MCAA National Update
This Week
MCAA's 2014 Collective Bargaining Seminar Will Enhance Your Effectiveness at the Negotiating Table
MCAA's 2014-2015 Tool & Equipment Guide is Now Available
Registration is Now Open for ALI Course 15
Dispatcher Training Will Give Your Service Team the Edge
MCAA Urges Members to Reach Senate, House Members with Multiemployer Pension Reform Message
MCAA Attends White House Event
This Webinar Saves Lives!
Learn the New Tools of the Trade at the MSCA 2014 Exhibitors Display
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MCAA National Update for August 4, 2014
MCAA's 2014 Collective Bargaining Seminar Will Enhance Your Effectiveness at the Negotiating Table

Register now for the 2014 MCAA Collective Bargaining Seminar (September 8-10, Washington, DC). In addition to a presentation on collective bargaining basic issues by MCAA labor counsel Mike Boldt, the program will feature a discussion of the latest pension and health care benefits issues presented by Jim Estabrook and Elizabeth Manzo. Mike Boldt will also address current hot topics in collective bargaining agreements, including work preservation clauses and use of modular and prefabricated piping assemblies, subcontracting restrictions and current issues concerning industry improvement funds and most-favored-nation clauses. Tami Earnhart will moderate a panel discussion of current issues with representatives of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Those issues include how to deal with EEOC's new rules regarding credit background checks and criminal histories and how to use that information without violating the job bias laws. The OFCCP representative will also address the office's new affirmative action rules for federal prime contractors and subcontractors requiring specific goals for hiring individuals with disabilities and veterans. Richard Barnes will discuss recent successes with win/win bargaining approaches in California and Colorado. A panel discussion with the National Labor Relations Board's General Counsel Richard Griffin, Mike Boldt and the O'Donoghue firm's Jim O'Connell on current construction issues of relevance to NLRB's jurisdiction is also planned. This conference can improve the performance of local MCAA bargaining teams, improve relations with UA locals and lay the ground work for gains in market share. Consider sending your company's Human Relations personnel, as many of the topics apply to exempt company employee administration. The slate of program agenda topics is attached.  Please register this week - the hotel cutoff is August 15 - at www.mcaa.org/education. 

MCAA's 2014-2015 Tool & Equipment Guide is Now Available
Get the new Tool & Equipment Rental Guide today! The new edition of MCAA's Tool & Equipment Rental Guide puts comprehensive cost recovery information for mechanical construction, service and plumbing tools and equipment at your fingertips so you have time to focus on your business. The rental rates are based on ownership and operating costs for contractor-owned equipment and are derived from formulas and data developed by the experts at EquipmentWatch and from analytic methods used in the construction industry. Generally, these methods consider the purchase price, depreciation, maintenance and overhaul costs, indirect equipment costs and average annual use hours. Profit, project overhead and general company overhead costs such as office facilities and supplies are not included in these rates. The guide includes both the traditional PDF version and an Excel spreadsheet in one convenient "ZIP" file. The guide is free, another benefit of MCAA/MSCA membership. To download your copy, go to www.mcaa.org/store.
Registration is Now Open for ALI Course 15
MCAA's Advanced Leadership Institute (ALI) is now accepting applications for Course 15. If you missed getting into Course 14, now is the time to apply. Designed for our industry's top executives and management leaders, the ALI curriculum focuses on strategic planning and leadership development and is geared for today's and tomorrow's toughest business challenges. The addition of a module on "Branding" and another on "Customer Partnerships" adds to the value of ALI as an exceptional educational offering for industry executives. The branding module will include Webex-delivered components during the interim period between Week 1 and Week 2.  Dates for ALI's Course 15 are: September 27-October 2, 2015 (Week 1) and November 8-13, 2015 (Week 2). To request an application or learn more about the ALI, please contact Dennis Langley (dlangley@mcaa.org).
Dispatcher Training Will Give Your Service Team the Edge
MSCA's Dispatcher Professional Development Training Program (Baltimore, MD, October 27-28, 2014) is designed to help new and experienced service dispatchers understand their vital role in the company, advance their careers, and significantly enhance their ability to contribute to their company's success. Custom-designed for MCAA and MSCA members, this seminar will go beyond traditional technical training to help dispatchers develop those advanced skills needed to be highly effective in their position. Participants will learn through presentations, group exercises, self-assessment tools and discussion groups. This is the last dispatcher training for the year and class size is limited, so register today at www.mcaa.org/education/msca/dispatcher. Contact Sobeida Orantes (saorantes@mcaa.org) with registration questions.
  
