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Now that the City of Houston is moving forward with a policy to crack down on employers that steal the wages of workers, the pressure will be on to make it work. It'll be no small task because, as you well know, those that engage in these crimes against hard-working Texans are pretty slippery characters. And that's probably being kind about it. Laura Perez-Boston at the Fe y Justicia Worker Center tells us exactly what the law is designed to do:“The ordinance establishes a process housed in the Office of the Inspector General through which employees can bring wage claims forward. Companies with a documented record of wage theft – either final adjudication from a court of competent jurisdiction or a criminal conviction – will be included in a publicly listed database on the City’s website and will be ineligible for city contracts or sub-contracts. Additionally, any company with a criminal conviction of wage theft will be ineligible to receive occupational permits and licenses.”
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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This article was originally published in the November/December issue of Construction Savvy. Reprinted with permission.My first construction boss told me everything he thought I needed to know about jobsite security. He said, “If it is not nailed down, someone will steal it.”That advice holds true today but needs to be amended to say, “If it is not nailed down, stored in a locked secure container or tool box, behind an 8-foot-high chained and locked perimeter fence with 24-hour 360 video on a jobsite with one entry gate, a 24-hour armed security guard and dogs, it will be driven off, carried off or destroyed.”In many cases, quoting one subcontractor, “Some construction jobsites are secure, but many are still like the ‘Wild Wild West’ where it is ‘may the lowest bid win’ and ‘winner take all’.” “Take all” means that they might take tools, equipment and building materials if you don’t have a jobsite security plan that prevents it. The industry rebound means you have to pay closer attention to the security and safety of your jobsite. Last year, according to industry sources, the industry lost over a billion dollars in materials and equipment theft.
December 04, 2013
I have been in the construction industry my whole life. As was my great grandfather who built the castles in Olomouc, Czech Republic but left to find the freedom offered by emigrating to America. My Father and his brothers started our company 75 years ago with the sons of immigrant farmers from Central Texas towns like Yoakum, Hallettsville, and Shiner. After many years of success in building a quality labor force of young men off the farm, the equation changed. Latino workers came by the millions to fill the jobs that our growing nation provided. President Reagan's immigration reform in 1986 offered amnesty for those already in the country but failed to create a legal way to migrate for the millions who would come after them.Estimates are that over 30 million men and women immigrated to the U.S. in the two decades from 1986 to 2006. Some left after a few years, but most stayed, put down roots, and tried to assimilate into their communities.
December 03, 2013
Construction spending, number of metros with job gains rise in October Editor’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.View October metro employment figures by state and rank here.Construction spending in October totaled $909 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 0.8% from the September total and up 5.3% from October 2012, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. The number was the highest since May 2009, but only because initially higher estimates for August and July were revised down by $11 billion and $7 billion, respectively. The gain since September was attributable to a 3.9% rise in public construction spending, which also climbed 2.3% compared with October 2012. Nevertheless, the year-to-date total for public construction was 2.8% below the total for the first 10 months of 2012 combined. Private residential spending slipped 0.6% for the month, but rose 18% year-over-year and 17% year-to-date. Private nonresidential spending decreased 0.5% from September and 3.4% from October 2012, but was up 0.8% year-to-date.
December 02, 2013
If Jim Kor (Kor Ecologic) gets his way, building a fuel-efficient car may one day be as simple as pressing “print”. Well, almost as simple.Kor heads a team of Canadian engineers designing a car whose plastic body can be manufactured with a 3-D printer. They've already made a prototype of their car, dubbed the Urbee, and are working on a second, more advanced version called the Urbee 2. David Baker, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle, quoted Kor from a presentation he made at the 2013 VERGE technology and sustainability conference in San Francisco in October:“What we like about 3-D printing is it can print anything. And when you can print anything, you can think of everything.”
November 27, 2013
A 19-year-old construction worker who barely survived a worksite accident at a high-rise construction project in downtown Austin says he was fired because he told federal safety investigators what happened, the Workers Defense Project revealed this weekend. On Saturday, Wilmer Lopez Sanchez and others took to the streets in the rain and the cold to protest what they called his retaliatory firing.On November 8th, a load of reinforcing steel fell several stories from a crane at the new luxury apartment high-rise at 7th and Rio Grande. Lopez Sanchez was nearly crushed and other workers were rushed to the hospital. Federal safety investigators interviewed Lopez Sanchez about the accident on Tuesday afternoon. He was fired the next day. “They almost took my life. Now they've taken my job,“ he said.
November 26, 2013
Job gains spread to 39 states; material, labor costs remain mild; starts rise, MHC saysEditor’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.In October, seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment increased from a year earlier in 49 states and decreased in Alaska and the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Seasonally adjusted construction employment climbed in 39 states—the largest total in 18 months—and declined in 11 states and D.C., an AGC analysis showed.
November 25, 2013
Hi there. The Chamberlin Man here.Every project we take on at Chamberlin becomes part of the company's collective history. Job sites generate stories that burn marks of major accomplishments, lessons learned or funny anecdotes into our company culture and our approach. It's especially gratifying when a project story ends with an industry honor. Such is the case for two recent projects.After standing for over 40 years as landmarks in the Houston skyline, One Shell Plaza (a 50-story high rise) and Two Shell Plaza (a 26-story high rise) were in need of a little TLC. Chamberlin crews restored the building envelope, replaced leaking roofs, re-waterproofed the pedestrian plaza, and caulked windows and masonry. The process took a whopping 31 months and a heckuva lot of scaffolding, rigging and high rise expertise. After such a long haul on site, the work at Shell Plaza was viewed with pride at Chamberlin. Being recognized in the industry by the Associated Builders and Contractors for Excellence in Construction was icing on the cake.
November 22, 2013
Our readers know all too well that the problem of payroll fraud, or worker misclassification, has become a cancer for the construction industry and that quite a few states have made moves to try to deal with the problem. Now, it appears there may be a legitimate effort in Washington to try to deal with it at a federal level.From McClatchy News:“Senator Bob Casey, D-PA, estimates the payroll theft has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. He introduced legislation November 12 that would make misclassification a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, would assign penalties for each case of payroll fraud and would create rights for employees to know what their status is and require employers tell workers their status. ‘I think a lot of people would be stunned to learn that under current federal law it is not a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act to engage in this kind of misclassification, this kind of fraud,’ Casey said in an interview after the hearing. ‘It should be illegal and it’s unfortunately not unless you violate some other law.’”Casey and other lawmakers last week heard from business owners and workers who have been harmed by the practice during a Senate hearing.
November 21, 2013
Today, Wednesday, November 20th, 2013, Houston City Council made history passing the first municipal ordinance cracking down on wage theft in Texas and only the second in a major metropolis in the U.S. South. The measure passed unanimously.In passing the Wage Theft Ordinance, Council sends a clear message that intentionally cheating workers of their pay - especially under city contracts - will not be tolerated in Houston.The ordinance establishes a process housed in the Office of the Inspector General through which employees can bring wage claims forward. Companies with a documented record of wage theft - either final adjudication from a court of competent jurisdiction or a criminal conviction - will be included in a publicly listed database on the City’s website and will be ineligible for city contracts or sub-contracts. Additionally, any company with a criminal conviction of wage theft will be ineligible to receive occupational permits and licenses.
November 20, 2013
