Signs of life in SEMass construction

The New Bedford Standard-Time is reporting today on an increase in building permit applications in area towns, which it cites as possible signs of recovery for the area. The increase in activity is chalked up to numerous factors, including hungry bidders pushing down bid prices and the influx of stimulus money.

Carpenters Local 1305 Business Manager Ron Rheaume was a source for the story, and is quoted in it: "We're finally getting people back to work after what I call the Great Depression. The last two years have been the worst I've seen around here in my 36 years on the job. The last two years, it's been so depressing it's ridiculous."

MassINC to feature NYTimes labor writer

MassINC, a nonpartisan think-tank based in Boston, will be hosting Steve Greenhouse, New York Times labor reporter and author of the book “The Big Squeeze; Tough Times for the American Worker” on April 7. The session, co-sponsored by the New England Regional Council of Carpenters will focus on the book, which details how the culture and conditions of the American workplace have changed over the years and the significant impact those changes are having on both white- and blue-collar workers.

Greenhouse will be introduced by NERCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich. The lunch meeting will take place at noon at the UMass club at the UMass Club, 225 Franklin Street, 33rd Floor in Boston.

To register for the free event, please visit this link.

Where'd the stimulus money go?

Mark Erlich, head of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, chimes in on a story about the distribution stimulus money in Massachusettsin a story by Jay Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald.

“When they put together the stimulus program a year ago, they were talking about ‘shovel-ready’ jobs and a second WPA,” said Mark Erlich, head of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, referring to the Works Progress Administration’s building programs during the Great Depression. “That clearly hasn’t happened.”

Carpenters Union opens new headquarters in Dorchester

As reported by Jon Chesto in today's Patriot Ledger:

BOSTON — New England union opens a new headquarters in Dorchester

Motorists on the Southeast Expressway are passing a new landmark on their commutes in and out of Boston: the new three-story headquarters for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters.

The 75,000-square-foot building’s exterior has essentially two faces: a modern wall along the highway and a more traditional cedar-paneled facade that can be seen from the neighborhood. Union spokesman Bert Durand said the mix was intentional, partly as a courtesy to the union’s residential neighbors and partly as a reflection of the union membership’s varied range of skills.

The most distinct feature is a 30-foot tall digital sign that can be seen from the expressway. The sign’s LED lights can quickly be reprogrammed to show a new image. The union is using the sign to promote the carpentry trade, as well as providing public service announcements and supporting favored political candidates.

The carpenters council relocated last month from its old headquarters on Summer Street in South Boston. The new building allowed the union to move its training facility from Brighton, as well as other operations, under one roof within the past few weeks.

The carpenters union had been looking for a new location for at least a decade, union officials said. Durand said the union also considered locations in South Boston’s marine industrial park and on Morrissey Boulevard.

The current site at 750 Dorchester Ave. was picked for several reasons, including the ample parking, visibility and easy highway access. The property is also convenient to the Red Line, as it sits between the Andrew Square and JFK/UMass stops.

The union bought the property in 2008 from an owner of Dirigo Spice for more than $5 million, although the site had fallen into disuse. The structure was originally built in the 1940s as a laundry for the Archdiocese of Boston. The old building was gutted and its second story was removed, and the carpenters used the first floor as a foundation to build a new second level and a third level.

Mark Erlich, the council’s executive secretary-treasurer, said the union spent about $19 million on construction. More than 900 union members participated in the construction project in some way, as subcontractors, apprentices or volunteers, Erlich said. “We want our members to feel like it’s their building,” he said.

To view the article online, including pictures, click here.

Hanover SJC arguments up for viewing online

The arguments before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regarding Callahan, Inc the handling of prequalification and award of the Hanover (Mass) High School to Callahan, Inc are now available for viewing online at this site. The case is Fordyce v Town of Hanover.

