Lake County Contractors Association is a unique organization in the fact that the association is made up of not only General Contractors and Construction Managers but Subcontractors and Suppliers as well as Associate members.  We all work for the betterment of the construction industry in Lake County, IL.

Baker Pumps

2205 E. Lincoln Hwy.

Chicago Heights, IL 60411

Phone: (708) 758-5277

Fax: (708) 758-1729

Supplier

Curt Grant, Sales

Pump, Pipe and Hose rentals

Sponsor: Mike DeNinno, Lake County Grading

Mike Ryan, H.H. Holmes Testing Laboratory, has been elected 2^nd Vice President of LCCA. He replaces Rick Grabowski who moves up to fill the 1^st Vice President position. In addition, President Day has appointed Steve Dalbec, Jos. J. Henderson & Son, to fill Mike Henderson’s term on the Board of Directors. Finally, Jim Becker, Jr., Becker Electrical Group, has been selected to join the Board of Governors replacing Mr. Dalbec.

The annual Membership Directory was mailed the middle of March.  Every member was sent two copies. If you would like additional copies, just call Terry at the LCCA Office. A limited number of additional copies are available.

At the recent CQM Training Seminar, LCDR Janet Merriman announced a reorganization of the ROICC at Great Lakes. Over the past three years, NAVFAC Midwest has gained responsibility for a larger geographic region and more bases. As a result, NAVFAC Midwest has consolidated geographic facility management responsibilities into Public Works departments. To the outside world, Public Works at Great Lakes will still function as in the past. Jim Nelsen, however, has been promoted to the Deputy Public Works Officer and will assist CDR Kevin Kreide in overseeing the entire Public Works Department to include planning, in-house work and contracts. He will continue to also handle the Project Management/Engineering Branch but a job search will be underway soon to replace him in this capacity. LCDR Merriman will continue to head the Facilities Engineering & Acquisition Division and Wim Massie and Dave Jenkins are in familiar positions as the Acquisition Branch Head and Facility Services Branch Head for Great Lakes.

According to LCDR Merriman, one change coming for contractors will be logistical. To date, all functions have been centered in Building 1A. Sometime this summer, the Navy intends to remodel Building 2016 – outside the gate, and use this for most local contracts management. Then you will not need to go through security just to meet with PWD personnel.

We’re trying something a little different for the May 25, 2006 Membership Meeting. Come and see what you missed at the LCCA Workshop in Africa and the Annual Conference in Marco Island. The evening will feature great food (steak cookout), great conversation, great stories and some great pictures. To top off the evening we will be having a raffle throughout the evening.

If you or your company would like to donate a raffle prize, please give Heidi Diederich a call (847-623-2345 x5) prior to May 12, 2006.

Don’t forget to mark May 25, 2006 on your calendar!!

It’s not too late to assign Bargaining Rights for the upcoming negotiations with Laborers, Cement Masons, and Bricklayers. While it is too late to withdraw from the upcoming negotiations, Bargaining Rights can be accepted until negotiations begin. All Contractor Members were sent a request to assign Bargaining Rights for the upcoming Laborers, Cement Masons and Bricklayers Negotiations. If you employ these trades, you should consider assigning your bargaining rights. If you have questions whether you should, or not, read on:

By Jim Pickus, Pickus Construction & Equip.

(Reprinted from February, 1998)

Say Yes to Bargaining Rights - Contractor members will soon receive information from LCCA regarding the assignment of bargaining rights. I would like to urge you to make the assignment -- to support the association and negotiators, as well as to protect your interests.

When our negotiators sit down to negotiate a new agreement, they need to know that they have the support of the members. Remember, the negotiators are just contractors like us. It is a thankless job, but they are willing to give  up their time to negotiate the best agreement possible and deserve the support of those who just sit on the sidelines.

Let's face it. The cards are stacked against us from the start. The union side is solid. The members will support their negotiators no matter what. Their benefits may depend on their support! Unfortunately many contractors will cut and run at the first sign of trouble, willing to trade a short-term gain for a long-term benefit.

How many times have we heard someone complain about labor costs or ridiculous contract conditions? At almost every membership meeting and any other contractor gathering! And how do we show our support for improved contracts? We refuse to assign bargaining rights and try to hide until negotiations are over! No wonder we don't get anywhere.