MCAA Urges Members to Reach Senate, House Members with Multiemployer Pension Reform Message
The next 35 days of the Congressional recess will determine whether or not MCAA and the NCCMP reform coalition are successful in gaining substantial multiemployer pension reforms this year. Meeting with your House and Senate members while they are back home is crucial in building their awareness of the merits of Solutions Not Bailouts (for information on the proposal, letters of support, and one-page explanations of the proposal, go to www.solutionsnotbailouts.com). This important message needs to reach House and Senate members: We want a promise from House and Senate representatives that they will actively support multiemployer pension reform in their caucus when Congress convenes in September. The national Building and Construction Trades Department sent a letter to all its state and local affiliates recently calling for joint labor/management action at home with lawmakers this August. Seek out your local UA leaders and other Building Trades employer groups and vigorously pursue your Representatives and Senators this August. MCAA will post material you can use in those meetings in the pension reform section of the MCAA website this week. Contact John McNerney (jmcnerney@mcaa.org) with questions or for assistance with your advocacy efforts.

MCAA Attends White House Event  

Last Thursday, MCAA Past President Bob Armistead of Armistead Mechanical (Waldwick NJ) and William J. Albanese, Sr. of A & A Industrial Piping (Fairfield, NJ), chairman of MCAA's Government Affairs Committee, were at the White House for President Obama's announcement of the Administration's new Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order (EO), which will govern new direct federal contracts of $500,000 or more beginning in 2016. Under the new EO, prospective prime contractors will have to disclose past labor law violations during the three years preceding the time of the award, such as wage and hour, safety, collective bargaining, family and medical leave, and civil rights law violations (prime contractors will also have to provide the same information for prospective subcontractors).  Additional requirements of the EO will be explained in the next issue of the MCAA Reporter. 

This Webinar Saves Lives!
Ever Tried a Webinar? The NFPA 70E Qualified-Level Arc Flash Safety Training Webinar is for service technicians or other employees who work with or around electrical equipment. Employees who are potentially exposed to live conductors of 50 volts of electricity or more during their workday, and especially mechanical service technicians who work on units that generate 480 volts or less, will learn safe work practices that will prevent accidents, injuries and worse. The next webinars will take place on August 19, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. Make sure your employees participate, if they haven't already. Presented by the Hilgeman Group, the session covers all applicable OSHA and NFPA requirements, best practices, NFPA's most recent changes to the 70E requirements and provides participants with real-world accident information to reinforce the training. Contact the Hilgeman Group (ahilgeman@frontier.com) to register.
Learn the New Tools of the Trade at the MSCA 2014 Exhibitors Display
MSCA Educational Conference Discover state-of-the-art tools and technologies on Supplier Partnership Day at the MSCA 2014 Educational Conference (September 28-October 1, Huntington Beach, CA). On September 29, mix and mingle with conference exhibitors and sponsors during the Exhibitor Display as you enjoy breakfast and learn how the new tools of the trade can help make your job easier. The exhibit hall will open again in the early evening for the popular exhibitor-hosted Happy Hour to end the conference day. You must be registered for the conference to attend this event, so sign up today at www.mcaa.org/education/msca/annualconference. Rooms are filling up quickly, so don't delay!
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