Build a Better Texas is a collaborative effort of honest construction businesses, faith leaders, and advocates of fairness and safety who want to improve the construction industry in Texas through research and through the development of ideas which will “reward good business practices, invest in workforce development, and level the playing field in the industry” for honest contractors and subs. Their website posts reports and videos highlighting the issues faced by the industry which employs around 600,000 workers, making construction one of the top ten industries in Texas.One of the handicaps which honest contractors face is having to bid for jobs against dishonest employers who misclassify their employees
In a continuation of our series about a workforce development strategy meeting held at Marek Brothers Systems earlier this year, we bring you some interviews taken following the session.We spoke with Authur Ehmling, the training coordinator who has been with Marek for 30 years. He explained that his job is to raise the level of the current workforce and to ensure that new hires fit the standard so that the Marek workforce is better than any other. One of the techniques for achieving this higher standard is the use of workforce “coaches”. Every worker that comes into the company is partnered with someone who has been trained so that the new worker is trained to the standards expected of him or her. Ehmling stated that during the first year, each person receives 600 hours of training as well as 1400 hours of actual
April 28, 2011
Houston ABC news affiliate KTRK reported this afternoon about a new program which will be offered in the fall at San Jacinto College North Campus in northeast Houston. The school already has a large, successful program in welding technology, but now plans to add “art welding” to the program.In the following video, reporter Deborah Wrigley visits the welding lab on campus to learn more. She talks with Carol Scheier who is training for her third career after formerly working as a medical sales representative and as a remodeler.
April 25, 2011
In an earlier post about the progress of the construction of the World Trade Center complex and memorial, we told you about the invitation from the Port Authority of New York and...
April 11, 2011
On January 12, Marek Brothers Systems Houston held a meeting to establish goals for improving and increasing their workforce. This post is a continuation of a series we are bringing to you about this extraordinary event.Marek’s Director of Workforce Development, Katrina Kersch, opened the session stating that the two objectives for the day were to prepare for the future and to improve the company’s existing workforce. She introduced Jim Kollaer who was present to lead the 24 superintendents, foremen and managers through a process to determine
April 08, 2011
Last week the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Business & Industry heard testimony in Austin relating to House Bill 2989 which would establish the Workplace Fraud Prevention Act (WFPA) in Texas. The bill speaks directly to the construction industry and attempts to define what an employee in the construction industry is in order to curtail the rampant misclassification of employees as independent contractors in the state.State Representative Joseph Deshotel, who chairs the committee, is sponsoring the bill, and introduced it that day before the committee.
April 05, 2011
This morning a group of construction workers and supporters of the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center held a protest across from the site of a new discount store to demand justice for nine workers who are owed more than $16,000 in unpaid wages by their employer, subcontractor Carole Johnson Builders LLC and the general contractor on the project, Williams Development and Construction Inc. Fifteen workers who did interior construction work on the building were not paid for all of the hours they worked during January and February of this year.
March 24, 2011
Jim Stevenson, CEO of Bellows Construction, talked recently about his view on the Ethics Matrix, which is a way to explain what we consider to be right versus wrong as a society and as individuals. Jim introduced the topic by stating that although many people might think that the laws a society makes are the highest form of law, in fact these are actually the lowest. These laws which communities enact are called Human Positive Laws, and reflect what the community and society regard as important and “moral” at one particular point in time. Above these laws are Ethics, which include standards which groups such as doctors or lawyers hold themselves to across regions and throughout history.
March 10, 2011
One indicator of where we are in the economic recovery is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the output of goods and services produced by labor and property as reported by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Their most recent analysis of the final quarter of 2010 gives a bit of good news. Yesterday Bloomberg reported that commercial construction contributed to the gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2010, after delivering a deficit to the number during every quarter since the middle of 2008. Even more promising, the article points to the close relationship between commercial construction spending and another market indicator, the Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization index, which measures what US factories, mines and utilities produce. Bloomberg’s chart shows that commercial construction generally follows the same pattern as industrial production, only about a year afterwards.
March 03, 2011
Over 90 business leaders from over 65 companies as varied as McGraw-Hill, Campbell Soup, Duke Energy, Credit Suisse, Bloomberg, Quest Diagnostics, Hasbro and the National Basketball Association attended an event this Monday which focused on the economic benefits of “doing the right thing” by seeking solutions to community and global concerns. The Board of Boards CEO Conference was hosted by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), which is an international forum of businessmen dedicated to helping members improve corporate philanthropy. They teach that initiatives which benefit the global community such as
March 02, 2011