The protest, filed by ten union members who are residents of the town, alleges that Callahan, Inc committed fraud when it took credit for another company’s work and should be removed from the job. The Massachusetts Attorney General joined the members as a party to the suit. They had previously issued an opinion that Callahan, Inc had misled the town, a ruling which the Town ignored.

Three contractors associations--Associated General Contractors (AGC), Construction Industries of Massachusetts (CIM) and the Utitility Contractors Association of New England (UCANE)—all of which represent both union and nonunion contractors in the state, filed briefs with the court in support of the union’s position.

Their involvement, highlights the importance of this case not just to Hanover, but to the construction industry statewide. The CIM-UCANE brief, in particular, illustrates the ways in which the integrity of the public bidding system would be severely undermined should the events in Hanover be allowed to stand. The AGC brief is also instructive.

As to the cost and time delays the Town has consistently cited as a reason for pushing forward with Callahan, Inc., the job was not really begun when the AG issued its determination that Callahan, Inc had lied on its SOQ. Minor site clearing had been done and a temporary parking lot was built. Options other than continuing with Callahan were certainly available to the Town at that point and subsequent to that. Please refer to Note 4 of the CIM brief on page 12:

“It should be noted that the public bidding statutes contain an “emergency” provision that, under certain exigent circumstances, empowers an awarding authority to bid a contract in an expedited manner if necessary and appropriate to safeguard the awarding authority’s interest. SEE G.L. c. 149, S 44A Where, as here, the awarding authority is confronted with late-discovered bidding irregularities that it believes may threaten the timing of the project, this “emergency bidding provision” provides a more than adequate mechanism for promptly and expeditiously re-bidding the project or otherwise rectifying the irregularities at issue. The availability of this alternative procedure (as well as the clearly articulated goals of the public bidding laws) makes the alternative of proceeding with a tainted contract even less justifiable.”

A decision on the case is expected within a week. If the action of the Town to ignore the fraud by Callahan, Inc and award them the job is not reversed it could seriously undermine the integrity of the public bidding process throughout the Commonwealth.

Workers issued checks for owed wages

At least two workers employed on a project to convert a former hospital building into affordable housing in Bridgeport, Connecticut are receiving checks totaling close to $50,000 for back wages owed to them. Despite public money funding the project from at least three local and state agencies,the workers were not paid at the legally mandated prevailing wage rate by their employer, Fairfield County Drwyall. The Bridgeport-based company was a subcontractor for Viking Construction.

The workers received help in getting their wages from NERCC Organizers in Connecticut, including Ted Duarte, who says the initial contact was a byproduct of the good work of Organizers in the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters.

Duarte said that a carpenter on a job in New York was assisted in getting wages he was owed by Empire State Council Organizer Rich Craven. That carpenter was a friend of one of the drywallers on the Bridgeport job, who suspected he was owed wages. Craven spoke to him and facilitated a meeting with Duarte, who helped get state authorities involved.

"This is the way a lot of nonunion carpenters come to us, how they get to know about us and what we do," Duarte said. "They have a buddy who got stiffed on a job and got paid because a union organizer helped them. When we help them get paid hundreds or thousands of dollars, that word can really get around. Rich did good work for the carpenter in New York and it led to us being able to help two more guys get paid here."

One of the workers in Bridgeport was recently given a check in excess of $32,000 for sixteen weeks of pay he was owed. Duarte said he should be getting an additional $1,500. The other carpenter was paid about $11,000 and could have more coming, too, Duarte said.

Prevailing wage laws exist at the federal level and in many states to ensure contractors do not gain a bidding advantage by underpaying workers. Wage rates for building trades crafts workers are established through local area surveys, which determine the fair market value for hourly wages. Prevailing wage laws have helped protect a decent standard of living for the nation's construction workforce. They also ensure highly skilled crafts workers build with public dollars, rather than whoever is willing to work for less.

