ABC members in the health care and industrial segments should plan to attend the Users Summit, Oct. 8-9, in St. Pete Beach, Fla., where construction users and contractors will come together to discuss industry safety, quality and workforce issues. Final panelist for this must-attend event are now posted on the Users Summit website.

ABC is committed to supporting industry efforts to overcome the challenges and maximize the opportunities associated with an increasingly diverse workforce, client base and subcontractor/supplier base. The ABC National Diversity Excellence Awardsrecognize members that display exemplary diversity leadership in their workforce, supply chain and community with best-in-class recruitment policies, retention practices, and training and mentoring programs.

Contractors looking to enhance their employees’ project management skills can enroll them to take part in the ABC Project Management Institute held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The course includes two non-concurrent five-day sessions providing the students with tools to improve profitability and productivity and increase quality and customer satisfaction. 

As part of an ongoing partnership with the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP), ABC is sponsoring an upcoming conference in Atlanta, Ga., that will focus on an ABC of Georgia-supported law that allows local and state governments to enter into partnerships with the private sector for water, wastewater, social infrastructure and other projects. Over the past several years, ABC has worked with the NCPPP to educate the construction industry and lawmakers about the benefits of P3s.

ABC’s unique quarterly Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) gives ABC members and the broader construction community a look at the future economic health of the construction industry by measuring the amount of work companies are contracted to complete in the months and years ahead. CBI is a forward-looking indicator compiled from surveys completed monthly by ABC members indicating the amount of work under contract but yet to be completed in the months and years ahead. All reported data is confidential, if you’re not participating, sign up today.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2016, the minimum wage for workers on covered federal contracts and service contracts will increase to $10.15 per hour from $10.10 per hour in 2015. The increase is dictated by the Oct. 7, 2014, Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division final rule that implemented Executive Order 13658.

Each person who enters our industry is on the path to earning a competitive salary, learning a new skill and building America with their own hands.  Yet there is a severe shortage of skilled and professional workers in the merit shop construction industry.The Trimmer Construction Education Foundation (TCEF) was created by ABC to bring talented young men and women into the pipeline and provide them with training that leads to successful and gratifying careers, and now it’s easier than ever for you to help advance this mission. You can contribute $100 or more to TCEF when you renew your membership in ABC thanks to a check box right on your dues invoice.

At our Construction Management Career Fair on Nov. 11, in San Diego, Calif., ABC is giving our members the invaluable opportunity to recruit their next top performers from a group of top-tier students from all over the country. 

Encouraging the young professionals in your organization to grow both professionally and personally can have a major impact on your overall business. During ABC's Leadership Development Track, Nov. 11-12, in San Diego, Calif., young professionals in your company will learn the skills needed to become leaders and team players and to communicate effectively with your clients and other industry professionals.

ABC and ABC’s Inland Pacific Chapter celebrated a victory Sept. 16 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit set aside a lower court’s decision against an Idaho law that banned government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayer-funded construction projects.