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| MCAA National Update for July 30, 2012 |
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR MCAA'S 2012 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SEMINAR
If you are preparing for labor negotiations, plan to register for MCAA's 2012 Collective Bargaining Seminar (November 7-9 in Coronado, CA). The program is designed to enhance your knowledge, tools and resources to ensure your strongest possible position when you enter the process. The program will begin with a Digest of Recent Settlements and Current UA Agreements led by Cary Peters of the Construction Labor Research Council followed by a session on Bargaining Preparation led by Mason Evans of JH Kelly (Longview, WA) and Frank Wall, Executive Director of the PMCof Oregon. Richard Barns of C. Richard Barnes & Associates will provide you with tips on Bargaining Team Selection and Steve Coleman of the MCA of Ontario and John Mutton of Municipal Solutions/Energy Infrastructure will bring you up to date on Canadian Labor Relations Developments and basic labor/management committee operations. Mike Boldt of Ice Miller will cover basic legal issues and current topics in labor negotiations. Jim Murphy of the Murphy Company (St. Louis, MO) will explain Industrial Relations Council procedures and how best to prepare for a dispute arbitration before the council. And Rocky Miller of Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP will brief you on health and pension reform issues and developments. Sessions and panel discussions on multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, public policy developments that could affect collective bargaining negotiations and the future of construction industry collective bargaining complete this valuable forum. Convenient online registration is now open, so sign up today at www.mcaa.org/education. |
SIGN UP NOW FOR NEXT QUALIFIED LEVEL ARC FLASH SAFETY TRAINING WEBINARS
 If you or your service technicians have been too busy to participate in the previous Qualified Level Arc Flash Safety Training Webinars, now is your chance. The next webinars will take place August 27, 2012 from 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Please note the time change for the second webinar to accommodate MCAA members in Hawaii and Alaska. Presented by the Hilgeman Group, the session covers all OSHA and NFPA requirements, includes a discussion of best practices, NFPA's recent changes to the 70E requirements and provides participants with real-world information that will reinforce the importance of this training. All participants will receive customized training certificates. This training is an excellent value and could save lives. For more information or to register, go to ahilgeman@frontier.com.
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MULTIEMPLOYER DEFINED BENEFIT PLAN REFORM PROPOSALS TAKING SHAPE
MCAA continues to work in a national labor/management coalition, the Retirement Security Review Commission, which has taken on the formidable task of agreeing to legislative and regulatory reforms to multiemployer pension policy that achieve two related goals-providing stable retirement security for plan participants and beneficiaries, while at the same time ensuring contributing employer participation on a long-term sustainable basis. Toward that end, the Commission is working on an ambitious proposal to rebalance risks associated with multiemployer defined benefit plans, thereby reducing the fiscal risk of plan underfunding and insolvency for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the taxpayers. The Commission is exploring ways to address unfunded legacy costs of underfunded plans with an expansion of the bargaining parties' current ability to allocate benefit cuts in a way that rebalances the risks more equitably among employers and both active and inactive plan participants. The Commission is also seeking ways to expand the scope of plans that are in funding distress and entitled to remedial actions, and to provide those plans with greater long-term stability by allowing bargaining parties to adopt prospective plan designs that reallocate the risk of unprecedented funding challenges among plan participants and beneficiaries and contributing employers. These approaches would involve significant changes to the current legal structure, and the Commission's proposals approaches recognize that the long-term stability of the defined benefit system require this fundamental re-balancing. Once the proposals are finalized, the difficult process of gaining broad support from labor and management groups nationally will be undertaken. Then, the proposals would go to Congress to face the challenge of gaining support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. |
LEARN ABOUT LABOR RESOURCES FOR SERVICE AT MSCA LIVE 2012
 On October 17 during MSCA LIVE 2012 (Carlsbad, CA), you can find out from UA leaders about the information and support available to your company as a UA member. Join the panel discussion on Labor Resources for Service, featuring Marty Naseef, UA Director, HVAC Service, Chris Haslinger, UA Director of Training and Donald Braun, UA Special Representative to get the latest information about national agreements, UA STAR training and market recovery. Target funds, the Joint Apprenticeship Training Council, the International Training Fund, the Industrial Relations Council, customer relations and more will also be discussed. Find out how you can partner with the UA through programs and resources to help make your company's market share growth a reality. Want to know more about the MSCALIVE 2012 program? Go to www.msca.org/msca2012 and then register!
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SIGN UP FOR THE NATIONAL UPDATE BY E-MAIL
Just go to www.mcaa.org/news, click on "subscribe" under the "Weekly" box, complete the information and send it in. Your next National Update will arrive in your e-mail messages. |
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