But even if you are not willing to support the industry, there is another reason to assign bargaining rights. Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths surrounding bargaining rights. One of the major myths contractors have is that the union is required to offer you the same agreement that is negotiated by the association. NOT TRUE!

If you are not part of the multi-employer bargaining group, you are bargaining on your own. For most contractors, that means that after the negotiations are concluded, the BA comes around and tells you to sign on the dotted line. In at least one documented case here, the "me too" agreement included much more than what MARBA negotiated. In fact, contractors who signed the document became liable for their subcontractors wages and fringes and most do not even know it -- yet!

It's time for contractors to stand up and be counted. Support your local negotiators -- assign your bargaining rights and help improve the contracts we must work under.

The Residential Construction Employers Council (RCEC) has a new agreement with Carpenters effective October 1, 2005 that covers 28 counties in northern Illinois.  The agreement provides increase of $2.65 this year and future increases of $3.00 in October 2006 and $3.25 in October 2007.

To merge the Fox Valley counties into the agreement, carpenters in Kane, Kendall, McHenry and Grundy will receive an addition $.40 over the life of the contract to get them equal to Chicago rates.

Like the MARBA Agreement, the 175 hour cap on benefit funds will be eliminated at the end of this contract and the President of the Union may increase any bond requirement at his sole option. Unlike MARBA, the RCEC Agreement limits the bond increase to just $100,000!

For the first time, the residential agreement will include a drug testing policy using the CISCO language as the basis. Unlike the MARBA Agreement, their program will include Random Testing.

The Operating Engineers and Laborers have announced they are leaving the AFL-CIO Building Trades. They will join the Carpenters, Teamsters and several other construction unions in the National Construction Alliance. They will not, however, leave the AFL-CIO as the Carpenters did.

The question most frequently asked by contractors is what effect this will have on local negotiations. In a word – nothing. Our negotiations are with local unions and their National Affiliation will not impact our contracts.

Reasons cited by the Operators for the change in affiliation include:

• Changing outdated jurisdictional rules dictating which union members can do what work,
• Bringing about weighted voting on issues to give larger unions a greater vote, and
• Streamlining operations.

The most worrisome result for some in the industry is the potential for more jurisdictional disputes as a result of the construction unions being split between the BCT and the NCA. But contractors have control of jurisdiction. Just continue to use the trades you traditionally use and you should not be affected. Where you risk a strike is to change traditional assignments just to save a few dollars. Then you encourage jurisdictional disputes. Contractors also need to pay more attention to jurisdiction at the bargaining table. Just accepting a union’s claim for the work probably will create a jurisdictional dispute where none existed before.

The State Legislature heads toward an April 7 adjournment, but many issues remain unsolved. The biggest hit will be the legislature’s expected failure to pass a Capital Budget. The issue has become so political, that everybody is voting their party and no moves are being made to compromise. If this fails, the best we can expect is something in November – after the voters forget the elections!

Truth in Employment – House Bill 5002 has passed the House Labor Committee by a 12-7 vote, was approved on Second Reading and is now awaiting final action in the House. While the bill is moving, the definition is still of great concern to us and ICIC. A meeting was held at the request of the AFL-CIO, and LCCA plus ICIC and several other groups participated. Nobody except ICIC had a recommendation for change and our suggestion, that the New Mexico definition of Independent Contractor be included, was finally accepted by Labor. Unfortunately, within a week, Labor had backpedaled on their agreement and we are back where we started. We will oppose the bill since no agreement could be reached. Sadly, labor wanted management support but was not willing to make any accommodation to get it!

Prompt Payment – House Bill 5260 was approved by the House State Government Administration Committee and passed the House by a 113-0 vote. This bill, that was written and pushed by AHEAD (a coalition of construction associations in Chicago including LCCA), will require State agencies to tell contractors why a payment request is deficient within 45 days. It also permits contractors to stop work if not paid.

The bill was amended in the Senate to provide: 1. A reduction in the notice period to 30 days, and 2. Require owners to pay undisputed portions of a bill.

