ALI Course 16 is “Sold Out”
MCAA’s Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) Course 16 is sold out with 38 accepted into the course. If you would like to be placed on a wait list, please contact Dennis Langley.
MCAA’s Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) Course 16 is sold out with 38 accepted into the course. If you would like to be placed on a wait list, please contact Dennis Langley.
The Department of Labor (DoL) has released proposed rules on Executive Order 13706 requiring direct federal contractors, prime contractors and subcontractors to provide accrued paid sick leave for workers on federal contracts at the rate of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, with no caps below 56 hours per year permitted. The leave carries over from year to year.
MCAA led a coalition of members and the representatives of the Construction Employers of America (NECA, TAUC, SMACNA, FCA International, and ICE-BAC) in commenting to DoL during a Listening Session last December. Follow-up written comments were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Analysis, which analyzed the Executive Order in hopes of gaining an exemption for workers covered by a construction collective bargaining agreement. OMB/OIRA granted MCAA’s request for a meeting to discuss the joint MCAA/CEA position on February 11. The proposed regulations were released two weeks later, with only a few elements reflective of the coalition’s position. At the February 11 meeting, the DoL and OMB regulators noted several areas of interest in the coalition position, and urged the group to comment to that effect in the comment period. MCAA and the coalition will be submitting further comments before the comment period ends on March 28, based on the written positions described above and other elements in the regulatory proposal. Interested members can use the written material at the links below to file their own comments. Go to the link below to access the EO13706 Paid Sick Leave proposal. Also, the MCAA/CEA written comments may be useful for state and local coalition efforts to address paid sick leave proposals that are coming up frequently in state and local legislative proposals across the country. In many of those instances, local construction coalitions have been successful in gaining an exemption from the paid sick leave requirements for construction workers covered by collective bargaining agreements.
“Congratulations Peyton, on an incredible career. You changed the game forever and made everyone around you better.”
MCAA 2016 will celebrate the fact that, together, we have made MCAA better than ever. Can you think of a more appropriate speaker at our Opening Session (just two weeks from today) other than Peyton Manning? We can’t.
See you in Orlando! We guarantee an awesome convention!
The Piping & Service Coalition, a Western New York partnership of more than 50 contractors and nearly 1,000 highly-skilled union craftspeople represented by Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union No. 22, has made a $25,000 pledge to the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF), a first-ever labor-management contribution.
The pledge will be paid in five $5,000 installments over the next five years, the first installment was presented earlier this month.
Robert Beck, president of John W. Danforth Company (Tonawanda, NY), and a proud member of the coalition, told MCERF “…the mission of the P&SIC is the promotion, advancement and education and training of the piping and service industry.” He noted that the coalition saw common values between themselves and MCERF in their mutual commitment to member education, which is what convinced them to make their pledge.
MCERF President Mark Rogers and the Board of Trustees expressed their deep appreciation for the generous support and the coalition’s commitment to education. Find out more about MCERF programs and how they benefit our industry by clicking on the link below.
The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) received a $5,000 contribution from Indoor Environmental Services, Inc. (Sacramento, CA).
The MCERF Board of Trustees is very grateful for the contribution, which helps the Foundation continue its education and research programs that help our industry thrive and grow. Find out more about how MCERF is working for you and then donate by clicking on the link below.
The John W. Danforth Company (Tonawanda, NY) has donated $50,000 to the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) for a memorial scholarship established to honor the Reilly Family.
The Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship will be awarded in $5,000 annual increments to a worthy student for the next 10 years.
The MCERF Board of Trustees is very grateful for the generous gift in support of future industry professionals. Find out more about the MCERF program, its activities and the support it continues to provide to advance the industry through education and research.
An MCAA-led industry group provided analyses to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Information and Regulatory Analysis (OIRA), and the Department of Labor’s (DoL) Wage and Hour Division as part of its efforts to obtain an industry exemption from President Obama’s Executive Order 13706—requiring paid sick leave accrual for those working on federal contracts—for employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement who are working on direct federal construction and federal facility HVAC service contracts.
MCAA representatives Adam Snavely of The Poole & Kent Co. (Baltimore, MD), Chip Mitchell of the Kirlin Group (Rockville, MD), Steve Weissenberger of MCA-Maryland, Bob Battista representing the MCA-MD and MCA Detroit and MCAA General Counsel John McNerney met with OMB/OIRA/DoL officials on February 11 to discuss the rationale for providing a collective bargaining exemption in the upcoming EO 13706 regulatory proposal.
MCAA’s position, also supported by the Construction Employers of America, laid out an analysis of ways to implement EO 13706 that are consistent with federal procurement, labor, and regulatory implementation policies. MCAA’s effort is aimed at gaining a favorable regulatory approach before a proposed regulation is published, rather than waiting for a proposed rule to be issued with less favorable options.
EO 13706 proposed regulations may be issued within the next month. MCAA’s initial letter to OMB and an outline of MCAA’s February 11 oral presentation are available by clicking on the links below.
