to construction contractors, families and individuals.

•Enact a national comprehensive energy plan which includes the construction of new, and upgrades to, oil refineries, electric power plants and other traditional and alternative energy infrastructure.

•Allow the entire construction industry workforce to participate on federally funded or federally assisted projects.

•Support construction training programs that will attract new workers into the industry.

Time is running out for the thousands of construction contractors and their employees who have not seen a paycheck in months. Congress and the president have an obligation to all Americans to act responsibly and move forward with initiatives that will revive the economy and create jobs for the men and women in the U.S. construction industry.

Association update: Backroom Deal Could Hurt Construction
by Robert Heise, Minnesota Associated Builders and Contractors, Guest Commentary

An eleventh-hour backroom deal in the U.S. Senate is sending shock waves through America’s construction industry, and could cost thousands of jobs.

The Senate health care reform bill passed last month exempts small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from government-imposed mandates requiring that employers provide health insurance to workers or face a hefty penalty.

But, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., managed to slip five paragraphs into the legislation that would require construction contractors with at least five full-time employees and more than $250,000 in annual payroll to provide workers with health insurance benefits. If they didn’t, and if any of their employees received federally subsidized health insurance coverage, contractors would have to pay a penalty of $750 for each full-time worker.

Merkley’s provision was never offered as an amendment to the health care legislation, which would have given senators an opportunity to debate the measure. He must have known that once senators read the language they would realize that it unfairly targets small-business employers in the construction industry and would ultimately result in more job loss.

During these difficult economic times, having a new federal government mandate on construction contractors is not the answer to getting people back to work. With construction in this country nearly at a standstill and the industry unemployment rate at 22.7 percent – more than twice the national average – contractors are struggling to stay in business. The health care mandate would only add to their misery.

Union Data Reports

The U.S. DOL has a website that can search current union activity. You can search by a specific local union and by state. For example, you can enter the IBEW and select Minnesota. You can examine assets and liabilities along with total members. Other reports can be downloaded specific to payer/payee
on the LM-2s. Go to this link for more information: http://erds.dol-esa.gov/query/getOrgQry.do

Health Care bill should open up competition, not choke it out.
North Dakota Marketing Manager, Chris Deitch, offers his opinion on December 12, 2009 edition of ND's The Forum. Click here to read.

CONSTRUCTION BACKLOG INDICATOR

ABC Criticizes White House Health Care Deal with Labor

ABC Vice President of Federal Affairs Geoff Burr issued the following statement in reaction to a deal the White House made behind closed doors with union leaders to exempt some of their members from a tax on their high-cost insurance coverage until 2018.
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EVER JUST GET TIRED OF ALL THE POLITICS?

Think why bother? This election is vital to ABC's members and workers. Watch this video, and you won't be asking, "What difference does it make?" Video Clip