Sustainable Workforce Initiative on Track for a Fall 2011 Roll Out

Blogger Mike Holland discussed a workforce initiative of the Houston Chapter of the Associated General Contractors in his November 3, 2010 post.  Since that time, over fifty individuals from Houston area contractor and specialty contractor companies have been working in seven task forces to fulfill the mission of creating a method whereby socially responsible owners, contractors and specialty contractors can positively affect the growth of a sustainable workforce.  The task forces aim to achieve this by advancing principles that raise the image of the industry, attract and retain verifiably qualified workers, provide a safer and healthier environment and improve efficiency and productivity.  Formerly called the Construction Industry Sustainable Workforce Alliance (CISWA) and now known as the Construction Career Collaborative (C³), the initiative has sought the support of other leading industry organizations from ABC, ASA, MCA, OSHA, HASC to SCTC in the effort to advance the commercial construction industry by embracing principles that will lead to a sustainable craft workforce.  With input from over a dozen commercial construction owners, C³ will roll out its initiative with two beta projects in the fall of 2011.

The beta projects will occur in both public and private project environments.  The owner of each project will mandate that each craft worker on the project

• be paid by the hour with applicable overtime
• have unemployment taxes, workers' compensation insurance and social security paid on their behalf
• receive OSHA 10-hour training
• receive C³ 5-hour commercial industry-specific safety training
• receive craft training

In addition to the requirements above, each craft worker supervisor will undergo OSHA 30-hour training.  C³ will assist in collecting necessary data to audit compliance with the requirements.

Jerry Nevlud, President of AGC Houston, stated:

“It is the right time and place for all participants in our industry to take charge of it by embracing the principles of C³.  Principles that will eliminate worker misclassification, provide safety training, and ensure craft training – thereby creating an environment where the craft worker participates in an industry that values their work.”

Follow the progress of C³ at the AGC Houston website under the workforce initiative page and at the official Construction Career Collaborative website.