Why Become A Member? Associated Builders and Contractors is the only association committed to ensuring an open and competitive construction marketplace. We believe every person must have the opportunity and right to work. As and association we prepare, educate and foster goodwill for the employee as well as the employer. The opportunity to market your company is an added benefit for both associate and contract members. We know members supporting members builds a stronger and more resourceful organization. The choice is up to you to join, the challenge to keep a competitive marketplace is up to us. ABC has been successful in stopping Union Only contracts in the past and we will continue our work until we are all on a fair playing field.
Interested In ABC Membership? Click here: mbergmann@mnabc.com , and ABC's Membership Director will contact you with additional information about the benefits of membership in ABC. Or call at 952-941-8693.
ABC Membership Application Click here: for an ABC Membership application today!
We need you to join us! As open-shop, merit contractors we can either hang together or hang alone. If we don't fight for your rights, no one else will. We need your support to thrive .
ABC Highlights in 2007: Clear Focus on the Merit Shop Contractor
MN ABC continues to move forward in serving merit shop contractors across the state by remaining focused on our mission to protect and promote competition and free enterprise. These basic concepts are constantly under attack and need protection, if we are to grow and prosper in the future. Below are a few highlights that have kept us true to our beliefs through the year:
Government Affairs:
ABC was thrown on the defensive due to the elections of November 2006. We found ourselves blocking “Card Check” legislation successfully on the national level and managing damage at the state level. Onerous legislation like “Union to Employee Communications” and job-killing tax increases failed in St. Paul, however; we failed to get adequate funding for road construction and got stuck with “Best Value” contracting that can only lead to favoritism. The Construction Code Consolidation Bill, H.F. 1208, was somewhat of a compromise, except a new ratio (fence) in high-pressure piping consumed our lobbyist time as the session wore down. Make no mistake--the unions are emboldened and will try taking out merit shop contractors as they continue to lose market share. This couldn’t be clearer when you look at the practice of job targeting.
Job Targeting by the unions simply destroys the free bidding process! Unions are cheating to win work on construction projects. These “market recovery funds” are collected from union workers to target specific merit contractors by unfairly subsidizing union contractors. This prevents merit contractors from being able to compete on an equal footing. Minnesota unions dished out more than $87 million in targeting money between 2000-2006. In 2007, after an extensive data collection process and meetings with the Department of Labor, MN ABC in collaboration with National ABC, is poised to launch a public affairs campaign to expose job targeting for what is—cheating!
Education and Safety Program:
We kicked-off crane certification this year based on the July 1st regulatory deadline in Minnesota. The Construction Education Foundation (CEF), under the watch of Jim Kuhn, CEF Director, trained 41 crane operators. The excellent pass ratio of 95% was due to our high caliber instructors. We continue to lead ABC Region II in the completion of STEP applications at 24%. The STEP process is also to first ‘step’ into joining the growing list of ABC contractors who have been recognized into our MN OSHA Partnership started in 2006. Safety training is a priority for your association.ABC’s Business Development
Activities are bringing members together through networking and recognition. Almost 2000 people this year attended events and programs like Meet the General, EIC Awards Banquet, Annual Meeting, New Ice Fishing Tournament, Terry Korthof Sporting Clay Shoot, Legislative Day, and our Annual Golf Outing.
Affinity Programs to save contractors money:
We are happy to report that we endorsed two new Business Partners. Ford is now offering members only a $5000 discount off your next truck. Ford joins our GM program to continue to give members big discounts. SFM is our newest Business Partner focused on helping members reduce their Workers Comp premiums. Members can get up to a 40% reduction on premiums for practicing safety on the jobsite.