Separate Pre-Conference Strategic Management Workshop October 9th
Cutoff for hotel reservations is Tuesday, September 17, 2019!
On Monday August 19, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit seeking to overturn the district court鈥檚 decision from March that reinstated the EEOC鈥檚 revised EEO-1 Component 2 form. On Monday, August 26, AGC 鈥攚ith the help of its Construction Advocacy Fund鈥攋oined 13 other associations on an amici brief that explains to the court the problems employers have with the new EEO-1 form; a narrative that was not included in the parties鈥 briefs.
On August 23, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board reversed precedent and rebalanced the rights of property owners versus the Section 7 rights of employees in a labor dispute. In Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation d/b/a Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, the Board held that a property owner not involved in an underlying labor dispute may prohibit leafletting and similar protected activity by off-duty employees of a licensee or contractor performing work on the property owner鈥檚 premises. Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guarantees employees the right to engage in concerted activities (i.e., to act together) for mutual aid or protection.
On August 26, AGC of America submitted comments on the U.S. Department of Labor鈥檚 proposed rule to establish a new system for government approval of apprenticeship programs that would operate in parallel with the existing registered apprenticeship system. The new system would provide for recognition of 鈥淚ndustry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs鈥 through an expedited and streamlined process. The proposed rule states that the construction industry would not 鈥渋nitially鈥 be eligible to participate in the new system.
!function(e,t,s,i){var n="InfogramEmbeds",o=e.getElementsByTagName("script")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?"http:":"https:";if(/^\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement("script");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,"infogram-async","https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js");Eighty percent of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce, according to the results of an industry-wide survey released today by Autodesk and the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the industry was taking a range of steps to address the situation but called on federal officials to takes steps to assist those industry efforts.
AGC of America鈥檚 Union Contractors Committee will hold its next conference call on September 10 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time.
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a proposed rule addressing union recognition in the construction industry. AGC plans to submit comments prior to the October 11, 2019, deadline.
On July 15, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officially opened the Web-based portal for the reinstated EEO-1 collection of pay and hours worked data for calendar years 2017 and 2018. The EEOC also provided a series of Frequently Asked Questions (鈥淔AQs鈥) regarding the new requirements and a More Info Page to assist filers. The More Info page provides additional resources such as a sample form, an instruction booklet, a user鈥檚 guide, a fact sheet, and reference documents.
Negotiators conducting collective bargaining between January and June of this year agreed to raise construction craft workers鈥 wage and fringe benefits by an average of 2.8 percent or $1.65 during the first contract year, 2.7 percent or $1.65 during the second contract year, and 2.7 percent or $1.67 during the third contract year, according to the Construction Labor Research Council鈥檚 (CLRC) latest Settlements Report. While these numbers are all slightly lower than those reported last year, CLRC notes that the data should be considered preliminary for the year, as many additional settlements are likely to be added to CLRC鈥檚 database during the second half of the year.