On Aug. 26, ABC submitted comments on the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule on apprenticeship programs, which initially excludes the construction industry and the military from provisions intended to expand apprenticeships and close America’s skills gap.

On Aug. 15, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration published a  Request for Information seeking comment on Table 1 of the agency’s Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction. 

On Aug. 12, the National Labor Relations Board published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled Representation-Case Procedures: Election Bars; Proof of Majority Support in Construction Industry Collective-Bargaining Relationships, which proposes amendments to the representation election regulations. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs recently published several compliance assistance guides to provide federal contractors with resources on recordkeeping, postings and notices, technical assistance and more.

Last week, ABC’s Vice President of HSE and Workforce Development, Greg Sizemore, made a presentation to the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee on the importance of continuing workforce development reforms at the state level.

On June 25, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule on apprenticeship programs that would establish a process for creating high-quality, industry-recognized apprenticeship programs by organizations that apply to become DOL recognized Standards Recognition Entities. DOL’s new release on the proposal is available here.  

On July 31, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a final rule that would allow small and mid-sized businesses to band together and offer 401(k) plans to their employees through Association Retirement Plans. The final rule goes into effect Sept. 30, 2019.

Two graduates of ABC Pelican Chapter's Baton Rouge Training Center and one from the ABC Heart of America apprenticeship program were in Washington last week to attend the one-year anniversary celebration of President Trump’s Pledge to America’s Workers at the White House. Last year, ABC pledged to educate and upskill at least 500,000 construction workers over the

On July 25, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace testified before a House subcommittee on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (H.R. 2474), which would jeopardize workers’ privacy, constitutional rights and freedoms if passed. This legislation currently has 186 Democrat cosponsors and is essentially a “union boss wish list,” as Ranking Member Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) described it in his opening statement.

ABC supports the Highway Trust Fund Reform Act of 2019 (H.R. 3904), legislation introduced on July 24 by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that would exempt federally funded or federally assisted Highway Trust Fund projects from federal Davis-Bacon requirements, known as prevailing wage. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repealing Davis-Bacon would save the Federal Highway Administration more than $700 million a year.