Apprenticeship Contest/Expo 2009

For more information about this year's Contest & Expo click here

Violation of 40B will cost developers $2m+

Two of the larger locally-based residential developers in Massachusetts will pay more than $2 million to settle charges they improperly profited on an affordable housing project. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office announced the settlement, which was also reported in the Boston Herald.

Edward A. Fish and Francis X. Messina are partners in Commerce Park Housing Associates, a company which built the Turtle Crossing condo project in Braintree, taking advantage of the state’s 40B laws.

Chapter 40B allows residential developers to bypass many local approval processes if their project includes a minimum number of affordable units and the city or town does not already have a certain level of affordable housing units. It also caps the profits developers are able to garner at 20% of the total project costs.

An investigation by the AGs office found that several costs billed to the project by companies related to the developers appeared to be excessive. Though the reported profit on the project was only 19%, according to the Herald story: “Richard Heaton, a private consultant hired by the town, said the developers may have made a bigger profit by hiring their own companies and then paying them well beyond competitive rates.

“For example, Heaton wrote in a 2006 report, the $3 million in real-estate sales commissions that Fish and Messina paid Peabody Properties, a real estate sales firm that Fish owns, “appears to be excessive.”

Carpenters to rally for jobs

Union Carpenters will participate in a rally to support destination casinos prior to a hearing at the State House this Thursday, October 29.

The rally will being at 8:00 am on the steps of the State House by Boston Common.

Unions in the middle of health care debate

From the Hill...

Organized labor is flexing its muscle in Senate negotiations over healthcare reform and winning important concessions from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid has not given labor unions everything. But he has done enough to keep them from turning completely against the bill: including a version of the government-run health insurance program; raising the taxable level on high-cost insurance plans; and increasing the penalty for those companies that fail to provide health insurance to employees.

Keeping labor unions, a reliable Democratic-base group, on his side is an important accomplishment for Reid as he heads into a multi-week floor debate on the party’s biggest legislative priority. If unions were provoked to oppose the bill’s central provisions, it could tear apart the Senate Democratic Conference, pitting liberals against centrists.

Labor unions have put heavy pressure on Reid and other Senate Democrats to move away from the more centrist Senate Finance Committee bill and move closer to legislation approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Read the rest of the story here.

Erlich speaks at Progressives for Menino event

Unemployment running out on Americans

While 7,000 people a day run out of unemployment benefits, the Congress continues to bicker over how they'll extend them. From cnn.com...

One month after the House passed a bill extending unemployment benefits, the issue is still being debated in the Senate.

Democratic leaders in the Senate introduced a bill two weeks ago to lengthen benefits in all states by 14 weeks. Those that live in states with unemployment greater than 8.5% would receive an additional six weeks.

Senate Republicans, who twice objected to swift passage of the bill by unanimous consent, want to add several amendments. Their requests include paying for the increased benefits with stimulus funds rather than by extending a longstanding federal unemployment tax through June 2011.

While leaders in both parties are trying to negotiate a compromise, Senate Democrats Wednesday evening took a step to limit the debate on the bill and bring it to the floor as early as the end of next week. If it passes, the Senate legislation must then be reconciled with the House version, which extends benefits by 13 weeks for those living in high-unemployment states.

McGraw Hill gives glimmer of hope for ‘10

Some segments of the construction industry could rebound and show some growth in 2010 according to a report on the Wall Street Journal on McGraw Hill forecast. The report is the one of the few positive indicators for an industry that has been hit harder than almost any other.

According to the WSJ article, the report indicates growth in single-family houses, apartment buildings, and highways and bridges next year help to offset continued building struggles in the commercial and manufacturing sectors.

The value of construction starts this year was expected to be down 25% by year’s end in comparison to 2008. McGraw Hill projects a possible increase 11%increase in the value of construction starts in 2010.

WSJ article and the McGraw Hill study require subscription or purchase.

Does the gov't fear unions?

David Macary makes the case that they do.

Here's part of what he has to say...

The truth is, the government fears and distrusts organized labor. Why? Because a powerful workers’ collective threatens the status quo. The federal government (and the corporations who run it) fear labor unions the way our country’s founders feared the common man, which was why they invented a device (the Electoral College) allowing them to circumvent the popular vote when necessary.

And why he thinks it's a problem...

But the irony is so thick you can cut it with a knife. With the middle-class now under siege, organized labor isn’t the problem, it’s the cure. And it’s more than simple economics. It’s ethics. If Wall Street had been as law-abiding as our labor unions, there’s no banking collapse. If Wall Street had been as “honest” as the average American worker, there’s no crisis, no bail-out, no liquidation of financial institutions.

You can read his entire piece here.

Advocating for unions to young Americans

A piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette titled "Young people need unions" by Michael Fedor and Jennifer Jannon makes some interesting points many may take for granted.

In school, most of us weren't taught that America's working people, united in unions, fought to win weekends off, the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage and safe workplaces. Nor were we taught that union members now earn 30 percent more and are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance than nonunion workers. Or that for women and people of color, the best guarantee of equal pay for equal work is a union contract.

Even worse is the constant drumbeat that union workers make more money that those outside unions and that that's a bad thing.

