51·çÁ÷

Collective bargaining settlements reported to the Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) between January and June of this year resulted in an average first-year wage-and-benefits increase of $0.55 or 1.1 percent.  This is considerably lower than the $1.49 or 3.1 percent average increase reported for the comparable period last year.  The average second-year increase in newly negotiated multi-year agreements is $0.69 or 1.6 percent, and the average third-year increase is $1.01 or 2.2 percent.  These increases are also lower than those negotiated a year earlier, but by a smaller margin, according to CLRC.  As reported earlier in Human Resource & Labor News, wage-and-benefit increases negotiated in 2009 overall were the lowest in 13 years.

51·çÁ÷ held a regional meeting with the National Construction Alliance II (NCA II) - a partnership of the Carpenters and Operating Engineers unions - on August 4 in Boston, Mass..  Meeting participants discussed such issues as the multiemployer pension plan crisis, restrictive work rules and subcontracting clauses, increasing productivity, jurisdictional disputes, national heavy-highway agreements, and the NCA II unions' relationship with the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division has released an updated version of the Child Labor Rules Advisor, an interactive, online compliance assistance tool.  The revised Advisor incorporates regulatory changes that became effective on July 19, 2010. 

At 51·çÁ÷'s 2010 HR Professionals Conference and Training & Development Conference, participants will learn the importance of coaching to transform employee potential into workplace performance, and ultimately, corporate results.  Kelly S. Riggs of Vmax Performance Group in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, will address both groups in a joint, keynote session on October 19, in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a final rule to revise the regulations regarding completion and retention of I-9 forms. The revision gives employers the discretion to sign and retain I-9 forms electronically. 

Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division posted a new fact sheet that provides guidance to employers on the break time requirement for nursing mothers to express milk in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The Act became effective on March 23, 2010, and amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA.) 

51·çÁ÷'s San Diego Chapter teamed up with other local groups to help pass initiatives that banned project labor agreements (PLAs) in Chula Vista and Oceanside, Calif.

On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in New Process Steel v. NLRB holding that the National Labor Relations Board lacked authority to issue decisions from the end of 2007 to March 2010, when the five-member Board had only two members.  The decision effectively invalidates nearly 600 Board decisions issued during the 27-month period.

The eligibility period required for certain individuals to receive a 65 percent premium subsidy to help pay for continuing health coverage, also known as COBRA, has been extended several times but will likely not be extended again.  Although Congress recently passed the Continuing Extension Act of 2010, extending the COBRA subsidy eligibility period to May 31, when addressing the matter after the Memorial Day break, the Senate decided to remove a further extension from pending legislation in order to save $7 billion.  This decision leaves many workers who were involuntarily terminated after May 31 and who desire to continue their employer-sponsored health care coverage to pay the full cost of COBRA.  Those who were involuntarily terminated on or prior to the expiration date and currently receive the COBRA subsidy may continue with the subsidized coverage, but will lose the benefit once they reach the maximum subsidy coverage period of 15 months.

The National Labor Relations Board has refused to rule on a jurisdictional dispute between the Carpenters and Laborers on a project covered by the National Construction Agreement (NCA), finding that all parties were bound to submit jurisdictional disputes to the Plan for the Settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes (Plan), despite claims by the Carpenters council that it was not so bound.