It is now on 3^rd Reading in the Senate and if passed, will return to the House for concurrence with the Senate changes.

Prevailing Wage Start/Stop Times – HB 2108 was introduced to correct a problem created by the passage of a Prevailing Wage reform bill in the last session. This bill was introduced in the Veto Session last fall to eliminate the requirement that prevailing wage reports “include the starting and ending times for each employee.” It was approved by the House by a vote of 115-0.

SB 2399 with similar language has passed the Senate 57-0 and is likely to be the bill that will pass. But to date, both bills remain in their chamber’s Rules Committee.

Trucking Prevailing Wage – House Bill 2113, a bill to require Prevailing Wages to be paid on all trucking of aggregate materials, and at facilities "dedicated exclusively, or nearly so" to the performance of the project, has resurfaced in the House and is moving again. The bill is still in the House but could be approved and moved to the Senate for consideration shortly after.

Paying truckers “by the load” including the truck expense would still be permitted, but the take home pay, after deducting the hourly rate for the truck as published by IDOT, must still equal or exceed the prevailing wage.

The recent Primary was – predictable. With very few exceptions, the favorites won their races. The only incumbent to lose was Adeline Geo-Karis who will end a long tenure in Springfield in January. Sue Simpson swept the State Senate District 31 race with 55% of the vote and will face Michael Bond in the fall. This race also had the highest vote total with over 19,000 votes cast. Only statewide and Congressional races garnered more votes.

Judy Baar Topinka earned the right to challenge Rod Blagojevich in the fall. Looking at Lake County, however, Jim Oberweis beat Topinka by almost 2,500 votes. The award for “Most Votes in an Uncontested Race” goes to Mark Kirk who got over 15,000 votes – and had no opponent!

In looking at the results, you might think in a race like the State Senate District 31 race, since the Republicans had 19,000 votes and the uncontested Democratic winner only attracted 6,500 votes, that the fall election should be a slam-dunk for the Republican. Unfortunately, it does not necessarily work like that. Vote totals are generally dependent on high profile races. While a heavily contested race may get the vote out, a race without a Governor or Congressional race does not encourage votes to get out and vote. They will, however, be there in the fall when their candidates are running! So now we start over and get ready for the General Elections on November

If you supported a candidate in the primary, congratulations. Your participation helps assure that the democratic system is alive and well – and we hope you supported candidates who support the construction industry. Whatever, don’t forget your candidates this summer. They will once again need help.

The construction industry reached almost 7 million jobs in 2004 and is expected to grow by an additional 792,000 jobs by 2014. This is an 11.4% increase according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Construction is projected to be the ONLY goods producing sector to grow during the period. The two major occupational groups for growth are professionals and service employees.

Among the trades, the largest percentage of growth in employment is expected in Tile & Marble Setters (22.9%), Roofers (16.8), the pipe trades (16.7%) and Cement Masons (15.9%). At the other end of the scale are the Asbestos and insulation workers (2.4%), Boilermakers (8.7%), Drywall installers (9%) and Electricians (11.8%)

JULIE has been looking for a way to integrate mapping into utility locate requests for some time. With advances in GIS technology, mapping will soon be a part of the locate process. Mapping will assist with the locate process allowing operators to pinpoint on, or draw a polygon around the jobsite. This will improve the accuracy of locates and hopefully reduce accidental utility hits.

Congratulations to J.A.C. Masonry and Midwest Masonry who recently received Silver Awards in the 2005 Excellence In Masonry Award Competition. J.A.C. Masonry won for their work on the Grayslake High School and Midwest Masonry was honored for their work on the Wilson Public School in Chicago. Midwest was also awarded a Craftsmanship Award for the Centennial Park Fitness Center.

Congratulations to Roughneck Concrete Drilling and Sawing who celebrates their 50^th Anniversary this year. Roughneck was founded by Ed Johnson as Concrete Core Drilling Corporation in 1956. Ed passed away in 1999 but the company continues to thrive with his daughter, Karen Elin Johnson at the helm. According to Karen Johnson, Roughneck’s President, “The company has been through many changes throughout its 50 year history, but we still strive for the same excellent customer service that was the hallmark of my father’s reign.”