***************************PLEASE NOTE****************************

The Cornhusker Chapter will be having a seminar on March 3 at Quarry Oaks Clubhouse to discuss the Employee Free Choice Act or “card check”.  Also included in the seminar will be other labor issues.  The presenter for this seminar will be Bill Harding, Chapter Attorney.  Watch you mail for details!

************************************************************************

SALTING UPDATE:On January 6, 2009, the NLRB issued a memo on salting which will make it more difficult for employers to defend themselves in back pay proceedings.  In 2007, the NLRB issued a decision (Oil Capitol Sheet Metal) holding that it no longer will apply a rebuttable presumption that a salt who was not hired because of his or her union activity would have continued to work indefinitely for the employer.  As a consequence, the salt will not be entitled to back pay for the period from the date of discrimination until the employer makes a valid hiring offer.  Rather, the NLRB held that the General Counsel must prove that the salt, if hired, would have worked for the employer for the entire period claimed.  In the January 6, 2009 memo, the Associate General Counsel of the NLRB instructed regional office personnel throughout the country to not release information about union organizing and salting because it deserves confidential protection and exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  The memo notes that under the Oil Capitol decision, regional offices will need to obtain evidence in addition to interim earnings of the salt and work searches by the salt.  The additional evidence will include union policies and practices regarding salting, specific union plans regarding the targeted employer, union instructions to or agreements with the salts regarding the anticipated duration of employment, and historic information on the duration of employment by salts during similar organizing campaigns by the same union.  The new memo states that information about such information is protected from disclosure under FOIA because disclosure “could interfere with enforcement proceedings.”  Nondisclosure is also said to be consistent with instructions from the NLRB Case handling Manual to exempt evidence from FOIA requests regarding more “controverted issues” and to ensure that confidentiality and privacy protections are maintained.  Employers seeking to discover such information on a pre-hearing basis will now be required to submit a formal FOIA request even though in the past regional offices have made available to the employer “all factual information or documents” which are relevant to the computation of back pay.  This new policy of the NLRB will make it even more difficult for employers to defend themselves in back pay proceedings involving salts.  Nebraska construction industry employers should be certain to take reasonable precautions against salting cases during 2009 by making sure that all company supervisors are well aware of legal obligations and restrictions concerning salts, as well as comments which are allowed and comments which are prohibited during a union organizing drive.

                                                                                                           By Bill Harding, Chapter Attorney

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS PRICES DOWN ACROSS THE BOARD IN DECEMBER:Construction materials prices dropped 2.5 percent in December 2008 from the previous month, according to the January 15th producer price index (PPI) report by the U.S. Labor Department.  This represents the third straight month where construction materials prices have fallen bringing the fourth quarter price declines to 8.3 percent.  Today’s PPI report represents a mixture of good and bad news,” said Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The good news is that key construction materials prices are now in sustained decline and this increases the appetite for construction services, all things being equal.

Prices for fabricated structural metal products dropped another 0.9 percent for the month, still up 12.6 percent from levels in December 2007.  Plumbing fixtures and fittings prices were unchanged in December. Nonferrous wire and cable prices dropped for the fifth straight month, down 2.9 percent from November and 13.5 percent from December 2007.

ON-CALL PAY UPDATE:On January 6, 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released an opinion letter providing further advice and direction to employers on when employees must be paid for being on-call.  In the DOL opinion letter, the employer inquired whether on-call periods are compensable if employees are required to be “immediately reachable,” to refrain from using alcohol or “other substances,” and report to work within an hour if the employer requests them to report for work.  The employer also represented that “it is rare” for employees assigned to on-call status to actually be called to report for work.  As a consequence, the DOL opinion letter concluded that the requirements set forth “are not so restrictive” as to convert the normally unpaid on-call time into “hours worked” under the FLSA.  Significantly, the DOL opinion letter also concluded that any discipline enforced by the employer against employees who fail to follow the on-call restrictions would need to be “resolved privately” because the FLSA does not generally “regulate work schedules and work assignments.”  It is generally the case that if employees are free to use on-call time for personal activities, the time spent on-call is normally not considered compensable time under the FLSA.  However, Nebraska construction industry employers should review their on-call restrictions to be sure that the restrictions are not so strict as to convert the on-call time into compensable time under the FLSA.

                                                                                                           By Bill Harding, Chapter Attorney

ABC URGES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO PRESERVE OPEN COMPETITION: ABC Jan. 21 issued a statement by 2009 ABC National Chairman Jerry Gorski, president of Gorski Engineering, Inc., Collegeville, Pa., urging President Barack Obama to preserve Executive Order 13202 barring federal agencies from requiring union-only project labor agreements on federal and federally funded construction projects.  “We need to heed President Obama’s remarks in yesterday’s historic inaugural address calling for investment in our nation’s infrastructure that will help rebuild America’s roads, bridges and schools. President Obama tempered those same remarks with his warning that those ‘who manage the public's dollars’ must also ‘spend wisely’ and ‘reform bad habits,’” Gorski said.

