President Obama March 31 signed a memorandum of disapproval effectively vetoing the joint resolution to block the NLRB’s ambush election rule, which will shorten the amount of time between when a union files a representation petition and an election takes place to as few as 14 calendar days beginning on April 14. ABC is continuing their legal challenge to this rule.

A new report released by the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) found that OSHA's proposed silica standards for construction will cost the industry $5 billion per year—roughly $4 .5 billion per year more than OSHA’s estimates. The coalition cautioned that the flawed cost estimates reflect deeper flaws in the rule and urged the federal agency to reconsider its approach.

Seventeen ABC member companies were honored as 2015 Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance (GBRIA) Contractor Safety Excellence Award recipients. Each year, the awards are presented to companies who have demonstrated a level of safety excellence that includes thousands and millions of hours worked without injury, a commitment by management to educate workers, and a culture where accidents do not happen.  The awards were presented on March 19 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

ABC is conducting a survey of ABC contractors who perform federal, state or municipal prevailing wage work in order to help our members benchmark themselves against other merit shop firms that perform similar work. All participants in the survey will receive the full results with analysis after they are compiled and all data will be anonymized before being released. 

ABC sent a letter to the U.S. Senate March 25 in support of an amendment being offered by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 11), which would prohibit construction contracts from being awarded based on whether or not companies enter into agreements with labor organizations. Due to this amendment’s immediate impact on the merit shop construction industry, ABC will consider this a Key Vote for the 114th congressional scorecard.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a joint resolution March 19 to block the NLRB’s ambush election rule which will take a big step toward protecting both the due process rights of employers and the privacy rights of employees.  ABC is fully supportive of the resolution, which now moves on to the president, and has urged President Obama to sign it.

ABC joined several organizations in strongly urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to retain the current ozone standards when finalizing the proposed rulemaking set to revise the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone under the Clean Air Act (Act). 

ABC members from the Wisconsin Chapter participated in a Tele-Town Hall Meeting March 13 with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and more than 2,300 other Wisconsin business owners from Associated General Contractors, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business in the first of a series of virtual meetings with Senators from across the country sponsored by ABC’s Free Enterprise Alliance.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Feb. 23 issued the long-anticipated proposal to address the commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also referred to as drones. The proposal was introduced after the FAA previously failed to meet numerous deadlines to provide a regulatory framework for non-recreational use of small UAS. The proposed rule is expected to go into effect January 1, 2017.

OSHA released an interpretation letter stating that construction contractors are allowed to require employees to pay a deposit for company-issued personal protection equipment (PPE) so that it provides an incentive for the employee to return the equipment. Contractors should be aware that this does not circumvent the requirement that employers provide protection equipment at no expense to the workers.