The following information was provided by Workers Defense Project (WDP), an Austin-based advocacy group for low-income workers.This evening a vigil will be held for José Lainez, a construction worker who died while building bridges between Highway 183 and Highway 290 on June 15th 2012. His family claims the cause of death was heat exhaustion. The vigil will take place outside of El Shaddai church, located across from the construction site where José worked. José is survived by his five children, two of which live in Austin: Alex and José Jr. He was 54 years old.José Lainez spent the last twelve years as a construction worker in Austin, sending most of his money home to his family in Honduras so that they could repair their home. According to his family, José was in very good health, but the heat, lack of rest breaks and lack of water at the job site led to his death. Workers Defense Project has filed numerous complaints against the company for repeated worker safety violations. Guadalupe Torres knew Don José and worked alongside him at the site where the accident occurred.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
We have written about the Obama executive order requiring Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for all Government projects in the US. Critics have labeled this as payback to the labor unions for getting out the vote for Obama in the 2008 elections. Those construction companies who are unwilling to comply and hire the unions can’t get government jobs.In Melbourne, the government of Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has just passed a code of conduct for the construction industry just the opposite of the Obama PLA rules. According to Nigel Hadgkiss, the head of the new Construction Code Compliance Unit, the rules are meant to limit union activities, illegal strikes and work slow downs on government projects. He stated that the rules would create safer and more productive projects leading to more savings for the government.
July 11, 2012
“Even students who major in programs shown to increase earnings ... face limits on how much debt they can sanely amass. And with costs approaching $60,000 a year for many private schools and $30,000 for state schools, six-figure student loan debt is fast becoming the norm.” – Glenn Harlan Reynolds
July 09, 2012
The Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning released the June Employment figures for the US. According to the press release, “Nonfarm payroll employment continued to edge up in June (+80,000), and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2%.” According to the latest data, the construction industry added an anemic 2,000 jobs in June after a loss of 35,000 jobs in May, showing improvement on a month to month basis, but still not the numbers we are looking for to indicate that the industry has regained its footing.The new numbers indicate that unemployment in the industry is still above 13% and the numbers do not reflect much growth at all during June when construction in the country should be in high gear for the summer.
July 06, 2012
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that we are in “crazy time”, not only in politics, but also in the construction industry. Makes me wonder whether they are linked.The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) report on the May 2012 construction job numbers show that over 50% of the 337 US Metro areas gained new jobs over the past year. That is great news for the folks working in those metro areas. At the same time, AGC reports that in the other half (48.7%) of the metro areas, jobs in the construction industry are still declining. (You can see how your Metro is doing by referring to their List of Construction Employment by Metropolitan Area or Division, May 2011-May 2012.)We recently reported that there are major shortages of skilled labor in Arizona and that there are thousands of jobs going unfilled in some other markets.
July 05, 2012
A great article in a small publication points out that employers around the Great State aren’t just anticipating a labor shortage, they’re already feeling it.Community Impact Newspaper reports that employers are already having trouble finding people for jobs like plumbing, pipefitting, electricians and machinists. At a recent meeting of business leaders with Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, a man who manufactures furniture in San Marcos put it bluntly: “I couldn’t find an employee in this town if my life depended on it.”In the article, Combs remarks on welding jobs in Texas: “Right now you can’t hire a welder. We’re about 500 to 1,000 [employees] short.”
July 05, 2012
The coming labor shortage we’ve reported on extensively at Construction Citizen isn’t confined to the United States. Germany, an economic powerhouse like Texas, now has its economic performance threatened because the country’s businesses can’t find enough skilled laborers.If this doesn’t drive home the point, perhaps nothing will: The head of Germany’s Labor Office, Frank-Jürgen Weise, says “the skills squeeze could hinder the German economy more than the debt crisis”, according to an article in International News publication the Global Post.Among the biggest reasons for the shortage: A failure to educate enough young people to meet industry’s needs. The Global Post article quotes Stefan Hardege, head of the German Chamber of Commerce's labor market unit, as stating: “Every third company we surveyed said that they saw the skills shortage as one of the biggest risks to the development of their business over the next 12 months.” Weiss also predicted that by the year 2025, Germany will be short on labor to the tune of about 3 million workers.
July 03, 2012
The fact that more than 12 million Americans are without work while employers simultaneously face a labor shortage has become a fascination for me. Every time I write about it, people ask “How is this even possible?”Employers are struggling right now to fill jobs that require skilled (or talented) workers,according to a survey by Manpower Group. Half the employers told Manpower they have trouble finding people to fill positions.American companies aren’t the only ones with this problem. Thirty-five percent of companies worldwide said they have real difficulty finding talented individuals to fill the jobs they’re advertising.
June 28, 2012
The housing numbers came out last week and Bloomberg News reported on the shortages of skilled carpenters and construction workers in the hot, hot, hot Phoenix housing market. According to the report penned by Bloomberg reporter Prashant Gopal, the housing market has improved from the crash and is now close to a three year high.That improvement in the market combined with the passage of SB-1070, the Arizona immigration bill that sent a large number of undocumented workers back to their homes in Mexico, has created a skilled worker shortage that one contractor called a real “knife fight” for labor in the market.
June 27, 2012
On Saturday, June 16, 2012, the American Subcontractors Association-Houston Chapter (ASA-HC), in partnership with the Hispanic Contractors Association of Texas (HCAT) hosted a one-day OSHA 10-hour construction safety training marathon. 791 individuals were successfully trained and left at the end of the day with an OSHA 10-Hour Construction Outreach Card. The program, conducted in both English and Spanish, is designed for construction workers, foremen, job site superintendents, project managers, and anyone involved in the construction industry.
June 25, 2012