It was full. It was loud. And it was fun! The May 20^th LCCA PAC Rock & Roll Auction in the Fuel Room concert venue at Austin’s Saloon & Eatery in Libertyville was a huge hit both with attendees and for LCCA’s PAC. For just a $20 entry fee, more than 160 LCCA members and guests (many clad in their favorite rock & roll t-shirts) packed the room as the Auction generated more than $41,000 in PAC contributions.

The event featured an open bar, an abundance of food and more than 150 auction items. The Auction serves as the primary funding vehicle to build LCCA’s Political Action Committee funds to take our fight to the legislature. 100% of the proceeds from this event will go to candidates who support our legislative efforts!

In addition to the auction, LCCA conducted 2 raffles: the traditional 50/50 and an event raffle for a huge Panasonic 50”, 1080p 600Hz Plasma HDTV with a Panasonic 5.1 Channel 1000-Watt Blu-ray Home Theater system including free Geek Squad delivery, recycling, setup and networking. The event featured 2 silent auctions in addition to the live auction called by Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. This biannual event has always been a terrific way to find a real bargain on everything from construction materials and services from Thelen Sand & Gravel, Meyer Material, Merryman Aggregates, H.H. Holmes, Patten Construction, Best Sanitation, Waste Management and Reliable Concrete Pumping to professional services from 3 Points LLC, Dam, Snell & Taveirne, attorney Lou Bridges, Zeigler & Associates and Seidenberg Investment Group. Other popular items included golf outings, cases of wine, Cubs & White Sox tickets, NASCAR passes, autographed sports paraphernalia, Jimmy Buffett concert tickets and an All-American Picnic package featuring a meat freezer, butcher shop gift certificate, barbecue sauce, beer, wine and American flags.

The final highlighted item was a set of the hottest tickets in town – Chicago Blackhawks Western Conference Finals Game 3 – donated by Ryan Central, Inc. John Keno & Co. bid $2,000 for the Blackhawks game.

A tremendous thank you goes out to all attendees, raffle participants, PAC contributors and volunteers. Thanks also to the PAC Auction Task Force who worked for several months to plan and coordinate the event and solicit for donated auction items. The biggest thank you is directed to the contractors, vendors and suppliers who donated the tremendous auction items. In today’s tough market, the following companies stepped up and really helped make the whole event go:

AON Risk Services
API
A. Horn, Inc.
Alliance Contractors, Inc.
Amp-Rite Electric Company, Inc.
Arlington Turf Landscaping Services
Austin’s Saloon & Eatery
BakerCorp
Becker Electrical Group
Best Sanitation Services
Boller Construction Co., Inc.
Breuer Metal Craftsmen
Brown R Cartage
Burris Equipment Company
Café Pyrenees
Camosy Construction
Campanella & Sons
Chicagoland Truckin' Inc.
C.D. Chidester
Circle Concrete Construction
Clean Cut Tree Service
Columbia Pipe & Supply
Concord Construction
Continental Electrical Construction
Dahme Mechanical
Dam, Snell & Taveirne
Dietz Surveying, Inc.
Executive Clothiers
Fastenal
Glander Paving
Rick & Nancy Grabowski
Hard Rock Concrete Cutters
H.H. Holmes Testing Laboratories
K & A Graphics
Kara Instruments
Katco Development, Inc.
Keiko Johnson
Keno & Sons Construction Co.
King Cut Concrete Cutters, Inc.
Kirschhoffer Truck Service
Kristoff's
LAI, Ltd.
Lake Forest Bank & Trust
Lake Forest Travel
Layne Western Company
Lee Jensen Sales Co., Inc.
Lintech Engineering
Louis Brydges, Attorney at Law
Maddock Industries
Manusos General Contracting
Maxim Construction Corp., Inc.
Merryman Aggregates
Meyer Material
Morse Electric, Inc.
Mt. Carmel Stabilization
Narvick Bros. Concrete
Natgun Corporation
NorStates Bank
Northern Illinois Mack, Inc.
Octagon
Osco Oil
P & S Painting
Pasquesi Sheppard, LLC
Patten Construction Products
Paychex
Payne and Dolan
Peterson & Matz
PetroLiance LLC
Prairie Group
Prairie Material
Prinmar Corporation
RKD Construction Supply
RSC Equipment Rental
Reliable Concrete Pumping
Riley Construction Company, Inc.
Roughneck Concrete Cutting & Sawing Co.
Ryan Inc. Central
Seidenberg Investment Group
Site Utility Construction, Inc.
Stellmach Electric
Steven's Steakhouse
Sunset Cartage, Inc.
Taylor Financial Group
Thelen Sand & Gravel
3 Points, LLC
Tsukasa of Tokyo
U.S. Cellular
United Rentals
Vulcan Materials
Waste Management
Water Well Solutions
Waukegan Roofing
West Side Tractor Sales
Whitey’s Crane Rental
Wildfire
Wunderlich-Malec
Zeigler & Associates

