-
Are in compliance
with prevailing wage laws;
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Provide health
insurance for all their employees;
-
Are affiliated
with a state-certified apprenticeship program;
-
Classify workers
as employees, not independent contractors;
-
Pay the
appropriate workers compensation insurance for their
employees;
-
And comply with
local residency and minority participation requirements.
Contractors who do
not pass these pre-qualifications can not bid on public
works.
Rather than trying
to chase down poor performing contractors after the fact,
these ordinances weed them out before the project begins.
NELLMCT and the New England Regional Office have used the
ordinances to remove or bar non-complying low-bid contractors
from several public works projects, and to sign several new
contractors to Laborers' agreements.
Tennessee State
Building Commission
Ohio Valley and
Southern States LECET (OVSS LECET) is helping the Tennessee
State Building Commission (TSBC), Tennessee's building
contracting authority, to develop and test a best value
bidding system in a sample of state construction projects.
Rather than awarding these contracts solely on the basis of
price, the program will award points for a wide range of
quality-related issues. Contractors with the highest points
will win the work, and the state will compare the results of
the best-value pilot projects with other similar projects
awarded under the traditional low-bid system.
Currently, the state
cannot deny a contract to the lowest bidder, even if that
bidder has a history of safety problems, performance issues,
and cost overruns. State officials are hoping that best-value
contracting will protect the state from poor performing
contractors while ensuring fairness and maintaining healthy
competition.
General Services
Administration, National Capital Region
As the chief
construction contracting arm of the federal government, the
General Services Administration (GSA) and its eleven regional
offices award billions of dollars of projects and jobs every
year. Mid-Atlantic LECET (MA LECET) recently persuaded the
GSA National Capital Region to award as many as 10 source
selection points to contractors using a registered craft
apprenticeship program. (The GSA National Capital Region
evaluates bidders using a 100-point source selection system.)
Because not all
apprenticeship programs are the same, the new language
requires contractors to specify the number of apprentices to
be employed, the amount invested in the apprenticeship
program(s), and the number and types of safety training
courses provided to apprentices. The new language gives
contractors who invest heavily in qualified apprenticeship
programs a competitive edge, has helped Laborers and their
signatory contractors win three major projects, and is proving
to be a powerful incentive for working union.
MA LECET also has
been promoting best-value contracting programs to various
public entities in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Contractor
Registration and Pre-qualification in New Jersey
Over the past few
years, New Jersey State LECET has worked with allies in state
government to pass and refine the Public Contractor
Registration Act. The law requires that all contractors and
subcontractors wishing to bid on public projects first
register with the state and pay a $300 fee, which helps fund
prevailing wage enforcement. Contractors applying for
registration must: state that they carry proper workers'
compensation insurance; document their corporate ownership;
and list any pending, current, or previous violations of state
or federal labor laws over the past five years. Contractors
applying for registration agree to open their records and
their businesses to follow-up verification and investigation.
Staff from NJ LECET
and the union-sector NJ Building Contractors Association also
worked with the School Construction Corporation (SCC), which
oversees all aspects of construction in the state's poorest
school districts, to draft pre-qualification requirements for
contractors wishing to bid on school work. The requirements
include apprenticeship, health and safety, and prevailing wage
compliance language. NJ LECET continues to promote
responsible bidder language to public entities throughout the
state, and to monitor enforcement of existing regulations.
Burned in the past
by unscrupulous contractors who bid low, bill high, and cheat
to compete, public and private construction users are
beginning to strike back. They are demanding proof of
compliance with federal and state laws, researching past
performance, and assessing training, skills, productivity,
safety, and other intangibles. LECET and its affiliates will
continue to help elected officials and corporate leaders
develop contracting standards and practices that promote high
quality, support a trained, skilled workforce, and level the
playing field for all bidders.
Additional Resources
and more information:
-
New England:
Jack Amaral, Administrator, New England Laborers'
Labor-Management Cooperation Trust,
jamaral@nellmct.com
or (401) 751-1011.
^ Up
-
Recently, the
federal Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) declared that its new
Operator Qualification (OQ) regulations were being
insufficiently implemented. To start, there is no single
standard for developing training and covered tasks,
contractors find they must repeatedly qualify the same staff,
owners are wary of accepting qualifications from others, and
the proprietary practices of qualification firms have made
record keeping costly and complicated. In response, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has convened a
technical task committee to craft an industry-wide consensus
standard for developing OQ programs, and LECET has a voting
seat on the committee.
The B-31 Q
Committee has been meeting regularly to help the industry
respond to regulators' concerns. Committee members hope to
develop a model Operator Qualification program that would
guide pipeline owners as they develop their own OQ programs,
and that would satisfy the demands of OPS. If successful, the
new standard would greatly simplify what has become a headache
for an industry already confronting an aging infrastructure.
The B-31 Q
Committee's work likely will shape operator qualification
programs throughout the industry for the foreseeable future;
since it is a technical task committee, most of what it
develops probably will be directly incorporated into future
pipeline legislation and regulations. As one of only 27
voting members on the committee, LECET is giving skilled
pipeline workers and their signatory contractors a real voice
in critical discussions and deliberations that will affect
their work for years to come.
Among those who
requested LECET's input on the committee was El Paso Energy
Corporation, one of the largest owners of gas distribution
pipelines in the United States, and a target of sustained
marketing efforts over the past few years. LECET will
continue to work with the B-31 Q Committee, both as it crafts
these regulations, and as it works on the expected next round,
known as OQ-3, which industry experts hope will specify
standards for training and covered task lists.
