The AGC Labor and Employment Law Council - a network of labor lawyers who represent AGC members and chapters - held its 26^th Annual Construction Labor Law Symposium on April 16 in Washington, DC.  Attorneys and chapter labor relations managers from across the country attended.

Council members and guest speakers provided presentations on various developments in construction labor and employment law, including:

• The Latest Info on Project Labor Agreements and How to Negotiate Them
• Labor Requirements for Federal & Federally Assisted Contracts
• Interesting Issues in Multiemployer Pension Plans
• Primer on Handbilling, Picketing & Bannering
• Primer on §§8(b)(4)(D) and 10(k) - Jurisdictional Disputes
• Conducting I-9 Self-Audits
• Workplace Violence:  "Terror, Trials, and Trends"
• Workplace Pandemic Planning

(L-R:) LELC Member Mike Boldt of Ice Miller; Senior Compliance Specialist Bill Isokait of U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division; AGC Associate General Counsel Denise Gold; and NLRB General Counsel Ron Meisburg.

Handouts on those presentations are posted on the Labor & HR Topical Resources page of AGC's Web site, integrated into their respective topic areas.

Guest speakers included Wilma Liebman, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.  Liebman spoke about recent controversies involving the Board, asserting that the upside of the battle over recent Board appointments and over the Employee Free Choice Act is that they have brought labor issues to the public's attention, while the downside is that they may have made labor-management relations even more hostile.  The Obama Board will take a more "dynamic" approach to decision-making than the Bush Board took, according to Liebman, viewing the National Labor Relations Act as a "living document" and taking into consideration happenings in the "real-world."  However, various constraints on the Board will prevent it from making the wholesale changes feared by some.  If fundamental change in labor law is to occur, she said, it must come from Congress.  Liebman stated that the Board's first priority will be to issue decisions in cases that have been pending for a long time but had to be put aside during the two years that the five-member Board had only two members.  These include cases on union bannering, pre-recognition bargaining, job targeting, the rights of workers hired by employers who knew of their illegal status, the rights of union objectors, and the property access rights of a contractor's employees working on another employer's premises.

Kyle Hicks, minority labor counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, delivered the Charles E. Murphy Keynote Address.  She spoke about recent developments in Congress and prospects for pending labor and employment legislation, particularly in light of upcoming mid-term elections.  The address is named in memory of "Chuck" Murphy, a long-time member and past chairman of the Council who passed away last year.

Make sure that your in-house and outside labor and employment lawyers are Council members, so that they will stay on the cutting edge of construction labor and employment developments.  For information about Council membership, click here or contact Denise Gold, AGC associate general counsel for labor and employment law, at goldd@agc.org or (703) 837-5326.

Contractors share cost saving and risk reduction tips.

More than 200 contractors and insurance and surety professionals attended AGC's meeting on Surety Bonding and Construction Risk Management to talk about their shared issues and concerns and increase efficiency and effectiveness.

AGC Risk Management Committee chairman David O'Haren, executive vice president of Holder Construction Group, kicked off the meeting Tuesday morning, which began with a discussion on relating risk assessment and mitigation to a company's core values, led by industry leaders John Alberici (Alberici Constructors, Michael Bolen (McCarthy Construction Co.) and Robert Van Cleave (Balfour Beatty Construction).

AGC's Highway and Utility Contractors Issues Meeting scheduled for November 12-14, 2009, at the PGA National Resort in Palm Gardens, Fla., will provide the latest cutting edge information for contractors involved in the highway, bridge, transit, railroad and utility markets. Among the outstanding speakers are the following:

• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has been a leading advocate for increasing Highway Trust Fund revenue to address transportation needs and creation of a Clean Water trust Fund to address water infrastructure needs. He is also working on legislation to provide tax credits for contractors to replace their off-road diesel powered vehicles to meet clean air requirements. Rep. Blumenauer will discuss the outlook for highway reauthorization and increased infrastructure funding.
• Federal Railroad Administration's Deputy Administrator Karen Rae will present the Administration's high speed rail initiative and the construction opportunities that will result from this investment.
• A forum on the use of computer modeling (BIM/virtual design) for highway and water projects will include representatives from software companies Bentley and Autodesk and will feature a jobsite presentation from an experienced contractor. Caterpillar will have a representative to describe the latest developments for integrating construction equipment into the BIM model.
• Attorney John Mullen will report on the top legal decisions of the year that may impact your business.
• State DOT representatives will discuss the use of contractor performance measures for prequalification, latest design-build developments including a financing option, alternate bid items for selecting concrete or asphalt pavements, performance specifications, value engineering/practical design and recycled materials in concrete and asphalt.
• How will Green Construction initiatives impact highway construction projects?
• Washington update on legislation currently being addressed in Congress.

Additional information including schedule, hotel and registration is available here.

Registration is open for the 2009 Construction Leadership Council Working Weekend, to be held Nov. 19-21, 2009, in Nashville, Tenn. This event is co-sponsored by the AGC of America Construction Leadership Council, AGC of Tennessee and the AGC of East Tennessee.

The two-day event will include the best of all worlds: professional development sessions, networking opportunities, a construction site tour and two social receptions. Please make plans to join members of the Construction Leadership Council (formerly known as the Young Constructors Forum) from across the nation as they discuss and learn about issues relevant to mid-career construction industry professionals.

Click here to learn more.

Join your AGC colleagues at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., for the AGC Highway & Utilities Contractors Issues Meeting. This meeting is the premier national event for contractors and related businesses involved in every aspect of highway and utility construction to hear about and discuss issues and trends in these markets.

The hotel is only $179.00/night, which includes the resort fee. The cutoff date for hotel reservation is Friday, October 16, so don't miss out on your chance to attend.