Middle Class Task Force issues annual report

Last week, the Obama Adminstration released the first annual report from its Middle Class Task Force. The group, chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, was established with the goals of
* Expanding education and lifelong training opportunities
* Improving work and family balance
* Restoring labor standards, including workplace safety
* Helping to protect middle-class and working-family incomes
* Protecting retirement security

Working with eight cabinet secretaries and the directors of four Executive Branch agencies, the Task Force has worked to identify challenges facing the existing middle class and future access to education and worker development that have helped grow the middle class.

Top-to-bottom reviews of policies and services were supplemented by meetings and comment periods to solicit the concerns of workers, businesses and leaders of industries that support the middle class.

“The goal of this Task Force has been clear from the start - to make sure the middle class emerges from this recession able to grow stronger and more secure than before it began,” said Vice President Biden. “We’ve spent the past year traveling the country talking about the economic challenges facing the middle class. As a result, the initiatives we lay out in this report offer specific solutions to improve the quality-of-life for middle class families everywhere.”

More from Maine on Misclassification

The following article appeared in the York County (ME) Journal Tribune.

By KRISTEN SCHULZE MUSZYNSKI
City Editor/ Journal Tribune
Revisions are underway on a new law that was created to enforce tax laws but has unintentionally made it difficult for some independent contractors to work in Maine.

The law, "An Act to Enforce the Misclassification Law for Construction Workers," became effective Jan. 1 and incorporates a new 12-part test to determine whether a construction worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

It was created to crack down on employers who have been avoiding paying for worker's compensation insurance and some federal taxes by mis-labeling employees as independent contractors. The law goes hand-in-hand with federal efforts that began this month to increase enforcement and regain the taxes that are lost each year to misclassification.

"It's a huge concern, not only in Maine but nationally," said Paul Dionne, executive director of the Maine Workers Compensation Board.

According to a 2005 Harvard Law School study, an estimated 3,213 construction workers in Maine were misclassified between 1999-2002. Income tax revenue is lost from these workers, costing the state an estimated $2.6-4.3 million annually, the study states, and up to $6.5 million of worker compensation premiums are not paid annually for these workers.

The governor's task force on worker misclassification submitted its first annual report Thursday, citing progress in increasing education about the issue and improving inter-agency communication.

Unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, health insurance and other employee benefits are not available to those who are misclassified as independent contractors, the task force report states.

Misclassified workers are found in several fields, but the practice is more prevalent in the construction industry. The task force report notes that the Maine Department of Labor reviewed unemployment audits and found that the misclassification of employees occurred in 29 percent of employers audited across all industries in 2004; 39 percent in 2005; 43 percent in 2006; and 41 percent in 2007.

"It's been running loosey-goosey and now it's become the norm," said John M. Leavitt of Saco, business manager of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. "It's unbelievable that it got this unraveled."

Task force members heard testimony from various people who have been negatively impacted by worker misclassification, as noted in their annual report: One worker told the task force about hospital bills he couldn't pay because he had been misclassified, while a Maine taxi company told the force about being driven out of business by competing cab companies who misclassify their employees.

An amendment to the new law is currently being considered that would allow the state to shut down work on a construction site until the insurance is purchased and prohibit the contractor from taking on any public projects for three years.

That change would be a "real attention-getter," said Leavitt. Those workers who avoid paying worker's compensation insurance will always be able to bid lower than those who follow the laws, said Leavitt ­ an estimated 30 percent less.

"It is a great expense (to purchase insurance), but there is an expense to running a business," he said. "There's a responsibility to the employees and the industry. It's not a matter of fair or unfair, it's illegal. People who say it'll hurt their business, that's not a business, that's a guy who's beating up his workers to make a profit."

Problems have arisen, however, for independent contractors who have found that the new law requires them to re-apply for their status each time they get a new job or new employer.

"It's been very difficult for independent contractors to apply for a number of jobs," said Dionne. "If they get 40-50 jobs a year, they need to apply each time if the insurance mandates it." In response to concerns from contractors throughout the state, the Labor Committee of the Legislature has been reviewing the bill in the past few months for revisions.