Globe covers union endorsements in Mass Senate race

Which candidate has more union endorsements? How many members are represented by those endorsements? What's the union endorsement breakdown by industry? And what does it all mean?

Boston Globe political columnist Brian Mooney takes on all of these questions. Mooney's been around Boston, politics and unions a while. He's even been one of the more active union members over at the Globe lately.

Coakley’s union strength is based in the building trades and in the transportation and hospitality industries, because of her aggressive enforcement of the state’s wage laws, a lesser priority for her predecessors. Her office issues news releases at a rate of almost one a week, announcing charges or settlements with companies engaged in fraudulent employment practices, such as misclassifying employees as independent contractors or failing to contribute to insurance for unemployment and workers’ compensation.

Capuano’s voting record in Congress has earned him a 97 percent career rating from the AFL-CIO, and his labor support cuts across several industries, in part because he has voted against most of the United States’ trade agreements with other nations. Manufacturing and industrial-sector unions say those agreements place American workers at a competitive disadvantage because of cheap labor in countries such as Mexico and China.

“Coakley gets great credit with the building trades for being much better on [wage and hour law enforcement], but she doesn’t have all the building trades, and Capuano has experience in broader issues that come before Congress,’’ Haynes said.

Snow job by Kal-Vin at Stowe?

Kal-Vin Construction Management has run into more bad publicity, this time in Vermont, where they have been hired to perform work at Stowe Mountain Resort’s Spruce Peak project. The Stowe Reporter ran a story on Thursday after NERCC organizers and members were handing out leaflets questioning the use of Kal-Vin at the resort by the general contractor, Pizzigalli Construction. (Stowe Reporter requires free registration)

The leaflet brought to light the fact that Stowe Mountain Resort is owned by AIG, the now-infamous financial services company which was given direct payments or credit lines of more than $150 billion. Interesting that AIG continued to pay out a similar amount in retention payments and bonuses to employees and then a company notorious for cutting corners on carpenters by skirting tax and insurance laws does work for them.

The company, which operates under the names Kal-Vin, GNPB and Northrock, has apparently changed strategies and is now using more of a “no comment” strategy when dealing with unpleasant media inquiries. They refused to comment for the Stow Reporter story.

Just two weeks ago, when a story was being reported about their use of subcontractors who misclassify workers, a spokesperson would not deny the allegation, saying only they “couldn’t speak on that.”

Also last month, one of their subcontractors working on a Hyatt Place in Montville, Connecticut—Matrix Interior Construction—was issued a Stop Work order for violations of workers compensation and independent contractor laws. An owner of that company has also been involved in a major drug case, after he sold oxycontin to undercover law enforcement agents.

2009 Apprenticeship Contest/Expo Winners

On October 1-3, 2009 the New England Carpenters Training Center in Millbury, MA hosted the annual Apprenticeship Contest and Exposition.

Fourth year apprentices from local unions throughout New England competed in five categories, General Carpentry, Interior Systems, Interior Finish, Concrete Forms, and Floor Covering. Demonstrations were put on by Pile Drivers Local 56 and Carpenters Local 94.

Thirty-six high schools attended the Expo on Friday. It is estimated that nearly 1,000 students, instructors and advisors toured the facilities. NERCC staff gave the students guided tours of the facilities at the training center while the contest participants were working on their projects. Upon completion of their tours, each student had lunch courtesy of the Training Center.

Visitors were able to stop by various informational booths including those put on by the Carpenters Health Benefits Fund, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, First Trade Union Bank, the Sisters in the Brotherhood, and the Carpenters Assistance Program.

Thanks to the Local Unions and contractors who supported the contest.

The winners were as follows:

General Carpentry
1st – Matthew Malinn – Local 40
2nd – Matthew Calistro – Local 107
3rd – David Kulikowski – Local 67

Interior Systems
1st – Jack Day – Local 33
2nd – Christopher Gallo – Local 24
3rd – Joshua Gerrish – Local 475

Interior Finish
1st Justin Germond – Local 43
2nd Robert Keaney – Local 33
3rd – Andrew Croteau – Local 26

Concrete Forms
1st – James Karpicky – Local 210
2nd – Jonathan Thibault – Local 107
3rd – Brian Rogers – Local 275

Floor Coverers
1st – James Navarro – Local 2168
2nd – Rigoberto Henriquez – Local 2168
3rd – Angel Ramos – Local 43

Al Halpern Award – James Navarro – Local 2168

NNE carpenters ratify new agreement

Members in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine last night voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement negotiated with contractors working in the three Northern New England states. More than 88% of members voting cast a ballot to accept the three-year agreement, which will provide a $3.90 increase in the total wage and benefit package.

The financial increase is proportionally equivalent to those negotiated in other new agreements throughout the New England Regional Council of Carpenters this year. They will cover anticipated increases in benefit costs over the next three years.

Each year of the agreement $1.30 will be added to the total package, with increases coming in October and April. An immediate increase of $0.65, will be added to hourly pension contributions and $0.02 will be added to wages. The remaining $0.63 from the first and year will be added to hourly health benefit contributions on April 1, 2010. The increases of $1.30 in the second and third year will be divided and allocated by members at a future date.

The agreement also includes language to cover tide work and offshore work, clearly defining shifts, wage and overtime requirements and working conditions for those areas of work.