Register Now (11/21) EARNTalk: Advancing Equity and Worker Power in Apprenticeship Systems in Your State

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

November 4, 2024

High-Road Pathways to Union Construction Jobs: Advancing Equity and Worker Power in Apprenticeship Systems in Your State
2-3 pm ET, Thursday, November 21

Register here: Register

Celebrate National Apprenticeship Week with a discussion of state strategies for expanding high-road apprenticeship training systems. Right now, massive federal clean energy and infrastructure investments are spurring demand for skilled trades workers. Making sure these new jobs are good union jobs will require expanding access to registered apprenticeship programs, especially for Black, brown, and women workers historically excluded from many skilled trades occupations. How can state advocates and labor partners seize this moment of opportunity to advance worker power and equity in construction jobs?

Our line-up of experts will cover key questions including:
What is a registered apprenticeship? What’s the “union difference” in apprenticeship training, and how can state advocates partner with building trades unions to expand high-road training programs?
How do federal and state policy frameworks shape apprenticeship systems, and what do data show about current trends in apprenticeship training?
What opportunities exist to leverage federal funds to strengthen and expand apprenticeship programs that lead to good union jobs?

Speakers will include:
Melissa Wells, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU)
Erin O’Brien-Hofmann, Finishing Trades Institute, Philadelphia
Russ Ormiston, Institute for Construction Employment Research (ICERES)
Steve Herzenbeg and Claire Kovach, Keystone Research Center

Join us to learn more about registered apprenticeship, strategies for expanding access to high-road apprenticeship training, and data that can inform work to achieve better job quality and more equitable outcomes for women and people of color in your state’s construction industry.

Study Shows that Project Labor Agreements Promote Bid Competition, Control Costs, and Expand Pathways to Skilled Construction Careers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

ILEPI – May 7, 2024

Analysis of Port of Seattle Projects Offers Key Insights Into Potential Impact of New Federal Contracting Rules

La Grange, IL: A first-of-its-kind analysis of construction projects from the Port of Seattle between 2016 and 2023—including airports and seaports—shows that project labor agreements (PLAs) promote competition amongst contractors, control construction costs, and deliver superior workforce development outcomes over projects completed without PLAs. The report was conducted by researchers at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read the Report, The Impact of Project Labor Agreements on Competition, Costs, Apprenticeships, and Diversity:  Evidence from Port of Seattle Projects here.

Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between construction project owners and labor organizations that establish the terms and conditions of employment for skilled craft workers on large infrastructure projects. They have a long history as a de-risking mechanism and construction management tool for both the public and private sectors, ranging from the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1930s to the construction of most modern NFL stadiums today. In 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order to require PLAs on federal projects valued at more than $35 million. Most PLAs include provisions for preventing strikes and lockouts, creating uniform work rules and safety standards, harmonizing schedules between different types of crafts, and addressing skilled labor supply needs.

“As is the case with many policies involving labor standards, there is a great deal of mythology around PLAs and their impact on businesses seeking to compete for bids, on costs borne by project owners and taxpayers, and on the broader workforce supply needs of the construction industry,” said study coauthor and ILEPI Economist Frank Manzo. “With trillions in new infrastructure funding and an Executive Order from President Biden expanding the utilization of PLAs, data from Port of Seattle projects offers a useful comparative analysis that will help communities and policymakers separate myth from fact and maximize the impact of these investments.”

(See Full Article)

NEW UMASS AMHERST LABOR CENTER STUDY FINDS NEARLY 10% OF RHODE ISLAND EMPLOYERS MISCLASSIFY WORKERS, COSTING TAXPAYERS TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

February 14, 2022

Working paper co-produced by the Institute for Construction Economic Research finds costs to taxpayers may be as high as $54 million

AMHERST, Mass. – A new study released today by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center reveals that nearly 1-in-10 Rhode Island employers misclassified employees as independent contractors between 2016 and 2021, affecting an estimated 19,359 workers in the state in 2019 and costing taxpayers at least $25.1 million. Illegal misclassification allows firms to evade taxes while denying workers their legal rights to, among other things, unemployment insurance benefits, workers’ compensation insurance and overtime pay.

The study, which was co-produced by the Institute for Construction Economics Research (ICERES) and conducted by Tom Juravich, professor of labor studies and sociology at UMass Amherst, and Russell Ormiston, associate professor of business and economics at Allegheny College and president of the ICERES, relied on extensive data provided by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

“This research builds on the work we did in Massachusetts and shows that rampant worker misclassification and employer tax fraud is a problem across New England,” says Juravich.

Worker misclassification occurs in every industry of the Rhode Island economy, but is especially rampant among residential construction, janitorial services, landscapers and certain types of construction contractors, such as painting and finish carpentry.

“The illegal misclassification of workers as independent contractors in residential construction has created a hothouse for wage theft,” Juravich says.

(Read More)

(PDF Copy of Study)

Prevailing Wage Laws: What Do We Know?

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Institute for Construction Economics Research (ICERES)

In recent years, states and municipalities have been increasingly engaged in heated, often partisan, debates over the future of prevailing wage laws. In addition to the repeal of state prevailing wage laws in West Virginia and Kentucky, there have been high-profile political challenges in several states including Wisconsin and Nevada. Numerous city councils and county commissioners have been concurrently engaged in similar debates regarding local prevailing wage ordinances. References to economic studies often accompany these calls for legislative action, as advocates on both sides of the debate can point to papers supporting their position. The lack of consensus among researchers, however, is mostly attributable to differences in empirical methodology and scientific rigor. To improve the clarity of future public policy debates on prevailing wage laws, this paper summarizes the current state of research on these policies, highlighting recent academic findings and identifying empirical shortcomings inherent in a number of oft-cited non-academic studies.

(See full PDF of Study here)