LEGISLATIVE/POLITICAL 


LEGISLATIVE & POLITICAL AFFAIRS 
   
SEPA monitors all construction and business related legislation and regulations at both the national and state levels. The Chapter also lobbies on behalf of its position and testifies when appropriate. Local and County governments are monitored by the Chapter's Legislative Committee. ABC's National Office serves as a liaison with the Congress and various federal agencies that are involved with construction issues. ABC National also works to insure that ABC is represented on national industry and government advisory groups. SEPA seeks a level playing field for everyone in construction to offer purchasers of construction services the best value for their construction dollar.

Philadelphia's New Crane Safety Law
Mayor Nutter signed Philadelphia's new Crane Safety Law on Wednesday. The law establishes certification requirements for crane operators, riggers, and inspectors as well as codifying standards for equipment and bonding for crane companies.  Chris Williams, director of safety for Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., said "Certification can be a good thing, but we need to make sure that this rigger, this crane operator knows what they're doing before we put them out there."
Click here to download the Philadelphia Crane Ordinance.

Separations Act Update
Commonwealth Court recently ruled that school districts may continue to file for mandated wavier applications, and, if the Pennsylvania Department of Education (DOE) fails to act within sixty days, the wavier requests are deemed approved.  Also DOE must base it decisions solely on the merits of the application without regard the current imposed moratorium.  DOE is currently determining it next course of action.
Click here to download the Mandated Waivers.

Click here to download the Key Tax Changes For Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.


Free Enterprise Alliance (FEA)
The Free Enterprise Alliance (FEA) is the issue advocacy arm of ABC designed to educate member employees and the public about issues of importance to ABC members. FEA supports member interests by funding media initiatives to educate the public on free enterprise issues. Issues include, the prohibition of Union-Only Project Labor Agreements, Responsible Contractor Ordinances, enactment of Right-to-Work laws, repeal of the Davis Bacon Act and elimination of burdensome regulatory programs administered by the NLRB and OSHA. FEA delivers its free enterprise message through television, radio, billboards and the print media. FEA also sponsors postcard mailings, toolbox talks, paycheck stuffers, press releases, letters to the editor and voter registration and absentee ballot application materials.

Form for contributing for ABC’s Free Enterprise Alliance (click to download)

 

Employee Free Choice Act
It is simple, you do it twice a year and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. It’s called voting and everyone in our country who is eligible is encouraged to exercise this inalienable right. Secret ballot elections form the fundamental foundation on which our nation was founded. These rights are guaranteed to Americans when they cast their vote in elections for candidates for office.  The unions are supporting a misnamed bill entitled “The Employee Free Choice Act”  (EFCA).

EFCA would eliminate an employee’s right to a secret ballot election when it came to deciding whether to vote for a union representation or not. A 2006 national survey by the Opinion Research Corporation found that 75% of Americans chose secret ballot elections as the most democratic method of choosing unionization.

If the EFCA becomes law, secret ballot elections would be eliminated and replaced with a form of election called “card check”, a system similar to a petition process. Once signed authorization cards are collected from more than 50% of the workforce, a union would be designated as the employee representative for purposes of collective bargaining. SEPA is opposed to the EFCA as it destroys the very system of secret ballot elections that our democratic system of government is based on.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) has launched a public awareness campaign aimed at educating voters on the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, which would take away an employee's right to a private ballot election.  As part of this multi-faceted campaign, CDW released a television ad featuring Vince Curatola, better known as "Johnny Sack" from The Sopranos. The ad is designed to engage and educate voters on this important issue.  This can be seen on all national cable news channels or by going to http://www.myprivateballot.com/.


Do you want to know who your local elected officials are? Click here for help from an ABC partner. 


SEPA LEGISLATIVE ISSUES 2008

Union-Only Project Labor Agreements
Union-Only Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) require all construction companies working on a publicly funded construction project to be signatory to a union agreement or use only union employees. PLA’s also require that all contractors pay union wages and benefits, and obey restrictive union work rules, job classification and arbitration procedures, even though they may have their own skilled employees.  SEPA believes these agreements drive up the cost of construction by reducing competition and discriminate against open shop contractors by effectively precluding them from bidding on projects paid for by their own tax dollars. SEPA opposes PLA’s.

 

Responsible Contractor Ordinances
So-called Responsible Contractor Ordinances (RCO’s) are being proposed by unions under the guise of protecting the public from contractors who do not have adequately trained employees.  The union-proposed RCO’s provide that the only meaningful training that is recognized is that provided through union apprenticeship training programs.  In reality, RCO’s are nothing more than a method to exclude the majority of open shop contractors from performing public work and to award that work to union contractors.  75% of the construction employees in the greater Philadelphia region work for Merit Contractors, compared with 25% who have elected union representation. RCO’s are discriminatory and substantially reduce competition for public construction work, thereby driving up the public construction costs to taxpayers.  SEPA opposes RCO’s.

 

PA Prevailing Wage Act
Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act (PWA) is modeled after the federal Davis-Bacon Act, a depression era wage subsidy law enacted in 1931.  Like the federal act, this law mandates that the area’s “prevailing wage” be paid on all public projects over $25,000.  Because of the complexities associated with implementing these laws, they translate into increased construction costs for taxpayers.  The PWA artificially inflates the cost of construction costs to state and local governments anywhere from 5% to more than 30%, without any gain in safety, training, or quality, above what a similar project would cost in the private sector.  SEPA believes that the Free Enterprise system where the lowest responsible bidder is awarded a construction project absent artificially inflated and state-mandated wages, benefits and working conditions should apply to all public construction. 

 

Apprenticeship Ratios
There is considerable inconsistency in Pennsylvania’s apprenticeship ratio requirements between union and open shop contractors.  Under the current apprenticeship ratio requirement system, unions have the ability to designate their ratio on a job-by-job basis, while open shop contractors need approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry for any changes.  SEPA is striving to create a more consistent apprentice ratio requirement system where the union and open shop contractors are subject to the same requirements. 

 

Right-to-Work Legislation
In Pennsylvania, where a union has gained the exclusive right to represent all employees in contract negotiations, anyone who wants to secure or keep a job can be required to pay union fees as a condition of employment even if he or she has chosen not to be a union member.  Employees can be forced to pay union fees for the privilege of working, even if they did not vote for and do not want a union to represent them.  Statistics compiled by researchers over the past three decades demonstrate conclusively that RTW states lead the nation in productivity, job growth, and a higher standard of living. SEPA supports RTW legislation guaranteeing every citizen in PA freedom of choice in deciding whether to join a labor union when accepting employment should be a fundamental right.


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