"It's a difficult situation," said Rep. John Tuttle, D-Sanford, who is chairman of the Labor Committee. "In the weeks ahead, we hope we can work something out." Along with the proposed penalties, a shorter application form has been developed to determine independent contractor status and it will be made an annual request, said Dionne. The approval will also be made portable between employers.

"What we're trying to do is simplify the process for everybody," he said.
Dionne stressed that the form is not mandated by the state or the workers' comp board, even though insurers such as MEMIC have been requiring employers to show who is an employee or an independent contractor, to determine premiums.

Tuttle said the bill was originally intended to address the concern that some workers have no worker's compensation insurance, and to protect those employers who follow the laws.

City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext.
322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com. The Journal Tribune is located in Biddeford, Maine.

Speaking out on problems at Stowe

Governor highlights divers training

Governor Deval Patrick is forwarding an email from Local 56 Business Representative Dave Borrus to thousands of Massachusetts residents. The topic? Training Local 56 is offering commercial divers in a that was funded by a grant from the Patrick administration. It has previously been featured by the UBC's website.

Borrus' email includes a slide show and audio of Borrus and fellow members of Local 56 telling the story of the tank and how the training program for it developed. It is embedded below.

Local 56 started using the 7,000 gallon tank in September of 2008. Construction was made possible through two $80,000 grants from the state, grants which had been stalled under the previous administration.

"Governor Patrick restored funding that provide the means by which we had this tank constructed. He understood this was training money. These were individual grants to grow the economy," Borrus says. "This is one small one. This is the seed that grew into millions and millions of dollars of jobs."

Borrus reports that since the tank training began, contractors using union divers have won 9 contracts that have produced 54,000 work hours and generated more than $4 million in wages and benefits.

"These paychecks that would've gone to other states are here, being spent locally," Borrus said. "Those tax dollars on those wages earned are coming back into Massachusetts. These funds that made this tank construction possible were vetoed by the previous administration."

Coakley gets workers $145k

Full press release here.

BOSTON - Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has reached an agreement with a Pennsylvania based engineering and utility infrastructure contractor to settle allegations they failed to pay 54 employees the proper state prevailing wage. Henkels & McCoy, Inc., of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $145,000 in restitution as well as $15,000 in penalties to the Commonwealth as a result of the violations.

American workers getting smaller share of wealth they create

Stop us if you've heard this one before. The Christian Science Monitor has run a story saying that American workers are creating more wealth through productivity, but getting a far smaller share of the wealth they create.

American labor isn't getting its full share of the nation's output.

Indeed, its share is at a "record low," says Charles McMillion, chief economist at MBG Information Services, a Washington consulting firm. "Labor has no leverage." So wages have been "depressed, stagnant, or falling" for some 30 years.

Much of that lost compensation went to business and its owners. Last year, for example, businesses raised workers' hourly pay a little (2.2 percent) but cut their hours a lot (5.1 percent). The result? The remaining workforce became considerably more productive, creating more goods and services per hour worked.

Ideally, business and labor would share about equally in productivity gains. Over the past three decades, though, business has reaped the bigger share. For every dollar of goods and services the United States produced in 1974, all employees reaped about 59 cents. Last year, their share had fallen to 55 cents. In a $14 trillion economy, that amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars in lost wages every year.

Credit Card Changes Benefit American Cardholders

By Tom Iacobucci
Changes to how credit card fees are assessed will save American consumers billions of dollars by ending unfair and deceptive practices.

Just two of these practices – retroactive rate increases and ‘hair-trigger’ penalty interest rates – were costing U.S. consumers a minimum of $10 billion per year,” according to a new study released by the Pew Trust’s Safe Credit Cards project.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD) was approved in 2009 by the Democratic Congress and signed into law by President Obama. The law is being implemented in three phases.

The initial changes were implemented in the summer of 2009:

• Cardholders now have a 45 day advance notice of any interest rate increase (or other significant change) or the right to close the account if they do not agree to certain changes in terms.
• Monthly statements must be mailed 21 days before a payment is due.