MCAA, in conjunction with Horizon Actuarial Services, LLC, has released the Fourth Edition (February 2016) of its comprehensive inventory and analysis of construction industry multiemployer defined benefit pension plans for all 790 construction industry plans covering the 2004 through the 2013 plan years.
In releasing the report, MCAA President Steve Dawson said, “MCAA is extremely proud to partner with one of the premier actuarial firms in the industry, Horizon Actuarial Services, LLC to bring this ground-breaking work forward and maintain it on a periodic basis for the benefit of the industry… Before MCAA and Horizon began this collaboration, this type of comprehensive in-depth analysis of the Form 5500 database was not available….”
The report examines trends in plan demographics, cash flows, investment returns, funding status, and other plan costs and expenses over the plan years, which represent the most current Form 5500 data completely available for compilation and analysis.
The Inventory shows continuing steep challenges to the sustainability of the multiemployer system with long-term adverse demographic challenges remaining intractable, with fewer than seven active contributing employees for every 10 participants in the median plan data.
The Inventory data document the continuing need for Congressional action to enact reforms—such as the Solutions Not Bailouts legislative reform proposal. The proposal allows trustees to choose alternate plan designs—composite plans—that will build greater resilience and sustainability into the future of the valuable multiemployer defined benefit plan system for the industry workforce, sponsoring employers, and participants and beneficiaries of the plans. The Solutions Not Bailouts alternate plan design proposal option is strongly backed by MCAA and the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans’ (NCCMP) legislative coalition.
Read the full news release about the Inventory at the link below. The Inventory is available as a free download to MCAA and MSCA members.
If the building your company is helping construct may face a water crisis, plan to participate in the next Green Webinar—Water Crisis: Pushing the Limits of Building Water Conservation on April 14, 1:00 p.m.
Whether water resources are unreliable, contaminated, too expensive, or a readily available luxury, our buildings will continue to face increased demand for water conservation while serving increased occupant loads. During this webinar, Courtney France of France Sustainable Solutions will explain how green buildings are responding and performing under this challenge. You will come away with a better understanding about some of the most progressive sustainable water strategies and the role they play in our built environment. You will also learn how those strategies will impact contractors. This webinar is free as a benefit of MCAA and MSCA membership.
No worries! You can view it by clicking on the link below.
You will want to learn from Ron McKinney (Atlanta, GA) about how mobile technology and apps have changed the five major construction workflows—plan management; daily reporting; progress photos; time entry; and safety documentation. This webinar is free as a MCAA/MSCA membership benefit.
Labor Department Wage and Hour Administrator Dr. David Weil released a new Administrator’s Interpretation 2016-1: Joint Employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).
This interpretive guidance, with less significance than a regulation, has primary significance to the construction industry as a way to stem rampant misclassification of employees as independent contractors, an unfair competitive advantage that some non-signatory firms have over signatory employers. This guidance also affects only wage-and-hour compliance and is separate from the controversy surrounding the new National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) joint employer ruling that is roiling unorganized firms in the context of union organizing efforts. In either case, the NLRB or Labor Department’s single employer policies have very limited application to union-signatory Section 8(f) contractors or prime contractors in the ordinary course of construction industry construction prime contract and subcontract commercial contract performance. Following is an example from the DoL Guidance derived from the air conditioning service industry:
A mechanic is employed by Airy AC & Heating Company. The Company has a short-term contract to test and, if necessary, replace the HVAC systems at Condor Condos. The Company hired and pays the mechanic and directs the work, including setting the mechanic’s hours and timeline for completion of the project. For the duration of the project, the mechanic works at the Condos and checks in with the property manager there every morning, but the Company supervises his work. The Company provides the mechanic’s benefits, including workers’ compensation insurance. The Company also provides the mechanic with all the tools and materials needed to complete the project. The mechanic brings this equipment to the project site. These facts are not indicative of joint employment of the mechanic by the Condos.
Click on the link below for the entire DoL release. Within that material is an example of a DoL enforcement action against a drywall firm for misclassification in that industry. Some comments indicate that construction prime and subcontract commercial contracts can be revised to address or defend against adverse application of these rules in the commercial contracting business. An initial analysis of those comments shows that regulators (see example above) are focused on the workforce realities of worker conduct and supervision, and boilerplate contract or subcontract terms will not be an effective defense against an adverse determination finding on a factual application of the single employer rules in either a union election process or a wage-and-hour misclassification context.
The MCA of Chicago has recently completed its $375,000 pledge to the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) with a final $10,000 contribution. But the association’s generosity isn’t stopping there. Recently, the MCA Board of Directors decided to renew its pledge for another ten years, beginning in 2017…in the amount of $125,000, raising its total contributions to $500,000!
MCA of Chicago’s Steve Lamb noted, “MCA of Chicago is firmly committed to the guiding concepts of the Foundation, and we are pleased to be the first local affiliate to attain the half-million-dollar mark in helping to pursue these goals. We hope that in doing so, we encourage other affiliate organizations to participate financially in this most worthwhile enterprise.”