Future Meetings & Events

June 10, 2010
LCCA/Abbott Safety Day
“Trenching & Excavation”
Greenbelt – North Chicago

August 5, 2010
LCCA Golf Outing
Midlane GC – Wadsworth

September 11, 2010
Future Leaders Event
Vintage Racing Festival
RoadAmerica – Elkhart Lake, WI

September 23, 2010
Membership Meeting
“Gridiron Showcase with Hall of Famer Dan Hampton”
Hawthorne Woods CC

October 28, 2010
Membership Meeting
Meet the Candidates
Plumbers Local 93 - Volo

November 19, 2010
Annual Meeting & Awards Extravaganza
Ivanhoe Club

Calendar of Events

On May 27^th Bricklayers District 1 and employers tentatively settled – subject to ratification – on a 1 year agreement with no increases to the wage/fringe package. There are no further details on a date for ratification or changes in the wage/fringe allocation, but this is the first LCCA/MARBA agreement to reach a settlement in 2010.

LCCA & MARBA are preparing to deal with whatever happens next week. Next Monday May 31^st, the contract expiration date for most contracts, is also Memorial Day – a legal holiday. At this time, a June 1^st general strike appears extremely unlikely. Union labor appear likely to report and work as scheduled as negotiations continue. Some unions may again attempt to split contractor unity and could begin to selectively target individual contractors and/or jobsites with work stoppages, followed by the offering of interim agreements. LCCA & MARBA urge its contractors to resist signing any interim or other “association” agreement. Please contact LCCA immediately with any information regarding this type of union effort.

In other local labor news, Heat and Frost Insulators Local 17 voted to postpone their June 1st increase of $3.20 per hour until at least January of 2011. Also, Sheet Metal Workers Local 265 and management have reached a tentative one-year agreement with an increase of $1.00 effective June 1^st and an additional increase of $0.33 effective December 1^st applied only to fringe benefits. Local 265 will vote on the contract on May 29th.

The next "Contractors on Labor" session is tentatively scheduled for 2:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. 

Bricklayers District Council No. 1
(Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, Kendall, DeKalb, Kane, Will & Grundy counties)
There is a tentative agreement for a one-year freeze of the current wage and fringe benefit package, pending ratification by the parties. There was also a change in the bonding provision of the contract.

Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters
(Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Will & Grundy counties)
The sixth negotiation meeting between the parties was today, May 28. No agreement was reached. The parties agreed to meet again on June 7.

Cement Masons Locals 11 (Areas 161, 362 and 638), 502 and 803
(Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Will & Grundy counties)
Four negotiation sessions were held, including the meeting today. The parties agreed to a contract extension and will resume negotiations on June 3.

Laborers' District Council of Chicago & Vicinity
(Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Boone, Will & Grundy counties)
The parties have met five times. Another meeting with the Laborers is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 1. The Laborers have committed to no work stoppage on Tuesday, June 1.

Operating Engineers Local 150
(Lake, Cook, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Will & Grundy counties)
The third negotiation meeting was held on May 21. Negotiations will resume on June 4. Please note that, unlike all of the other labor compacts, this agreement has a 30 day work continuation clause and no strike or lockout can occur until July 1.

Technical Engineers Local 130
(Lake, Cook & DuPage counties)
The parties’ initial negotiation meeting was held on May 25. Discussions will resume on June 1.

Last week the Legislature passed the 2011 state budget (HB 859/SB 1215) in special session and sent the measure to Governor Pat Quinn for his signature or veto. Governor Quinn must decide whether increasing state spending by $1 billion over the previous year and spending about $6 billion more than the state will take in is a good idea. In addition, the Budget leaves more than $6 billion in bills from the current fiscal year unpaid. No Republicans in either chamber supported the deficit budget.

