The National Labor Relations Board has ruled in the second of two bannering cases brought by the San Diego Chapter AGC, finding lawful a union’s display, at business locations of secondary employers, of banners announcing a “labor dispute” and seeking to “shame” the employers or to persuade the public not to patronize the employers.  The ruling is the final Board decision in a series of bannering cases originating in 2003-2004.  The Board first ruled a year ago, and in each case since then, that such activity did not constitute picketing and did not “threaten, coerce, or restrain” the secondary employers as proscribed by the National Labor Relations Act.

There is still time to register for AGC’s 2011 HR Professionals Conference, Training, Education & Development (TED) Conference, and Federal Contracting Compliance Construction HR Workshop, but the hotel discount ends Friday, Sept. 9, so act fast.Both conferences will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown Kansas City, Mo., with the TED Conference beginning on Oct. 3, lasting to midday on Oct. 4, and the HR Professionals Conference beginning on the morning of Oct. 4, and concluding at noon on Oct. 5.  There will be one joint session on the morning of Oct. 4 with a keynote address by Jay Forte, president of Humanetrics, LLC, on how HR and training professionals drive results in the workplace.New this year is the Federal Contracting Compliance Construction HR Workshop, which will be held Oct. 5-6, directly after the HR Professionals Conference.  This workshop is designed to help HR HRHHRRstaff responsible for compliance on federal and federally-assisted projects by providing practical information and best-practice advice from experts and peers experienced in the area.  Attendees can register for this workshop for a discounted price in conjunction with the HR Professionals Conference, or independently.Find complete session descriptions, schedule, registration, and hotel information at www.agc.org/HR_TED.

On August 15, 2011, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that “Self Check,” a free online service of E-Verify that allows individuals to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in Spanish and accessible to residents in 16 additional states: California, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. This announcement expands on the initial launch of Self Check in March 2011 for residents who reside in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Starting November 14, 2011, employers have yet another poster to post along with other employee notices.  The new poster informs employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and is mandated by a final rule published by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the August 30 Federal Register.  The rule establishes the size, form, and content of the notice, and remedies for noncompliance.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) should withdraw a proposed rule to amend procedures in union representation cases, AGC argued in comments submitted yesterday.  AGC submitted the independent comments in addition to signing onto comments submitted by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) in order to detail how the proposed rule would impact the construction industry.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on July 27 announced its approval of a new financial disclosure standard for employers with multi-employer pension plans.  AGC is very proud of the successful, painstaking efforts by our Tax and Fiscal Affairs Committee and our Construction Industry FASB Coalition in getting the most dangerous provisions of the originally proposed standard removed, including disclosures about withdrawal liability and retiree health and welfare benefits (though the latter might be addressed in a future initiative).

In proposed rules issued within one day of each other, two federal labor agencies have taken significant steps toward making union organizing easier.  While the proposed rules, if implemented, would likely have less of an effect in the construction industry – where “bottom-up” union organizing is less common – than in other industries, they still raise serious concerns about employer and employee rights for AGC members.

While the percentage of construction craft workers represented by a union declined modestly between 2008 and 2010, the number of such workers declined substantially, according to the Construction Labor Research Council’s (CLRC) latest Union/Non-Union Trends report.  CLRC reports that unions represented 18 percent of craft workers in 2010, a decline of just two percent from 2008.  The total number of union-represented craft workers declined by 31 percent – or 342,000 workers – during the two-year period.

The Union Contractors Committee will hold two events for union contractors and their chapters on October 17, 2011, in Washington, D.C.:  an AGC-Basic Trades Forum and a Union Contractors Committee Meeting.  Chapter executives, chapter staff, and member leaders involved in collective bargaining or other labor relations matters for AGC union contractors are invited and encouraged to attend both meetings.

On June 14, 2011, a U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruled that two affiliated companies operated as a “single entity” federal contractor, even though neither company met federal contractor status requirements independently.  This was the outcome of a case involving the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Manheim Auctions, Inc., along with its subsidiary, Manheim Auctions Government Services.  As a result, the companies were jointly and individually liable for meeting the requirements set forth in the laws regulated by OFCCP, including Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act.