Your News for October 12, 2015

MCAA Industry Improvement Funds Conference

How Can Industry Funds Help Your Association?

Industry Funds provide a vital source of funding for programs and operations that are important to contractors. Helping industry fund trustees learn how best to use and manage Industry Funds is the theme of this year's Industry Improvement Funds Conference (December 2-4, Longboat Key, FL). Leading this discussion is Jim Estabrook of Lindabury, McCormick and Estabrook and primary author of MCAA's Guide to Industry Funds, who will review proper uses of Industry Funds. Attendees will also hear about the latest and upcoming MCAA activities from President Steve Dawson, the results of a market share study presented by Carey Peters of the Construction Labor Research Council, a report on legislative developments from MCAA General Counsel John McNerney, plans for educational efforts in 2016 and much more. Registration is now open.

NFPA Safety Training Webinars Are Open for Registration

Registration is Still Open for Next Arc Flash Training Webinar

The next Qualified Level Arc Flash Safety Training Webinar is on October 15, 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. The webinar trains and informs mechanical and service employees who are exposed to electricity from HVAC work, electrical maintenance, troubleshooting, voltage testing, fuse testing, verifying a zero energy state, infrared imaging, etc. It is also designed for those employees who manage or supervise electrical workers and safety/engineering professionals who manage the company's Electrical Safe Work Practices program. Presented by the Hilgeman Group, the session covers all applicable OSHA and NFPA requirements, best practices and provides participants with real-world accident information to reinforce the training. Make sure all your employees who work around or with electricity take this training.

Contact the Hilgeman Group to Register

Seasoned PMs Take the Next Step at AIPM

Your most seasoned project managers may think they've seen, heard and done it all when it comes to managing projects, but then again, maybe not. The Advanced Institute for Project Management (AIPM) (January 17-22, 2016, University of Texas in Austin, TX) is the best way for your most experienced project managers to get the latest information on advanced management practices. The curriculum covers operations, legal and management issues that typically arise in projects at all levels of complexity. Graduates of the Institute of Project Management or seasoned project managers with considerable project management experience learn how to take on and address efficiently, effectively and successfully the issues that could otherwise be detrimental to their projects. Make sure your most seasoned PMs attend this valuable program.

View the Schedule for MCAA's Safety Directors Conference

Plan to Attend MCAA's 2016 Safety Directors Conference

The annual conference that will take place January 26-28, 2016 in Tempe, AZ is a forum for our industry's top safety professionals to learn the latest information on health and safety issues, practices and regulations. Featured are keynote speaker Daniel Rodriguez - decorated combat veteran and football star - an exhibit showcasing the latest safety technologies, topical breakout sessions and workshops that cover the latest developments from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other safety-related information. Because safety directors attend from across the country, the networking opportunities are exceptional and add value to this very popular conference. Registration opens later this year; watch this publication for the announcement.

View the Conference Schedule

Mark Rogers Participates in White House Summit on Worker Voice

MCAA Past President Mark Rogers was part of the White House Summit on Worker Voice on October 7 in Washington DC. Participating as a union-signatory employer representative, Rogers represented the type of solid pay and benefits, training and recruitment systems that MCAA employers deploy under construction industry pre-hire collective bargaining agreements. President Obama's remarks centered on raising workforce standards and worker representation in other bargaining contexts. Rogers also represented the UA/MCAA Strategic Planning process, typifying the type of positive labor/management collaboration underlying the Administration's workplace involvement initiative.

Pension Reform Implementation Clouds Policy Debate

Last week, the Teamster Central States (TCS) multiemployer pension fund, one of the largest multiemployer funds in the country, made its initial application to the Treasury Department for benefit reductions under the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). TCS is in critical and declining status, is certain to become insolvent, and therefore will make unredeemable claims against the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for minimum insurance coverage. These claims won't be payable under current PBGC insolvency projections, which will cause greater catastrophic reductions for all TCS participants and beneficiaries. Instead of that scenario, the 2014 MPRA allows critical and declining funds (those certified to be insolvent within 15 or 20 years) to propose careful minimum necessary cuts to restore the plan to solvency for the long term and to preserve benefits at much higher levels for all participants going forward. Nevertheless, the proposed cuts are the most difficult remedies for beneficiaries, especially those "orphan" participants whose employers have withdrawn from the plan without paying withdrawal liability.

Several more applications by other critical and declining plans are expected at Treasury over the coming months. The negative publicity is roiling pension policy debates on Capitol Hill. Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is introducing a bill to repeal MPRA and, instead, fund the remedial process with taxpayer subsidies, an approach that has failed in the past, and one that is viewed by the reform coalition to be entirely infeasible. Put simply, the reform coalition would welcome an equitable taxpayer funding of the reform process, but this Congress would never approve that, and waiting any longer would cause greater harm to participants. Senator Portman (R-OH) is also proposing other measures to amend the participant voting procedures under the MPRA benefit suspension review process. As with the Sanders' repeal bill, time is of the essence if the critical and declining plans are going to be able to implement remedies that will preserve greater benefits for participants than would be achievable with delay and regulatory changes.

The alternative, composite plan designs under Phase 2 of the Solutions Not Bailouts reform measure continues to attract positive responses in Congress and among pension reform groups, in part because the proposed alternate plan designs - with required overfunding, annual funding projections and annual remedial measures - would create a more sustainable system. It is one designed to avoid the need for MPRA-type critical and declining plan benefits cuts by virtue of the safer design of the plans, insulating them from the rigid features that the current system requires of plans. Hearings on the alternate plan design proposal are expected in the House Ways and Means Committee in the coming weeks. More and more groups are looking favorably on the alternate plan design concept as a way to bring greater stability and sustainability to the current rigid options for defined benefit plans.