Besser Co. and the ACPA Foundation named recipients of the 2023 Besser Pipe Scholarships ($2,500) during the American Concrete Pipe Association Pipe School earlier this year. The first recipient is Ava Wesner, a senior at Posen High School in Michigan, who will attend a Michigan college this fall to study environmental engineering. The second recipient is Michael McDole, a member…
Read MoreTag: Associated Builders and Contractors
Construction trades rank & file continue union exodus
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The Union Members Survey from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics finds the percentage of construction industry wage and salary workers belonging to unions dropped to a record low of 11.7 percent in 2022, versus 12.6 percent the prior year. The recently published document shows construction unions lost…
Read MoreABC: Registered apprenticeship system no match for skilled labor needs
It would take 14 years for federal and state government-registered apprenticeship programs to educate the 650,000 workers the construction industry needs to hire in 2022, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data from 2021. DOL figures indicate that the construction industry’s federal government-registered apprenticeship system produced just 24,822 completers of its four- to…
Read MoreContractors’ annual workforce development outlays surpass $1.5 billion
Associated Builders and Contractors member contractors invested $1.6 billion to provide more than 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2021, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. The group’s 2022 Workforce Development Survey quantifies the scope of member initiatives to advance their employees’ commercial and industrial construction careers. Safety education accounted for the greatest share, or…
Read MoreORGANIZATIONS – MAY 2022
During last month’s Annual Membership Meeting, the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association elected inaugural Chairwoman Karen Hubacz, chief executive officer of Bond Construction Corp., Spencer, Mass. aggregate and asphalt supplier. She succeeds Darin Matson of Nashville-based Rogers Group, under whose leadership, noted NSSGA CEO Michael Johnson, “Our industry has adapted to succeed during the Covid-19 pandemic. I know that…
Read MoreSurvey confirms Davis-Bacon prevailing wage scheme’s inflationary impact
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The Department of Labor’s flawed method of calculating “prevailing wages” under the 91-year-old Davis-Bacon Act adds at least 7.2 percent to the cost of federal and federally assisted construction projects and inflates wages by 20.2 percent compared to local market averages, according to a new report from the Beacon Hill Institute,…
Read MoreContractors’ annual workforce development tally exceeds $1.5 billion
Source: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C. Associated Builders and Contractors members invested $1.6 billion to provide more than 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2021, according to the group’s 2022 Workforce Development Survey, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. The annual assessment quantifies the scope of ABC member workforce development initiatives to advance employee…
Read MoreORGANIZATIONS – April 2022
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute joined other organizations around the world in recognizing International Women’s Day. The early-March event is aimed at increasing awareness about issues impacting women’s equality; calling out inequality while working to forge positive action; recognizing where important gains are being made; and, celebrating women’s accomplishments. “I want to work with members to achieve the goal of creating…
Read MoreConstruction coalition counters project labor agreement scheme
The Associated Builders and Contractors, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, and 13 other industry organizations—collectively representing tens of thousands of companies and millions of employees—oppose a recent White House move to require government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA) on federal or federally assisted construction contracts. “We applaud the administration’s leadership to improve and build new roads, bridges, schools, affordable housing and…
Read MoreABC counters administration’s PLA, union organizing push
In light of White House “Build Back Better” ambitions, Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck questions a new executive order encouraging project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on federal construction contracts exceeding $35 million. “The policy will not help America; instead, it will exacerbate the industry’s skilled workforce shortage, needlessly increase construction costs…
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