Experts in the construction industry met at a luncheon hosted by the American Subcontractors Association Houston Chapter recently to talk about employer responsibility for worker safety on the jobsite. The panel discussion focused largely on safety education and risk assessment, employer liabilities in situations of co-employment, and employer responsibilities when there’s a filing with OSHA or a workers’ compensation claim.
In the midst of an acute labor shortage on the Gulf Coast and after the passage of an immigration crackdown in Texas that’s already creating challenges for recruitment in construction, we now get news from the Associated General Contractors of America that Houston lost the most industry jobs nationally – 4,500 workers – between August 2016 and August 2017.
September 29, 2017
A federal judge in Texas has invalidated an Obama-era overtime rule that was aimed at giving millions more Americans a shot at earning overtime pay. The rule, proposed by former President Barack Obama’s Labor Department, doubled the salary threshold for workers to qualify for overtime pay, from $455 per week to $913 per week. The Labor Department estimated that the rule would have benefited an additional 4.2 million workers.
September 20, 2017
Immigrant rights activists, experts in the law, and business leaders gathered Wednesday night in Houston to talk about challenges the region faces following the convergence of a state crackdown on “sanctuary cities,” a devastating hurricane, and the impending end of a federal program that allows young undocumented immigrants a chance at employment without fear of deportation. A 90-minute discussion at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston presented by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University and the Houston Immigration and Legal Services Collaborative featured speakers from various walks of life.
September 14, 2017
Governor Abbott had asked lawmakers to address 20 subjects in the month-long special session ranging from public restroom access to the state's unacceptably high maternal mortality rate as well as new abortion restrictions. While legislation was passed on roughly half of the 20 topics, construction permitting was not one of them.
September 12, 2017
This Labor Day comes at a moment when Houston and the Gulf Coast will need more blue-collar tradesmen and women than ever before thanks to the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey over the last week. While we at Construction Citizen honor the skilled workforce, we also recognized this simple truth: It will be more difficult to find the people who will do the work.
September 04, 2017
After reporting on hurricanes for more than a decade, I can tell you one of the unfortunate realities is that unscrupulous contractors will absolutely try to take advantage of those with significant or even minor property damage in their quest to make a quick buck.
August 30, 2017
Productivity in the construction industry in the United States has fallen by about half since the 1960s, according to a report in The Economist.
August 24, 2017
Fluor and Lane Construction are the companies that have now been chosen to work on the next phase of the high-speed rail line from Houston to Dallas known as Texas Central....
August 14, 2017
With time running short in a special session of the Texas Legislature, a couple of bills aimed at expediting construction permits in cities seem to be languishing along with other controversial proposals.
August 08, 2017