Another bill, SB 3660, gives the governor more discretionary authority on how to spend state revenue, allows the state to take out a $1.2 billion loan against money it is slated to receive from the national tobacco settlement and allows the governor to divert about $1 billion from restricted state funds. The state will have to repay these borrowed or diverted funds with interest. Although these budget measures advanced, a bill to allow the governor to sell up to $4.1 billion in general obligation bonds to finance payment to Illinois’ five state retirement systems which narrowly passed the House on Tuesday, did not have enough support in the Senate to call for a vote.

Lawmakers also overwhelmingly rejected Gov. Quinn’s amendatory veto changes to the bipartisan McPier reform package. The legislation was introduced this spring after several lucrative trade shows left Illinois. Additional shows threatened to leave Chicago if steps weren’t taken to address exhibitor complaints relating to the high cost of union labor at McPier. Although the governor’s amendatory veto was overridden by lawmakers, a number of Gov. Quinn’s concerns about the legislation were advanced in follow-up legislation (SB 3215) that was approved by lawmakers on Thursday.

Other measures approved last week included a Sales Tax Holiday (SB 3658) for clothing and school supplies purchased from August 6-15, 2010 and a Tax Amnesty bill (SB 377) that abates all interest and penalties on unpaid taxes incurred between June 30, 2002, and July 1, 2010. The bill expects to generate $250 million in payments from current tax scofflaws. A similar tax amnesty initiative in 2003 brought in $500 million.

On March 18, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act creating two new tax benefits – a 2011 new hire retention credit and an immediate payroll tax exemption – for employers who hire qualifying previously unemployed workers. The new credit and exemption is applicable to the rehire of qualifying laid off employees.

The new hire retention credit is the lesser of $1,000 or 6.2 percent of wages (as defined for income tax withholding purposes) paid by the employer to a qualified employee who is hired in 2010 between March 19^th and December 31^st and retained for a 52 consecutive week period. The new hire retention credit will be claimed on the employer’s 2011 income tax return.

The immediate payroll tax exemption provides employers with an exemption from the employer’s 6.2% share of social security tax on wages paid to qualifying employees during that same period. Qualifying employees are individuals who have been unemployed or employed for less than 40 hours during a continuous 60-day period immediately prior to the hiring date and who are not family members or related to the employer. Employees must certify by a signed affidavit that they have not been employed for more than 40 hours during the 60-day period ending on the date they started employment.

This new payroll tax exemption can be applied to wages paid to an employee who was previously laid off and then rehired after a 60-day period. The payroll tax exemption does NOT apply to wages paid to an employee who is hired to replace an existing worker, unless the existing worker terminated employment voluntarily or was terminated for cause.

Please contact your tax professional for more information or consult the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=220745,00.html.

Do you think inside the Box? Don’t let a cave-in accident happen on your watch. All cave-ins are usually preventable, but they are almost always deadly when they do occur. As an employer, you are required by OSHA to train your employees who work in trenches and excavations.

Not to worry, LCCA can help contractors with that training. On Thursday June 10, 2010, LCCA will co-sponsor the Annual Safety Day with Abbott Labs and OSHA featuring a seminar on Trench & Excavation Safety entitled “Don’t Dig Your Own Grave.” Safety Day will again be held at the Greenbelt Cultural Center, 1215 Green Bay Road in North Chicago. Lunch and registration begins at 10:30 am with the seminar running from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm.

Attendees will learn about OSHA’s requirements regarding excavation safety, industry statistics, and current prevention methods and equipment with expert presenter Steve Billings of Aldridge Electric, Inc. LCCA will provide a Certificate of Completion for attendees.

The Annual Safety Day is a FREE event, but you must register by June 4^th. Space is limited to the first 150 registrants. A registration form is enclosed/attached for your use or go to www.lcca-il.org/events to register on-line. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Lisa in the LCCA Office at (847)623-2345 x4.

The Board of Governors approved 2 “new” members at its May 13, 2010 meeting. Jim and Rudy Drost are returning to LCCA with their new employer, Market Financial Group. Plaza Excavating Contractors are returning to LCCA after a 1-year absence to assign bargaining rights and again participate in the association.

Market Financial Group of Crystal Lake, IL
Jim Drost, Account Executive
Associate member providing risk management, insurance and surety placement. Sponsored by Craig Jones.

Plaza Excavating Contractors, Inc. of Dundee, IL
Ken Preski, President/Owner
Contractor member providing commercial excavating services.

Congratulations and welcome back to LCCA!