But the most substantial changes take effect this month, including:

• Credit card companies cannot increase your rate for the first 12 months after you open an account, except in the following circumstances:
• 
  

If there is an introductory rate, it must be in place for at least 6 months; after that your rate can revert to the "go-to" rate the company disclosed when you got the card.

If you are more than 60 days late in paying your bill, your rate can go up.

If you are in a workout agreement and you don't make your payments as agreed, your rate can go up.

If your card has a variable interest rate tied to an index; your rate can go up whenever the index goes up.

• If your credit card company does raise your interest rate after the first year, the new rate will apply only to new charges you make. If you have a balance, your old interest rate will apply to that balance.
• Card issuers must apply payments to higher-interest balances, before applying them to lower-interest balances.
• Credit card statements will now include information on how long it will take you to pay off your balance if you only make minimum payments. It will also tell you how much you would need to pay each month in order to pay off your balance in three years.
• Cardholders charged a penalty Annual Percentage Rate (APR) will be able to return to the regular, non-penalty rate by making the first six months of payments on time after the penalty is imposed.
• Due dates must be the same day every month.
• Card issuers cannot charge more than 25 percent of the available credit in up-front fees on subprime cards. This restriction does not include penalty fees.
• Applicants under age 21 must have a co-signer or provide proof of ability to repay before they can be issued a card.

The third and final stage of new consumer credit card protections will take effect in August 2010. Among those changes:

• Gift cards will no longer expire in less than five years and will be subject to inactivity fees only if they have not been used for more than 12 months.
• The amount of any penalty fee or charge imposed for violating a credit card account agreement (e.g., late payment fee) must be “reasonable and proportional” to the violation.
• If a creditor increases a rate based on the credit risk of the consumer, market conditions, or “other factors,” the creditor must:
  

maintain reasonable methodologies for assessing those factors;

review any account on which a rate has been increased since Jan. 1, 2009 not less frequently than every 6 months to assess whether the factors have changed; and if the review indicates that a reduction is warranted, reduce the rate.

With this new law, consumers will have the strong and reliable protections they deserve. We will continue to press for reform that is built on transparency, accountability, and mutual responsibility – values fundamental to the new foundation we seek to build for our economy," said President Obama after signing the law.
To learn more about these credit card changes, go to www.federalreserve.gov/creditcard.

About Tom
Tom Iacobucci is a Vice President for Institutional Banking and the Union Affinity Program Manager with First Trade Union Bank. This spring he will be teaching a Personal Finance Class at the Labor Guild School of Industrial Relations titled: “Manage your money or it will manage you! Things you should know about personal finance”. For more information about the course visit The Labor Guild. First Trade is an FDIC Member and an Equal Housing / Equal Opportunity Lender.

Erlich speaks about economy, future of labor

Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mark Erlich was recently interviewed by MassINC (Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth), a nonpartisan think tank of which the Carpenters Union was a founding member and sponsor 14 years ago. Erlich currently sits on the Board of Directors for MassINC.

In the piece, Erlich speaks about changing economies, the changing culture among business leaders and the way the labor movement has reacted, or failed to react. You can read it by clicking here.

UBC seeking antique tools, photos for convention

All UBC Councils can help the Brotherhood celebrate its nearly 130-year legacy of strength and progress during the 40th General Convention in August by contributing antique tools for an exhibit of union artifacts and archival material.

We expect to assemble a collection of tools, documents, and other items to help tell the Brotherhood’s proud story. Besides tools, we also are seeking other appropriate materials such as—but not limited to—photographs, convention memorabilia, and pins.

The deadline for submissions is May 1.

For more information, contact Robert Welch at rwelch@carpenters.org.

WaPo calls out myths about labor movement

On Sunday the Washington Post ran a piece by Alex MacGillis about the condition of the labor movement as popularly portrayed in the media. The story highlighted what he calls the five biggest myths. It is well worth the read for those who find themselves frustrated by union opponents who are long on hot air and anger but low on facts and perspective.

