ABC

Ellert for State Representative

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Kevin Berger presenting ABC's endorsement and check to Francis Ellert at Coca-Cola Bottling in Plymouth

I had the opportunity to meet with Francis Ellert recently and present him with a check and endorsement from Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana (ABC).  Easterday Construction has been a member of ABC for nearly three decades and I have served on the organization’s State Board of Directors through four terms.  Francis has attended several ABC events and the organization has found him to be a like-minded individual that will fit well in representing our Free Enterprise cause.  I consider Francis a personal friend and I was pleased to be able to relay our support. 

This is Francis’s second run at the Indiana House District 17 position.  I supported him in his first run (see here) and will do so again this time.  Currently he has a primary challenger, but no Democrats have filed to run for the position in the Fall.  Turnout will still be important in the primary.  Since the Republican candidate  for President has been decided before the Indiana primary, it’s important to  make your voice heard in this local issue.

Lest you think voting isn’t important in the primary, there seems to be a real divide in the campaigning.  I see very few Harman signs in the Culver area where Francis is well represented.  I see mostly Harman signs in the Bremen area where Tim is well known.  Culver in particularly shouldn’t be complacent and assume that Francis has it sewn up!  We need to get out the vote and support him.

I can’t say anything bad about Tim Harman.  From what I know of him, he is a good person, has run a clean campaign and has the best interests of District 17 at heart.  But he’s not the known candidate that Francis is.  Francis ran a hard campaign against Nancy Dembowski in 2010 and I think he benefited from it.  Not only did it help him better define his positions, but it helped him make contacts that will be crucial when he joins the General Assembly next year.  Those contacts are what have garnered the support of the Indiana Chamber, the Indiana Manufacturers Association and the Indiana Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.

Please consider helping me support Francis in the primary.  In less than a week we’ll be making this choice.  I can’t tell you how much I  look forward to voting for a candidate that I can truly support rather than choosing the lesser of evils.  I don’t think Francis tells election fairy tales.

Kevin

Construction Material Prices Jump

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Construction materials prices rose 1.4 percent in March, the largest monthly increase since April 2011, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s April 12 producer price index (PPI) report. On a quarterly basis, construction materials prices increased 2.7 percent and are 3.8 percent higher than March 2011. Following a similar pattern, nonresidential construction materials prices moved up 1.6 percent for the month, 2.9 percent for the quarter and 4 percent year over year.

Excerpt from ABC Construction Economic Update, April 12, 2012

Construction Industry Jobs Down Again…

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“The economic slowdown during the spring and summer of last year caused many projects to be put on hold and resulted in diminished construction momentum.” —ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.

The construction industry lost 7,000 jobs in March, inching the unemployment rate up to 17.2 percent from 17.1 percent in February, according to the April 6 Department of Labor employment report. Year over year, construction industry unemployment is down compared to the March 2011 rate of 20 percent. The industry added 55,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Excerpt from ABC Construction Economic Update, April 6, 2012

Common Wage Hearing

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This Monday I was asked to serve as ABC’s (Associated Builders and Contractors) representative at a Common Wage Hearing in Warsaw.  The Hearing covered three sewer projects for the City of Warsaw and was held at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.  This is the first Wage Hearing that I have attended since the Law changed on July 1.  As of that date the five member panel no longer includes a representative appointed by the Governor’s Office but now has a member appointed by ABC.  There are a couple of other changes to the Law.  One is that a Wage Hearing is good for any other projects going forward for a period of three months providing that all of the wage classes named in the hearing cover the following projects.  (This should reduce the number of Hearings required).  The second item is a change in the project cost threshold from $150,000 to $250,000.  Unfortunately due to a language error, the $250,000 threshold does not apply until January 1, 2012 and the language error caused all Hearings for the remainder of 2011 to have no threshold, i.e., any project must pay the common wage and have a hearing to set that wage.

Don Scearce

In some ways it was apropos that I took this position as I was filling the shoes of Don Scearce.  Don was a personal friend as well as a business associate for many years.  I worked briefly in his office as a draftsman after college and I have a continuing relationship with his office, Scearce Rudisel Architects, to this day.  Don was a staunch supporter of Merit Shop and served on countless Wage Hearings such as this striving to do the best he could for his community through these Common Wage Hearings.  Unfortunately Don passed away last year.  (Obituary)

The City of Warsaw and Kosciusko County have a long history of supporting ABC wages on their projects.  Of the 231 construction businesses in the County, only three are signatory to unions.   Since 2008 there have been 37 hearings and at 33 hearings the ABC rates were adopted.   This makes the County very pro Merit Shop regardless of whether the companies are affiliated with ABC or not.  The representative for the AFL/CIO brought several documents to present including a folder of affidavits from workers showing their wage rates.  Unfortunately it appeared that many of those workers were not actually working in Kosciusko County though that was the implication.  I also noted a significant number of the ones that I glanced through that were below the rates requested in their submission.  Their submission was also heavy highway rather than providing rates across all classifications.  It was not clear why they did not provide the complete list of rates but had that list been adopted, additional hearings would have been required if another building project came up.

The ABC Wages passed on a vote of 3 to 1 with the chair abstaining.  Even though these projects are outside of our scope of work I still felt good about doing what I could to get the best rates for the City of Warsaw.

While I still believe that the best legislation would be a repeal of the Common Wage requirements, the changes to the new Law helped to promote competition and lower project costs for all of us.  Once the $250,000 threshold is in place that will also help improve the situation  Our Senators and Representatives should be commended for making this change and should be encouraged to continue the trend towards no common wage requirements.

ABC – Mike Pence

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Congressman Mike Pence

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Michiana Council had a presentation from Mike Pence to discuss how his goals, if he becomes governor, would align with the free enterprise goals of ABC.  He related several personal anecdotes on why he believes that Right-to-Work should be one of the number one goals of his administration.  He expressed his belief that on many of our issues, it was a matter of educating the public.  His opinion is that educating the public on issues should be one of the governor’s priorities.

He spoke elequently and made  a strong case for ABC’s support of his candidancy.  There appears to be only one other candidate at this time, but there may be more.  If others decide to try their hand against Mr. Pence in the primary, they will find a formidable opponent.  I think it’s likely that he will be the Republican candidate for governor.