EMPLOYMENT COST INDEX - JUNE 2015: Wages Continue to Rise

Compensation costs for civilian workers was little changed at 0.2 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending June 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) was also little changed at 0.2 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) was little changed at 0.1 percent. (See chart 1 and tables 1, 2, and 3.)

REGIONAL CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY UPDATE – August, 2015

Welcome to the August, 2015 Gregory Management & Consulting Services (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 (7) 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.

Successor May Be on Hook for Pension Withdrawal

July 27 — An employer's corporate successor may be responsible for its $661,978 in multiemployer pension fund withdrawal liability under a theory of successor liability, even though the employer withdrew from the fund after it sold its assets, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled July 27.

Greenberger has never seen a real estate boom like this one

Alan Greenberger sees a positive future in development for the city, one that’s been paved by a solid foundation laid in recent years.

“Well, I’ve been in the city since ’74,” said Greenberger, deputy mayor for economic development and director of commerce. “I have not seen a boom like this in the entire time that I’ve been here.”

Labor Department Issues New Guidance Targeting Worker Misclassification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released new guidance July 15 related to employers’ use of independent contractors. In the Administrator’s Interpretation and an accompanying blog post, Wage and Hour Division Administrator Dr. David Weil laments the “problematic trend” of deliberate misclassification and considers the guidance part of a “multi-pronged approach” to combat the phenomenon.

Divine Lorraine redevelopment inches closer to start date

The city's Architectural Committee of the Historical Commission approved the renovation design plans for the Divine Lorraine on North Broad Street, putting owner Eric Blumenfeld one step closer to turning the upper floors into 109 apartment units, bringing a grocery store and several restaurants to the ground floor, and adding a sunken outdoor garden to the property, according to PlanPhilly.