Recently, representatives from Construction Citizen (including myself) visited the offices and training facilities of SER-Jobs for Progress, guided by executive director Nory Angel. One of the programs offered by SER is their Green Jobs Training Project, which they provide in partnership with several other organizations including Workforce Solutions, Houston Community College, Home Builders Institute, Houston Works USA, and Fifth Ward Enrichment Program for Green Training Programs. They provide training at no cost to eligible individuals which includes career coaching and is followed by pre-employment services and referrals to help the graduates find work after completing one or more of the offered courses. The program is provided to extremely low-income adults who live in the Houston community.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
The Construction Career Collaborative (C3) held their third update workshop in Houston in which they reported on their progress to date on this leading edge program to create a sustainable construction workforce.The organization is in its early development phase and is in the midst of two major pilot construction projects being undertaken by Texas Children’s Hospital and theMD Anderson Cancer Center. These owners will require everyone on the jobsite to meet the C3 standards of financial security for the workforce, safety training, and craft training for the industry. In essence, meet and exceed the existing labor laws for the industry, eliminate wage theft and misclassification, and minimize the “grey” economy that exists in many parts of the construction industry today.Owners, general contractors, specialty subcontractors, and industry representatives
May 23, 2012
Scott Braddock is a broadcast journalist whose recent experience with unemployment sparked a very personal interest in the employment outlook in Texas. This week he posted a blog on his website entitled “The Value of Blue Collar Work” in which he writes about many of the issues which have also been discussed on Construction Citizen. He understands that not all careers begin with a four-year college degree, partly due to his own story. He writes:“I don’t have a college education but I am trained as a journalist. Over the years, companies large and small have prepared me to report and cover stories and trends. My on-the-job training is worth more to me than a college degree might ever have been in my chosen field.”Braddock includes a link to a 9-minute video of Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune interviewing state Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) earlier this month about changes he believes are needed in the education system, and the need for “blue collar work” to be appreciated and pursued. Patrick is quoted as saying:
May 21, 2012
While driving from San Antonio to Houston this week, I came up on two cars that seemed to be traveling slower than the rest of us, and they were swerving from their lane over into mine. Usually when I run up on someone who acts like they might be drunk I speed up and go around them so that they don’t cause a problem. This was unusual since there were two cars traveling almost in a caravan down I-10.As I sped up and started by them, I noted a couple of things. The driver of the first car was texting at 75 miles per hour and not exactly looking at the road. That was scary enough but as I passed the second car, I saw something that looked like a video on a smartphone in the hands of the driver.
May 17, 2012
John Killin, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pacific Northwest chapter and executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon, published an interesting article in Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce on the future of the skilled workforce.He issues a call to action that now is the time to begin the hiring and training of the skilled workforce for the future. He writes:“Years are required to prepare people for the leadership roles they will fill in the future. In licensed trades, years are needed to simply move someone from entry level to license-in-hand, full journey-level status.“Contractors that are beginning to add workers should be sure apprenticeship is at the top of their hiring priorities.
May 17, 2012
An article in the Washington Post by Lonnae O'Neal Parker reported that yesterday a revised design for the National Eisenhower Memorial was presented to the Eisenhower Memorial Commission for consideration. If approved, the proposal will be sent on to the National Capital Planning Commission as the next step toward building the $110 million memorial to Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower near The National Mall in Washington, DC. The original design by architect Frank Gehry received criticism from Eisenhower’s family members and design traditionalists. Gehry has modified his design, and planners now hope to break ground on the project later this year.
May 16, 2012
According to a report released last fall by the Money Service Business Facilitated-Workers’ Compensation Fraud Work Group in the State of Florida, “Workers’ compensation fraud is a serious problem.” Not just in Florida, but in any state where there are folks working for cash in the underground economy and where there are check cashing services willing to play the insurance premium fraud game. According to the report,“This type of fraud is most prevalent in the construction industry where a high percentage of the labor force is transient. The costs to the system for this type of fraud include unreported payroll taxes, unreported premium taxes, and higher costs to insurance carriers who must process workers’ compensation claims for uninsured workers. It is estimated that the costs of this type of fraud could cost the state upwards of $1 billion annually, and places tremendous pressure on law-abiding businesses to absorb the costs of premium avoidance.”
May 10, 2012
Texas Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken was right on target about our skilled workforce crisis in a speech he recently gave at the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Waco, Texas. Pauken stated:“The time has come to return to an educational model which recognizes the value of career education and encourages the young people of Texas to have such learning opportunities at the high school and post-secondary school levels. It really is just a matter of common sense. We have accepted for too long this misguided notion that everyone should go to a four-year university. That flies in the face of reality and human nature. We have different talents and different abilities. Let’s design a school finance and accountability system which recognizes that and re-establishes the importance of skills training to provide young Texans with terrific career opportunities.
May 10, 2012
A construction business owner appeared in court last week to face several felony charges which could land him up to 63 years in prison if he is found guilty. One of the crimes he is charged with committing is reporting less than one quarter of his payroll to his workers’ compensation insurance carrier so that over a 5-year period he failed to pay over $814,000 in premiums owed.According to the office of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, George Osumi II of Irvine, California reported maintaining a total payroll of just over one million dollars from 2001 to 2006, when his actual payroll was closer to $4.5 million. In a May 1st press release, the district attorney’s office listed Osumi’s charges:
May 09, 2012
Last month I attended “Built To Last”, SER’s 47th Anniversary Gala at the historic Rice Lofts in downtown Houston. Video excerpts from the evening are posted below. The event served to honor some of the leaders who have supported SER – Jobs for Progress, to provide allies of SER the chance to meet each other, and to raise money for SER’s programs. SER, which stands for “Service, Employment, and Redevelopment”, offers training and employment services to people in low-income, at-risk communities. The evening included a gathering hour where business and community leaders networked and mingled over drinks and hors d’oeuvres, opportunities to bid on items in a silent auction, an elegant dinner served in the Crystal Ballroom, an inspiring program about the organization, and dancing to live music.
May 03, 2012