Welcome
to the June, 2015 GMCS
REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY UPDATE.
GMCS continues to expand our products and services to meet
the needs of our industry and expanding client base. We have
expanded our operational foot print over the last six (6) months and are now
supporting a large and growing international client base with operations in
Canada and throughout the United States for both unionized and non-unionized
contractors and associations.
We are currently administering over 150 collective bargaining agreements
across North America and providing First Chair Negotiating Support for 35 first
collective bargaining agreements. In addition, we have expanded our supervisory
training programs for those contractors interested in providing support to
their organizations and staff that are experiencing union organizing efforts.
May,
2015 GMCS Client highlights:
- Worked on behalf of client, client’s attorneys and with labor and their attorneys to successfully resolve a major West Coast jurisdictional dispute between two competing trades;
- Worked on client’s behalf to successfully resolve a grievance with over $467,000.00 in client exposure;
- Worked on client’s behalf to successfully resolve a grievance resulting from an agreed NLRB settlement;
- Provided First Chair negotiation support to clients on multiple first/new collective bargaining agreements and for existing collective bargaining agreements throughout the mid west and the southeastern United States;
- Provided client support in multiple NLRB RC representational petition filings throughout the United States;
- Provided supervisory training and support to client’s supervision experiencing union organizing activity. Training program is specifically focused on their legal liability, exposure and strategy throughout a union organizing campaign.
Most
recently, increasing industry demand and our company’s growth and perceived
value to the industry has enabled us to divest of our non-labor relation’s
related association management services and our popular GLASS Reports products. This divestiture has enabled us to refocus
the organization and our efforts to only those employer associations and
contractors that are interested in receiving our recognized labor &
industry relations services. As many
have already noticed, our monthly newsletter service made its transition to a
fee based product serving the needs of associations and organizations
interested in receiving our comprehensive and informative industry specific
monthly newsletter and support.
While
we do not plan on ceasing the publication of our very popular complimentary
monthly newsletter, we do plan on reducing it in size and scope while
transitioning to a new and enhanced delivery platform highlighting key industry
data and relevant topics backed by sponsored content. May, 2015 marks the
beginning of that transition with a greatly condensed newsletter highlighting
the top ten posts to our corporate blog in the previous month. Remember, our corporate blog at
gregorymcs.blogspot.com contains hundreds of posts from the previous month and archives
from the past all categorized by popular grouping. GMCS
is currently seeking industry sponsors interested in participating in this
unique opportunity to place their business in front of thousands of industry
specific readers every month. As has
always been the case, every article, in both our fee based and complimentary
products, is posted by category on our corporate blog at gregorymcs.blogspot.com.
GMCS is focused on facilitating communication and collaboration
amongst our construction employer associations, constructors, facility owners,
building trades and governmental bodies with an emphasis on creating a
centralized, focused community that actively promotes labor harmony, industry
advancement, contractor opportunities and workforce development.
Is
your firm looking to fill key positions within your organization? With over 25 years of industry contacts &
experience within the Philadelphia metropolitan region and developed industry
relationships to work from, GMCS
has become a powerful recruiting organization in this region’s
construction industry marketplace. Our goal is to provide our clients and
candidates with superior quality recruitment services while maintaining the
highest degree of integrity, confidentiality and professionalism. Go here to find out more about our Employer and Candidate Services. In addition to employer
fee-paid recruitment services, GMCS maintains an active network of experienced
industry professional candidates that are currently exploring
their next career opportunity. GMCS actively markets these candidates to
both regional and national firms as well as partnering recruitment agencies
throughout the country. Interested
candidates and employers should contact Wayne
Gregory today at wegregory@gregorymcs.com to discuss the
best GMCS employment and
recruitment solution for you.
Sponsorship
and marketing opportunities are available to industry stakeholders and
contractors; interested firms should contact Wayne
Gregory @ wegregory@gregorymcs.com for more
information.
BIM Evolved: Bentley acquires reality modeling specialist
Acute3D:
Bentley
Systems has acquired France-based Acute3D, the developer of Smart3DCapture, a
software tool that can automatically produce high-resolution 3D models from
photographs. Bentley sees the software playing a major role in surveying,
construction monitoring, and inspection workflows using photo sequences
captured from UAVs.
Read
more here…
DOL
takes aim at white-collar overtime exemption:
For
more than 12 months now, the employer community has been on the lookout for a regulatory
proposal that could fundamentally change the application of the most-used
exemption from minimum wage and overtime — the Part 541/white-collar exemption.
Increased salary obligations, a heightened requirement to establish an exempt
employee’s primary duty, and a number of other changes have been rumored.