Additional
information and resources:
^ Up
Unable to agree on a
multi-year replacement for the Transportation Equity Act of
the 21st Century (TEA-21) before it expired on September 30,
the U.S. Congress passed a five-month extension to keep the
federal highway and transit administrations running. But
stalled transportation projects may worsen traffic congestion,
and amount to a loss of more than $2 billion and 90,000 jobs
throughout the transportation construction industry.
LECET and its
partners in the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC)
continue to push for a fully funded, needs-based six-year
transportation program. TCC members currently prefer the
$375-billion proposal from the House Transportation and
Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, to more miserly alternatives
put forward by the Senate and the Administration. LECET and
the TCC continue to meet with members of Congress and their
staffs to urge quick passage of the T&I Committee's bill. As
in the past, the TCC has been running an aggressive campaign
of pro-transportation radio and print ads targeting swing
members of Congress.
Several other
critical transportation and infrastructure bills remain
stalled in Congress, delaying more projects, and costing more
money and jobs. Even as travelers struggle with crowded
airports, busy runways, and the need for increased security,
the reauthorization of the Aviation Investment and Reform Act
of the 21st Century (AIR-21) remains on hold. Meanwhile,
Congress also failed to pass funding for the $72-billion Rail
Infrastructure Development and Expansion Act for the 21st
Century (RIDE-21), the $25-billion Clean Water Infrastructure
Financing Act of 2003, and several smaller infrastructure
appropriation bills.
In the wake of the
recent Northeast power blackout, and growing public concern
about infrastructure stability, LECET continues to work with
industry partners to urge Congress to act. LECET also will
continue to push for Davis-Bacon provisions in all
infrastructure bills.
More resources:
^ Up
As Laborers and
contractors promote and defend prevailing wage laws, a growing
body of literature documents the devastating social costs of
minimum- and low-wage jobs. Economist Peter Philips has shown
that states that repeal their prevailing wage laws often
increase the burden on public and private social services (Market
Lines, Volume 2, Issue 1). Now, three separate and
disturbing studies describe that burden in human terms,
showing how the race to the bottom of the wage scale is
hurting workers, communities, and the economy. They offer
powerful ammunition to those fighting to ensure tax dollars
support good jobs and strong communities.
-
In The Betrayal
of Work, former United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
Vice President Beth Shulman demonstrates how low-wage jobs
are failing those who labor in them. Of particular interest
to those engaged in the prevailing wage debate, Shulman
supports ordinances that require companies and contractors
who receive public funds to pay livable wages.
-
In Nickeled and
Dimed, writer Barbara Ehrenreich describes her
experiences working in, and trying to make ends meet on, a
variety of low-wage jobs in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota.
Advocates of prevailing-wage and living-wage laws will find
vital social ammunition in this first-hand account of the
struggles low-wage workers face.
-
Out of Reach 2003,
the National Low Income Housing Coalition's (NLIHC)
fifteenth annual study of housing costs throughout the
United States, is a vital resource for advocates of
prevailing and living wages. Visitors to
www.nlihc.org/oor2003/
can quickly access the median fair market value of rental
housing in every jurisdiction in the United States. The
site also translates that figure into an hourly “housing
wage,” and compares that wage to the minimum wage.
Taken together,
these three studies portray a growing number of hard-working
Americans left economically stranded and socially dependent by
inadequate wages and exploitive working conditions. Rather
than cutting costs, low wages merely shift them from
irresponsible employers to public agencies and private
charities, while undercutting employers who pay livable wages.
^ Up
When promoting the
work of Laborers and signatory contractors, there is no need
to re-invent the wheel. LECET’s on-line clearinghouse at
www.lecet.org continues to display the latest ideas,
programs, and materials developed by LECET and its 29
affiliates throughout the United States and Canada.
Looking for ways to
publicize your work with public schools? This brochure (at
www.lecet.org/Clearinghouse_Public/NewEngland/charter/charter.htm)
describes the work of the New England Laborers/Cranston Public
Schools Construction Career Academy. Established in 2002, the
school is the first Laborers-run, construction-centered,
public charter high school in the United States (Market
Lines, Volume 1, Issue 2).
Developing a radio
or television ad campaign? Over the past few years, the
Northwest Cooperation Fund has aired two series of commercials
on area television and radio stations. Visit
www.lecet.org/Clearinghouse_Public/Northwest/marketing_ads.htm
to view the series of ads promoting Laborers and their
contractors to construction users. Visit
www.lecet.org/Clearinghouse_Public/Northwest/workforce_ads.htm
to view advertisements that promote a career as a construction
craft laborer.
Have you developed
legislative, marketing, advertising, or workforce development
materials or programs that have been particularly effective?
Contact LECET Manager of Communications Ed Rehfeld at
ed@lecet.org
or (202) 508-4413 to arrange posting it on LECET's Resources
Clearinghouse.
^ Up
-
World of
Concrete/World of Masonry,
February 17-20, 2004, Orlando, Florida
-
LECET Seventh
Annual Computer Services Conference,
May 26-28, 2004, Newport, Rhode Island
^ Up
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|
Laborers-Employers
Cooperation and Education Trust
|
|
Labor Trustees |
Management
Trustees |
-
- Armand E. Sabitoni, Co-Chairman
- Mike Quevedo, Jr.
- Raymond M. Pocino
- Edward M. Smith
- Joseph S. Mancinelli
- Rocco Davis
- James C. Hale
-
- Bill Bergfeld, Administrator
|
-
- John C. Bartnett, Co-Chairman
- Richard E. Gardner
- Lee Smallman
- Thomas T. Holsman
- John D. O'Reilly
- Michael D'Antuono
- Massimo Marino
-
- Christopher P. Engquist, Executive Director
|
