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Originally posted by Katrina Kersch on MarekBros.com.As our workforce program has grown in depth, scope and experience, I would like to pause and reflect on what workforce development looks like versus conducting training programs. As our team takes on career paths development opportunities for our professional employees, the WFD team (Workforce Development) will be looking to incorporate standards that exist beyond the training experience and into developing a winning team for our organization.In writing this blog, I intended to outline this difference between training and workforce development, but then I found an excellent article titled Workforce Development is More Than Just Training by Dick Grimes which says it perfectly. Please read the entire article. Some but not all of my favorite points include the following.Workforce development in its best sense includes:Before sending employees to a class, we require leaders to tell us first how they will work with the employee to reinforce the application of it AFTER the training event because we know that training without reinforcement is a waste of resources.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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An unfortunate reality of the industry we cover is that there are many instances of worker abuse. We have documented much of this on Construction Citizen over the years. Terrible working conditions, worker misclassification, lack of health insurance and workers’ compensation insurance, denial of overtime pay and other problems honestly keep me up at night. But, I was only fairly recently alerted to just how prevalent human trafficking is in construction.Houston is ground zero for human trafficking in the United States and for that reason, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Bridging America Task Force will present its third immigration summit on March 18 at 8 am at Rice University.
February 26, 2014
Editor’s note: The following was written by Texas House of Representatives member Armando Walle exclusively for Construction Citizen.Texas House Speaker Joe Straus recently directed Texas House committees to study important issues in advance of the next legislative session in 2015. I am particularly pleased that Speaker Straus gave the House Committee on Business and Industry the assignment of “[Studying] the voluntary nature of workers' compensation in Texas and how it meets the needs of employers and employees.”Texas is currently the only state in the nation that does not require workers' compensation coverage for private employers, including construction companies. In fact, since 1913, Texas employers have been allowed to opt out of workers’ compensation coverage. Civil legal action is frequently the only path to redress for an injured employee against their potentially negligent non-subscribing employer.Unfortunately, even when a civil lawsuit is litigated in favor of a plaintiff employee, the practical benefits of the favorable judgment can often be low compared to a similar claim going through the workers’ comp system.
February 25, 2014
Construction PPIs jump in January; housing starts and permits slide; ABI turns positiveEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.The producer price index (PPI) for final demand increased 0.4%, not seasonally adjusted (0.2%, seasonally adjusted), in January and 1.2% over 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last Wednesday. The PPI for final demand covers about twice as much production as the prior headline PPI for finished goods, because the new index includes final demand construction (2% of total final demand) and final demand services (64%), in addition to final demand goods (34%). AGC posted an explanation and tables focusing on construction prices and costs. Construction is limited to five types of nonresidential buildings that BLS says make up 34% of total construction.
February 24, 2014
I had the opportunity to interview Ken Simonson, one of the most respected economists in the country (and one of Construction Citizen’s leading bloggers) after a recent presentation. He was in Houston to speak at the Associated General Contractors (AGC) 2014 Annual Chapter Meeting and breakfast. Ken is traveling around the country (when the weather doesn’t ground him) to deliver his thoughts about the industry and the outlook for 2014.We have covered his presentation on Construction Citizen, but we wanted to ask him a couple of questions like “What’s happening in this midterm election year that might have an impact on the economy?”
February 21, 2014
“This is Joe.” That is the way Joe Vaughn answered the phone, whether it was a customer, a captain or a carpenter calling. Joe, who founded Vaughn Construction, died January 16, 2014 at age 70. He was as genuine and authentic a man as you will ever know. Big and imposing, blunt and straightforward, smart and decisive and, above all, caring and witty, were his hallmarks. He was the epitome of a construction man, the absolute “best of breed” of builders.Joe was from the field and for the field. He had started in the industry at age 12 and served as a carpenter, ironworker, laborer, engineer and superintendent, before becoming an operations manager and ultimately an owner/CEO. He created a builders’ culture at Vaughn. He respected field craftsman and revered field superintendents. The Vaughn lobby is full of candid pictures of superintendents in action at their jobsites. And at his service in the St Thomas High School Assembly Hall, converted to a chapel to handle the huge crowd, it was poignant, moving and so fitting, that his casket was carried in by six superintendents in their Vaughn field shirts. He was their hero and they were his.
February 20, 2014
When you think of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), you probably think of technical workplace safety regulations. However, don’t forget that OSHA is also responsible for enforcing the whistleblower provisions of twenty-two federal laws with anti-retaliation provisions.OSHA maintains a separate website section for whistleblower issues at www.whistleblowers.gov.OSHA received 2,787 whistleblower complaints during the last fiscal year. More than half were complaints of retaliation for reporting workplace safety issues. Complaints are expected to increase this year, because as of December 5, 2013, individuals may file a whistleblower complaint with OSHA using a simple online form.
February 20, 2014
Workers' rights advocates in Austin are ramping up a push to hold Gables Residential accountable for the kind of working conditions that are reportedly prevalent on many of the Atlanta-based company's jobsites. Led by organizers with the Workers Defense Project (WDP), about 200 people marched to the Gables Park Plaza in Austin on Saturday to demand safer conditions and better treatment.In addition – and this is key – a worker the day before filed a lien on the property as a way to recover unpaid overtime. The lien, of course, is a legal claim for unpaid wages that holds the owner legally responsible. Heriberto Mendoza was a painter on the unfinished Gables Park Tower project who told Workers Defense that Flores Painting Services, a subcontractor on the Gables site, has failed to pay him overtime since he began work on the project in early January.
February 19, 2014
The following article originally appeared in the February newsletter to clients of Kiley Advisors, LLC and was intended to provide the latest leading indicators and industry issues to those clients. It is a summary of the Kiley Advisors 2014 Forecast with a focus on the outlook for Houston. Reprinted with permission.Houston is off to a running start in 2014. The typical slowdown seen in the winter months has yet to occur as construction marches on around the city. New construction projects continue to be announced each week, and it looks to be a year of steady growth for all construction markets in 2014. Retail remains strong as grocery-anchored centers persist. Aldi is halfway to reaching its 30 store goal for Houston, Trader Joe’s is seeping into the suburbs, and Krispy Kreme is reentering the Houston market after a seven year hiatus. FMC is rumored to be planning a campus on the northeast side of town that will rival Exxon, and development of the recently opened stretch of the Grand Parkway, along with the soon to follow segments F and G, are being discussed.
February 18, 2014
Wintry weather unlikely to chill materials price increases; LNG, hotel markets advanceEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.The widespread extreme weather this winter is likely to distort construction spending and employment data for several months but not change longer-term trends. “As one industry contact noted, just because it snows on a Saturday doesn’t mean that by Tuesday when the weather clears you don’t want to buy carpet,” Thompson Research Group (TRG) wrote last Monday in its monthly building products survey. “A contact with whom we met at the International Builder’s Show in Las Vegas last week noted that there has been meaningful improvement in terms of working in adverse weather conditions over the past 10 years (i.e., able to pour concrete in colder weather, etc.).
February 17, 2014
