Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Odessa, Texas Have Worst 14-Month Construction Job Losses; Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind. and Sierra Vista-Douglas, Ariz. Lead List of 217 Metros with Job Gains

Construction Officials Say New Infrastructure Funding, Tariff Relief and Measures to Reduce Manufacturing and Delivery Delays for Key Materials Needed to Jump Start Nonresidential Activity

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has posted updated and expanded technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing questions arising under the federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. The EEOC also posted a new resource for job applicants and employees, explaining how federal employment discrimination laws protect workers during the pandemic. These publications are provided to help employees and employers understand their rights and responsibilities at work during the pandemic.

Expands Renewable Energy & EV Tax Credits; Attaches Labor Requirements

Other Senate Committees Must Act on Transit, Rail Programs

In April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued updated COVID-19 FAQs related to contractor vaccine policies. The FAQs established that when vaccination is mandated by employers, adverse reactions related to employees receiving the vaccine are a recordable injury/illness, and, in some cases, may be recordable even when contractors only recommend, or encourage, employees receive the vaccine (for background, click here). On May 12, AGC put forth its concerns to OSHA. On May 21, OSHA issued a single FAQ stating that “DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022. We will reevaluate the agency’s position at that time to determine the best course of action moving forward.” This is a significant win not only for construction, but all other industry sectors required to maintain an OSHA 300 Log.

AGC of America’s Union Contractors Committee will hold its next quarterly virtual meeting on June 16, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. EASTERN Daylight Time. All interested AGC members and chapter staff are invited. The meeting is not open to nonmembers. The agenda will include updates from AGC staff and a roundtable discussion. The remaining agenda is under development.

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has decided to maintain its longstanding contract-bar doctrine, despite AGC-supported signals by the Board that changes would be coming.

Union contractors, labor representatives, and other stakeholders in the unionized sector of the construction and maintenance industry expressed continued but reduced optimism regarding growth in early 2021 as compared to early 2020, according to the 2021 Union Craft Labor Supply Study(link is external) recently released by The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) and the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC).

Learn more at July 20-22 virtual conference, free to AGC members The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed an update to its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction General Permit (CGP) covering stormwater discharges from construction activities. EPA has also released a proposed 2022 CGP Fact Sheet, which includes a summary table of some of the changes. Forty-seven states use EPA’s permit as a model for their own permits, so its impact extends beyond the three states (New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Massachusetts), territories and other areas that use it exclusively.