AGC’s 2020 Construction HR & Training Professionals Conference and pre-conference Federal Construction HR Workshop will be held on October 7-9, 2020, at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch in St. Louis, MO. The conference will offer unique opportunities for HR, training, and workforce development professionals in the construction industry. For training professionals, the conference will offer sessions related to the most cutting-edge techniques currently in the industry and envisioned for the future in training, education and workforce development. For HR professionals, the conference will help attendees stay up to date and compliant with employment laws and best practices. Some sessions will be of interest to both HR and training professionals alike.

There’s still a short time left to register for AGC of America’s upcoming Collective Bargaining Seminar. The half-day seminar will take place in the morning of March 9 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The seminar is part of AGC’s Annual Convention, but AGC members and chapter staff not attending the convention may also attend.

AGC of America on Feb. 4 released a white paper titled The PRO Act: What Union Contractors Need to Know. The PRO Act is a bill that would make vast, transformational changes to labor laws and upsets the delicate balance of rights and restrictions established over decades by the NLRB, courts, and Congress. While the union-favoring legislation presents obvious concerns for open-shop contractors, union contractors may not realize the detrimental impact it could have on them.

March 11, 2020, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino

Construction-industry collective bargaining negotiations completed in 2019 resulted in an average first-year increase in wages and fringe benefits of $1.67 or 2.9 percent, according to the annual year-end Settlements Report issued by the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (“CLRC”).

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) recently announced the release of its new technical assistance guide created specifically for construction contractors. OFCCP intends for construction contractors to use the technical assistance guide as a self-assessment tool to review the practices they have in place to eliminate discrimination and achieve their equal employment opportunity goals.

On Jan. 31, 2020, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. This new version contains minor changes to the form and its instructions. Employers should begin using this updated form as of Jan. 31, 2020.

OFCCP recently announced the release of its new Contractor Compliance Institute (CCI), an on-demand learning management system designed to help federal contract holders meet their equal employment opportunity obligations.

Union representation across occupations in the construction industry modestly declined in 2019, from 13.8 percent to 13.6 percent of workers employed, according to an annual release recently issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”). Union membership in the industry also modestly declined, from 12.8 percent to 12.6 percent, but remains considerably higher than the all-industry average in the private sector, which declined from 6.4 percent to 6.2 percent over the year. Construction union representation and membership decreased by a larger margin in 2018 but increased slightly in both 2017 and 2016. The total number of workers in construction (regardless of union affiliation) rose in each of those years. In 2019, the number rose from 8,169,000 to 8,352,000.

Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas and Kansas City Have Largest Gains; New York City and Fairbanks, Alaska Lag the Most as Labor Shortages Likely Kept Firms in Many Areas from Adding Even More Workers