In July 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality issued an ABC-supported final rule to modernize the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
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On July 21, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued its Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses final rule, which will undo the ABC-supported provisions of the 2019 final rule promulgated under the Trump administration and reprise the 2016 Obama-era rule. The final rule becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2024, for certain employers and OSHA intends to make much of the data it collects publicly available online.
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On Oct. 27, 2021, OSHA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings, which requested information on how to implement regulations to prevent workers from hazardous heat. ABC, as a steering committee member of the Construction Industry Safety Coalition, submitted comments in response to the ANPRM on Jan. 26, 2022.
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On Nov. 7, ABC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor in opposition to a proposed rulemaking that would alter overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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President Joe Biden continues to back and support provisions in the ABC-opposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act (H.R.20/S.567), which would violate workers’ free choice and privacy rights, force unions on employees who have voted against such representation, cost millions of American jobs and threaten vital supply chains.
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President Biden supports the ABC-opposed National Apprenticeship Act of 2023 (H.R. 2851), which would not achieve its goal of expanding apprenticeship opportunities, as it would further restrict small businesses’ ability to access federally registered apprenticeship programs, limit job opportunities in the construction industry and create additional obstacles for the construction industry to meet future workforce demand and needs. The bill, reintroduced in the 118th Congress by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), would:
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On Nov. 13, 2023, ABC submitted comments urging the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to withdraw its Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process proposed rule, which would allow employees to choose a third-party representative, such as an outside union representative or community organizer, to accompany an OSHA inspector into nonunion facilities.
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On March 29, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General released an audit examining the DOL’s Wage and House Divisions survey process for collecting and determining the prevailing wage rate in four types of construction projects. According to the report, the OIG found that, as of September 2018, 3% of WHD’s 134,738 unique published rates, roughly 4,400, had not been updated in 21 to 40 years. Additionally, of seven sampled surveys that analyzed 124 wage rates, the OIG found 48% of the rates were not determined from data about a single construction worker within the 31 counties that the published rates represented. Finally, the report found union wages prevailed for 48% of the wage determinations, despite the fact that just 12.8% of the U.S. private construction workforce is unionized.
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According to a report issued by the Heritage Foundation, the United States Department of Labor uses unscientific and flawed methods to estimate the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rates. The report found, amongst other findings, that current surveys do not use statistically representative samples have tiny sample sizes and combine data from economically unrelated counties or set local wages using statewide data. Furthermore, nearly half of the surveys are over a decade old and don’t account for economic changes over the last ten year. The report concludes by suggesting the DOL should switch to Bureau of Labor Statistics data to get a more accurate reading of wage data.
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| Date: |
Thursday, July 1, 2018 |
Watch Now |
| Time: |
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Eastern)
|
| Length: |
30 Minutes |
| Fee: |
Free |
| Speaker: |
Drew McGeein |
WEBINAR DESCRIPTION
This webinar provides an overview of the new Hotel Engine/Travelers Haven discount programs. In addition to an overview, a demo of the online platform features for each program is reviewed.
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A study released in June 2018 by the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School found that prevailing wage laws discriminate against minority construction workers who have been traditionally underrepresented in labor unions. By examining the Davis-Bacon Act and the original intent of the law to exclude African-American construction workers from working on federal projects, to looking at the continuing effects of prevailing wage laws and the lack of minority participation in labor unions, the authors conclude that prevailing wage legislation has been a disaster for minority construction workers.
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A
study released by the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence found that the
prevailing wage determination process utilized by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry leads to inaccurate wage rates on construction projects. A disproportionate 75 percent of prevailing wages reflected union rates in the period analyzed in the study, even though just 32 percent of private construction workers in Minnesota belong to a union. The authors also discovered that 72 percent of all prevailing wage rates were set using old rates, imported rates or a combination of both.
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| Date: |
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 |
Watch Now |
| Time: |
2 p.m. (ET) / 1 p.m. (CT) / 12 p.m. (MT) / 11 a.m. (PT)
|
| Length: |
60 Minutes |
| Fee: |
Free |
| Speaker: |
Michael D. Bellaman, President and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) |
| |
Greg Sizemore, ABC Vice President of HSE and Workforce Development |
|
WEBINAR DESCRIPTION
On Oct. 6, 2017, Michael D. Bellaman, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), was appointed by U.S. Department of Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta to the
Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, created by President Trump’s Executive Order 13801 June 15, 2017.
ABC served on two of the four task force subcommittees—those charged with attracting business to apprenticeship and expanding access, equity and career awareness. The subcommittees offered numerous recommendations, which were detailed in the
final apprenticeship report issued on May 10.
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