“With those principles in mind, President Obama can ensure that federal dollars are being administered responsibly by maintaining the principles of open competition in awarding federal and federally funded construction projects, as is required by Executive Order 13202. This directive has fostered a federal procurement environment for construction contracts rich with free and open competition without costly and discriminatory government-mandated, union-only project labor agreements.  “Repealing Executive Order 13202 undoubtedly would harm small and women- and minority-owned construction businesses. The National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford recently said, ‘a project labor agreement is a license to discriminate against black workers.’ These businesses, their employees and all construction craft workers deserve to be included in federal contracting opportunities,” said Gorski.

Meanwhile, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) offered an amendment (S.A. 34) to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 181) being debated in the U.S. Senate. The measure would codify into law Executive Order 13202 and permanently protect taxpayers from costly and discriminatory union-only PLA requirements on federal and federally funded construction contracts. ABC strongly supports this legislation.

*******************EXCELLENCE IN CONSTRUCTION*****************

February 10, 2009

Embassy Suites Hotel

1040 P Street

Lincoln, NE

If you haven’t made your reservations to attend the premier event of the year, do so today by calling

 402-477-4451.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Training Classes

Management & Safety Class Schedule

First Aid/CPR Classes

$50.00 each attendee – Member Price/$60.00 each attendee – Non-Member

Recertification only - $40.00 each attendee – Member Price/$50.00 each attendee – Non-Member Price

¨  January 29, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – OMAHA

¨  February 11, 2009 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  February 25, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – OMAHA

¨  February 26, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – LINCOLN

¨  March 5, 2009 – 1:00 – 5:00p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  March 12, 2009 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – OMAHA

¨  March 18, 2009 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – KEARNEY

¨  March 24, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – LINCOLN

¨  March 26, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – OMAHA

¨  April 1, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. - OMAHA

OSHA 10 Hour Class

OSHA requires a competent person on all job sites.  This course ensures that your people have the necessary training to comply with OSHA standards CFR 1926.32(f) for a competent person. Training includes OSHA Construction Standards CFR 29 1926, Scaffolds, Ladders and Stairways, Housekeeping, Personal Tools, Electrical Hazards, Fall Protection, Materials Handling, Hazardous Communications and much more!

**CFR 192 OSHA Regulations Book for the Construction Industry with new steel erection standards will be available for $25.00** each for class participants.

$135.00 each attendee – Member Price/$240.00 each attendee – Non-Member Price

¨  January 27, 2009 – 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  January 28, 2009 – 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – OMAHA

¨  February 20, 2009 - 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  February 24, 2009 -  7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  March 10, 2009 – 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – OMAHA

¨  March 12, 2009 – 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  March 19, 2009 – 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – KEARNEY

¨  March 25, 2009 - 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – OMAHA

¨  March 26, 2009 - 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

¨  April 1, 2009 - 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – OMAHA

Forklift/All Terrain Training

The OSHA standard 29CFR1926.602(d) requires employees who operate forklifts be trained in both the classroom and through a practical exercise on the type of equipment that they will be running in the field.

$125.00 each attendee – Member Price/$200.00 each attendee – Non-Member Price

¨  March 4, 2009 – 7:00 – 11:00 a.m. – OMAHA

¨  March 5, 2009 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. - LINCOLN


30 Hour OSHA Class

Federal Law requires each company have a designated trained safety coordinator.  This will give your foremen, supervisors, safety directors or safety coordinators the expertise to comply with all OSHA and State requirements.  This is an in-depth look at CFR 1926 and 1920 and NE 757 as they affect construction. Price includes study materials

$395.00 each attendee – Member Price / $595.00 each attendee –Non-Member price.

¨  April 2, 9, 15, 2009 -7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – LINCOLN

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Omaha Classes are held at the Education Center, 2602 Harney Street, Omaha

Lincoln Classes are held at the Training Center, 830 Westgate Blvd., Lincoln

PLEASE DUPLICATE THIS FORM FOR MULTIPLE CLASSES

Company:                                         Address:                                Phone:                                   Fax:               

Names (please print):                                                                       Class/Date:                            Cost:              

                                                                                                          Class/Date:                            Cost:              

                                                                                                           Class/Date:                            Cost:              

Return Registration Form and Check Payable to Associated Builders & Contractors

830 Westgate Blvd., Lincoln, NE  68528    FAX 402-477-4522

Email-debh@abcnebraska.org