New to this year's conference are separate Utility and Highway tracks that will converge with issues that affect both types of contractors. Agenda highlights include:

Joint Topics

• Washington Outlook: SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization, Clean Water Trust Fund and other pending legislation
• How Recent Court Decisions Will Impact Your Business
• Green Infrastructure: What Does Green Mean for the Future of Highway & Utility Construction?
• Virtual Design for Horizontal Construction - Software Capabilities, Equipment Interface, and Case Studies
• Ritchie Brothers Golf Tournament

Municipal and Utilities Track:

• Water Supply Impacting State Priorities for Construction & Design of Utilities
• Financing Water Infrastructure, Panel Discussion with State Finance Experts and Water Authorities
• Increasing Use of Alternative Project Delivery Methods: Panel Discussion with Expert Construction and Engineering Practitioners

Highway and Transportation Track:

• Alternative Bidding Asphalt vs. Concrete: Missouri's Formula
• Florida's Experience with Alternative Project Delivery
• Market Potential of High Speed Rail
• AGC's New Highway Worker Safety Program

Click here for registration, travel and hotel information.

For additional information please contact Brian Deery at deeryb@agcc.org or (703) 837-5319 or Perry Fowler at fowlerp@agc.org or (703) 837-5321.

Training, development and human resource professionals should attend the AGC HR Professionals Conference and Training & Development Conference October 27-29, in Atlanta, to earn valuable continuing education credits toward their respective designations.

As an authorized provider of continuing education credits, AGC is providing this opportunity to earn these credits, which can be important to maintaining a professional designation and accelerating career growth. Of particular interest to HR professionals, the joint conferences have been pre-approved for 8.25 recertification credits towards PHR, SPHR or GPHR recertification from the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).  For a full list of companies, regulatory boards and organizations that have reported to accept the IACET CEU, please visit the IACET website.

With expert speakers providing compliance-related guidance for HR professionals and interactive sessions that are guaranteed to help T&D professionals excel and solve common challenges, this conference allows participants to maximize certification credits in a single location over the span of just a few days.

Register and learn more at www.agc.org/hr_td, or contact Tamika Carter at (703) 837-5382 or cartert@agc.org.

Jointly sponsored by AGC and CFMA, the 13th Annual AGC/CFMA Conference was developed in response to a need for programs and workshops designed specifically for financial professionals in the construction industry.

The two day conference is filled with more than 30 interactive sessions, covering the latest industry issues and their financial implications. Get the latest information on economic downturns, construction tax updates, ownership transfer techniques, investing in today's markets, risk management and more.

Learn more here, or contact Karen Lapsevic at lapsevick@agc.org.

AGC would like to invite all young- and mid-career professionals working in the construction industry to join the annual AGC Construction Leadership Council Working Weekend, to be held Nov. 19-21, 2009, in Nashville, Tenn. This event is co-sponsored by the AGC of America Construction Leadership Council, AGC of Tennessee, AGC of East Tennessee and AGC CompTrust Tennessee.

This two-day event will include professional development sessions, networking opportunities, a construction site tour and two social receptions. Chapter staff involved with the CLC are welcome to attend.

Highlights include:

• Construction Leadership & Management Seminars by Bill Krausen of Messer Construction Co.
• Construction Economics Seminar by Ken Simonson, AGC of America Chief Economist.
• Managing the Risks Associated with Green Construction Seminar by a member of the team that wrote the recently released green building addendum to the ConsensusDocs contracts.
• Welcome night reception hosted at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville by the AGC of America CLC.
• Friday night reception at the Wild Horse Saloon, hosted by AGC of Tennessee, AGC of East Tennessee and AGC CompTrust Tennessee.

Most events will take place at the Doubletree Hotel Nashville, downtown Nashville. Guestroom rate: $119 plus taxes. Cut-off date for hotel reservations is Thursday, Oct. 29. There is a $50/person registration fee for AGC members and their guests; $150 for non-members and guests.  Please plan to join your peers for an exciting, educational experience. Registration and a brochure are available online.

For more information, please contact Liz Elvin at elvinl@agc.org or 703-837-5389.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has announced the location of five additional prevailing wage conferences, following its inaugural conference, which drew more than 400 participants to Washington, DC.  Each conference will be offered free of charge to employers.

Two of the five conferences will be held in August 2009.  Chicago, IL, will host the conference August 18-20, and Orlando, FL, will host the conference August 25-27, 2009.  The remaining three conferences will be held in September in San Antonio, TX, Long Beach, CA, and Boston, MA, respectively.

Each two-and-a-half day seminar will address prevailing wage issues as they relate to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and will cover such topics as:

• The Davis-Bacon Act and McNamara O'Hara Service Contract Act;
• The process of obtaining wage determinations and adding classifications;
• Compliance assistance and enforcement processes;
• The process of appealing wage rates, coverage, and compliance determinations; and
• Contractor and agency requirements under Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.

To register, participants should email all contact information along with their AGC affiliation to whdarra@dol.gov.

Additional WHD information related to ARRA can be found on the WHD Web site.  Other resources, such as AGC's Davis-Bacon Manual on Labor Standards for Federal and Federally Assisted Construction, can be found on AGC's Labor and HR Topical Resources Web page.

For more information, contact Tamika Carter at (703) 837-5382 or cartert@agc.org.

Jointly sponsored by AGC and CFMA, the 13th Annual AGC/CFMA Conference was developed in response to a need for programs and workshops designed specifically for financial professionals in the construction industry. The two-day conference is filled with more than 30 interactive sessions, covering the latest industry issues and their financial implications.

Get the latest information on:

• Strategies for Economic Downturns
• Construction Tax Update
• Ownership Transfer Techniques
• Investing in Today's Volatile Markets
• Risk Management

Learn more here.