The MCERF Board of Trustees is very grateful for the association’s commitment to and support of the Foundation, which will ensure the continuation of its education and research programs that help our industry grow and thrive.
MCAA’s 2016 advocacy efforts need your help. Donate to the MCAA PAC, a critical factor to our success in moving forward legislation that positively affects your business.
MCAA PAC needs your contributions to help us gain the support we need in Congress for multiemployer pension reform Phase 2, procurement policy, immigration reform, energy policy, apprentice training and much more. Make a real difference for your company’s future by contributing to MCAA PAC. Click on the link below for information and donation instructions.
The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) recently received a $5,000 contribution from the MCA of Houston, raising its total contributions to $102,000.
The MCERF Board of Trustees greatly appreciates the support which enables the Foundation to continue its education and research programs that help our industry grow and thrive. While you consider your donations for great causes this year, be sure to include MCERF on your list. Click on the link below to find out why.
The Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern PA (MCA of EPA), Blue Bell, PA, has contributed an additional $10,000 to the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) bringing its total contribution to $160,000. Tim Brink, Executive Vice President of the MCA of EPA, praised his association membership for its perennial support of MCERF’s efforts to fund education programs and activities for the mechanical contracting industry. Brink, who also serves as Treasurer for MCERF, said he particularly appreciates the Foundation’s support of student chapter activities and internships for his contractor members.
President of MCERF Mark Rogers, himself a member of the MCA of EPA, thanked the leadership and members of his association for their years of support of the Foundation.
For more information on MCERF, contact Dennis Langley (dlangley@mcaa.org).
The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) recently received a $50,000 contribution from Mueller Industries, Inc. (Memphis, TN), the final payment on its $100,000 pledge.
Mueller is MCERF’s latest Partnership Enterprise member (those who have contributed at least $100,000)!
The MCERF Board of Trustees greatly appreciates the generous support which will allow the Foundation to continue funding programs that help our industry grow and thrive. Still thinking about making a donation? Click on the link below for more reasons to write the check.
MCAA’s 2015 Student Chapter Summit, which brought together more than 200 future industry professionals, faculty advisors, MCAA contractor members and local association executives in Cleveland, OH last October, made BuiltWorlds’ top 10 videos of the year. BuiltWorlds, a Chicago-based organization that promotes companies that develop technologies for the construction industry, organized an exhibit of vendors that displayed a variety of technologies that contractors are …or will…use on the jobsite and in the office. MCAA student chapter members were filmed testing the new technologies and discussing their features and applications with the vendors.
MCAA filed comments on the Administration’s Paid Sick Leave Executive Order (EO) 13706, which also is under an expedited path for final publication for mid-2016 and implementation in 2017. The EO would require direct federal prime contractors and subcontractors to provide paid sick leave (one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked) on a covered federal contract or subcontract of $2,000 or more. The minimum annual amount of leave is 56 hours, which can be carried over on an annual basis and reinstated after breaks in service of less than a year.
MCAA filed comments on its own behalf and on behalf of the Construction Employers of America after the draft proposed regulations were sent to the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Information and Regulatory Analysis (OIRA) for pre-clearance before the expected early release of a regulatory proposal in February 2016.
MCAA’s comments raised a number of questions about the statutory authority for the EO and the specific implementation issues under the federal Acquisition Regulations. MCAA also requested an in-person discussion on the comments at OIRA in the review process. OIRA is expected to grant that request and provide a hearing with MCAA and coalition representatives in late January. MCAA is assembling a team of select federal contractors, prime and subcontractors that perform covered federal new construction and service contracts to discuss the EO issues with OIRA in late January.
As the last year of the Obama Administration begins, regulatory activity is intensifying to get long-delayed initiatives off the regulatory docket and into regulations before the end of the legislative year to avoid Congressional suspension and review of midnight regulations. One issue concerns new and much more comprehensive affirmative action and non-discrimination regulations proposed for registered apprenticeship programs.
MCAA filed comments in late December seeking an extension of the comment period, slated to close January 5, until March 6, 2016 or later. The delay would allow more comprehensive and constructive analyses of sweeping new rules that set goals for disabled apprenticeship applicants and written affirmative action plans, comprised of specific labor market workforce availability analyses for minority and female candidates, and utilization analyses and specific goals and timetables for affirmative action goal compliance.
The proposed regulations also add age and gender identity/sexual preference as categories for non-discrimination safeguards in program administration. Penalties for non-compliance range up to program de-registration.
MCAA is working with the UA and the International Training Fund and an outside consultant on program compliance guidance. The Department of Labor granted the extension, with the comment period now due to expire on January 20, 2016.
The Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation (MCERF) recently received a $250 contribution from the Braconier Plumbing & Heating Company (Englewood, CO).
The MCERF Board of Trustees greatly appreciates the support which helps the Foundation continue its education and research programs that keep our industry thriving and advancing.