Tax notes

For those members who collected unemployment benefits in 2009, the first $2400 of benefits is now tax-deductible on their federal return. Previously, unemployment benefits were taxed from the first dollar.

In addition, members can deduct the value of union dues—both monthly local union dues as well as the hourly work assessment—as in the past.

Tackling "Wage theft"

Miami-Dade County recently passed a law that will enable workers--even immigrant workers--to bring action against employers who don't pay them properly. The Miami Herald supports the move in an editorial run last week..

The law, similar to one in San Francisco and ones being considered in Los Angeles and New Orleans, was pushed for by the Florida Immigration Coalition, a group comprised of labor and immigrant advocacy groups.

Feds building for agressive push on misclassification

The NYTimes' Steve Greenhouse sums up the problem, what's being done by some states and what the Obama administration is preparing to do about it. Nice piece to share.

Companies that pass off employees as independent contractors avoid paying Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance taxes for those workers. Companies do not withhold income taxes from contractors’ paychecks, and several studies have indicated that, on average, misclassified independent workers do not report 30 percent of their income.

One federal study concluded that employers illegally passed off 3.4 million regular workers as contractors, while the Labor Department estimates that up to 30 percent of companies misclassify employees. Ohio’s attorney general estimates that his state has 92,500 misclassified workers, which has cost the state up to $35 million a year in unemployment insurance taxes, up to $103 million in workers’ compensation premiums and up to $223 million in income tax revenue.

“It’s a very significant problem,” said the attorney general, Richard Cordray. “Misclassification is bad for business, government and labor. Law-abiding businesses are in many ways the biggest fans of increased enforcement. Misclassifying can mean a 20 or 30 percent cost difference per worker.”

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The Obama administration plans to expand investigations by hiring 100 more enforcement personnel. The I.R.S. has begun auditing 6,000 companies to see whether they are in compliance with the law.

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The administration also plans to rewrite a three-decade-old I.R.S. rule that lets companies indefinitely classify employees as independent contractors — even when the government knows they are misclassified — so long as the company once had a reasonable belief that the workers were contractors.

Two positions available

The Fair Labor Division of the Office of the Attorney General in Massachusetts is seeking to fill two Wage and Hour Investigator positions.

Duties:
The Wage and Hour Investigator I (functional) reviews and investigates violations of labor standards under M.G.L. Chapter 149 and other related regulations and statutes; conducts interviews concerning complaints of wage violations; writes reports; responds to inquiries from employees, employers, and their representatives regarding applicable laws, codes, rules and regulations; conducts site visits; testifies at civil and criminal hearings and before the Grand Jury; and supports the enforcement of wage, hour, child labor and prevailing wage and other related work as required. Inspectors (Investigators) also conduct payroll audits and analyze financial records.

Qualifications:
Applicants must have at least (A) two years of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional or technical experience in inspection or investigatory work or in the regulation or enforcement of wage and hour laws, or (B) any equivalent combination of the required experience and applicable substitutions. Possession of a current and valid Massachusetts Class 3 Motor Vehicle Operator’s license is required.

SUBSTITUTIONS:
I. An Associate’s degree with a major in a related discipline may be substituted for one year of the required experience.
II. A bachelor’s degree with a major in a related discipline may be substituted for the required experience.


Preferred Qualifications:
Professional or technical experience and investigatory work in labor standards is preferred. Law enforcement or construction and trade experience also preferred. Computer and auditing skills preferred. Spanish or Brazilian-Portuguese language skills are also preferred.

How To Apply:
Apply by submitting cover letter,and resume and to:
Sandra L. Macdonald, Recruitment & Hiring Coordinator
Office of the Attorney General
Human Resource Management Office
One Ashburton Place, 18th Floor
Boston, MA 02108

More information is available at the online job posting.