833 Chestnut
St. Trades Hands for $160 Million:
Less
than one year after it was put on the market, the 12-story data center and
medical office building sitting across from Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital (TJUH) in Center City Philadelphia is under new ownership.
Read
more here….
PhillyDeals: As
Pa. opens cash spigot, developers line up:
Pennsylvania
developers, hugely profitable corporations, colleges, towns, and hospitals have
applications pending for $1 billion in matching taxpayer funds from the
Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP).
You
didn't get yours in? Gov. Wolf last week agreed to take new requests from
Monday to May 18.
Read
more here….
Construction
begins for $46M middle school project:
D’Huy
Engineering Inc. of Bethlehem and the Bethlehem Area School District hosted a
groundbreaking ceremony this morning for the $46 million construction of the
Nitschmann Middle School on West Broad Street.
Read
more here…
Dranoff targets
another RCA building.
Dranoff's
company has submitted a proposal to renovate the Camden School District's
central office building on Front Street at Cooper Street, which is within two
blocks of Dranoff's Victor Lofts building and the Radio Lofts building that
Dranoff has long had plans to transform into a condominium complex.
Read
more here…
Phila. wants to
buy former Scott Plaza site as part of airport-expansion plan:
Philadelphia
wants to buy the 27-acre property known as International Plaza on Route 291 in
Tinicum Township, Delaware County, as part of a long-range expansion of Philadelphia
International Airport.
An
ordinance was introduced in City Council on Thursday, paving the way for the
city-owned airport to purchase the complex, which has two office buildings that
were once the corporate headquarters of Scott Paper Co.
Read
more here…
Citing
'violent, illegal and extortionate conduct,' Convention Center sues Carpenters
union:
The
Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority on Thursday filed a federal civil
lawsuit against one of the two unions barred from working at the property. In
the lawsuit it alleges a pattern of “prolonged and coordinated violent, illegal
and extortionate conduct."
The
complaint was filed under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization
(RICO) Act against the Metropolitan Regional Council of Carpenters and
individual members of the Carpenters union.
Read more here…
Feds: Philly
nonprofit chief drained $85,000 from accounts:
Rodnell
Griffin, 67, was head of the Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee in
North Philadelphia. According to an indictment unsealed today, Griffin used the
nonprofit’s bank cards more than 500 times to make withdrawals between January
2007 and October 2013. At least 10 of those withdrawals were from ATMs at the
Sugarhouse and Parx casinos.
Read
more here…
Bill puts Phila. on the trail toward a new prison:
The
property at 7777 State Road had in 2007 been owned by Churchill Development, a
Bridgewater, N.J., developer who had big plans to construct a $460 million
residential community on it called Independence Point.
Churchill
bought 100 acres of the State Road land from Northern Associates, an entity
affiliated with Northern Shipping Co., and sold about a third to Waste
Management. The developer intended to construct the residential community on
the remaining land but never did. The property is now owned by BNP Paribas of
New York and valued at $7.3 million, according to Philadelphia property
records.
Atlantic City construction workers' wages 27% higher than
nation: Report:
The
average hourly wage of workers in Atlantic City lags behind the rest of the
nation -- except in a few fields, like construction, which boasts pay that is
27 percent higher than other Americans in that same industry, according to a
new report.
Workers
throughout the Atlantic City-Hammonton metro region make an average of $21.23
per hour in May 2014, about 7 percent less than the national average of $22.71,
according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday.
Architecture Billings Remain Stuck in Winter Slowdown -
Northeast continues to lag:
Riding
a stretch of increasing levels of demand for thirteen out of the last fifteen
months, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) dropped in April for the second
month this year. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the
ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture
billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA)
reported the April ABI score was 48.8, down sharply from a mark of 51.7 in
March. This score reflects a decrease in design services (any score above 50
indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 60.1, up
from a reading of 58.2 the previous month.
Read
more here…
Value of
Construction Put in Place at a Glance - March 2015 :
The
U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that
construction spending during March 2015 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of $966.6 billion, 0.6 percent (±1.3%)* below the revised February
estimate of $972.9 billion. The March figure is 2.0 percent (±1.6%) above the
March 2014 estimate of $947.3 billion.
During
the first 3 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $206.7
billion, 3.2 percent (±1.5%) above the $200.4 billion for the same period in
2014.
Read
more here…
Pension Funding Index May 2015:
The
funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans
increased by $40 billion during April as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension
Funding Index (PFI). The funded status deficit fell to $311 billion at the end
of April primarily due to an increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest
rates used to value pension liabilities. As of April 30, the funded ratio rose
to 82.6%, up from 80.9% at the end of March.
Read
more here…
Best
wishes to all for a safe, prosperous, healthy & harmonious 2015.
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