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AGCHelp Labor Pool Ready
AGCHelp has been recruiting workers and now has a group of drug tested employees who are ready to go to work on construction jobsites immediately. The program will provide common labor on jobsites for $13.90 per hour, 50 cents of which is returned to the industry for craft training.
Call Jesse Hernandez at (205) 266-4979 for labor. AGCHelp also can recruit to your specific labor needs. Remember that these workers are employed through HELP, Inc., so your business has no immigration or other employment liability.
Attorney General Luther Strange, speaking to the Alabama AGC Birmingham Section meeting in May, touted the AGCHelp program, saying “AGCHelp is a great benefit to this industry. It’s a wonderful initiative.”
The attorney general said that recent immigration legislation has worsened a labor shortage problem in Alabama and initiatives such as AGCHelp are crucial to help solve the problem.
The program has received much media attention – in the Birmingham News and on ABC 33/40 and potential employees have been calling. AGCHelp also has been able to recruit many workers from the Go Build website.
AGCHelp was created by the Alabama AGC to help build a stable, skilled workforce for the construction industry. It is designed to provide workers on your job on a temporary basis while returning part of the fee to a skills education program provided by the Construction Education Foundation of Alabama.
AGC has teamed up with HELP, Inc., an employee leasing firm that offers service in multiple states, to provide the service and build a craft education fund and a skilled workforce. Currently, AGCHelp is providing entry-level labor through the program. These employees are drug tested and most have received safety and basic skills training, so they are ideal for any contractor with a need for common labor.
HELP, Inc. will hire as many employees as possible from CEFA, which allows CEFA to continue to procure Workforce Investment Act training money to offer basic skills and safety training to unemployed and under-employed workers.
Through funds and referrals from AGCHelp, CEFA will offer craft education opportunities so that these employees can build careers in our industry as craftsmen. The craft education will be paid for with contributions on hours worked by labor used through the AGCHelp system. CEFA will receive the contributions and provide the craft education.
Alabama AGC will provide the administrative assistance needed to operate the program as a service to the industry at no charge. Contact Bill Caton at 451-1411 or billc@alagc.org for more information.
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UPDATED: Sign up online for Safety Stand Down Work Zone Safety
Safety Stand Down
During the week of April 23-27, 2012
Focusing on
Work Zone Safety“Don’t Barrel through Work Zones”
Alabama AGC, will be part of a statewide Safety Stand Down in
recognition of National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week
April 23rd-27th. We are asking member firms to participate in the Stand Down by hosting a safety meeting on one of the days during that week to make your employees aware of the importance that the construction
industry places on SAFETY.Click on this link to sign up and submit your companies participation.
http://alagc.org/contact/work-zone-safety/
This year’s National focus is on “Texting and Driving”.
This year’s slogan is “Don’t Barrel through Work Zones.
The initiative is asking that we get the message out to everyone who interacts with the driving public the importance of
NOT Texting and Driving – specifically through a work zone.Not all AGC members are involved in building roads – BUT your
employees drive to and from work everyday; and many are driving
company vehicles. Please make it a policy with your company
that your employees DON’T TEXT and DRIVE.In an effort to give OSHA an idea of how many employees participate in this National Event, AGC is asking that each company register using the attached registration form. It will not take more than a few moments to fill out this form.
Help us keep Safety our Number 1 Priority and
Help protect YOUR Employees!A Safety Stand Down Tool Box Presentation
is posted on our website:
http://www.theconstructioncenter.org/safety/safety-news.aspA power point presentation is available for your use.
Please feel free to utilize any part of it for your Safety Stand Down Meeting.
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Go Build and Immigration on Legislative Agenda
It was another busy week for your association at the Alabama State House.
On Tuesday House Bill 432, the Go Build Alabama legislation, passed the House of Representatives. Thanks to our sponsor in the House, Representative Howard Sanderford. On Wednesday the bill was reported to the Senate and assigned to the Commerce, Transportation, and Utilities Committee. On Thursday our Senate sponsor, Senator Paul Bussman, got the bill out of that committee. So the legislation is one vote away from the Governor’s desk in the Senate. Again, thanks to our sponsors who are doing a super job for us.
Senate Bill 139, the Civil Liability Bill for Road Builders, is ready for final passage this week. It is hoped that the bill will be on the House calendar on Thursday. This action will send the legislation to the Governor for his signature.
The furor over the local Mobile legislation that would affect a contractor’s liability with the One Call Program continued last week. House Bill 386 by James Buskey will only affect projects in the city of Mobile. However, if Mobile can get such an exemption other municipalities will follow suit. A group of concerned businesses and associations met in an effort to amend the bill. This group included AGC, the Alabama Power Company, AT&T, and others. The bill for now is on hold. If you are in Mobile, we urge you to contact your legislators and urge them to take another look at this bill.
And finally, the long awaited immigration bill has been introduced. House Bill 658 by Mickey Hammon was introduced on Thursday. The bill is 84 pages long and is supposed to “clear up misconceptions and correct any portions that might be vague or require additional definitions”. The supporters go on to say that, “all changes are aimed to maintain the strength of Alabama’s illegal immigration law, while making the law more workable for local governments, more enforceable for state and local police, and less burdensome for law-abiding citizens and business”. At this time it is uncertain what opposition there will be to the bill and what groups will bring that opposition. The proposed changes are listed below:
- Several changes to the definition section are anticipated to ensure the Act only applies to business entities and employers that employ a person within the State of Alabama. The provisions allowing citizen suits against state officials for failing to fully enforce the immigration law are removed. Under the new version of the law, citizens are required to file a petition (under oath and under penalty of perjury) with a local district attorney or the Attorney General. Additionally, persons working for the state are required to report violations only if the person has knowledge of a violation.
- The State and local public benefits section is modified, to state that only those agencies and political subdivisions that both fund and administer a state or local public benefit are required to verify lawful presence of aliens who apply for such benefits. Under the proposed changes, the requirement for a governmental agency to verify lawful presence for a commercial or professional license would apply only to the issuance of a license, but not to its renewal.
- Perhaps most important, the primary sections that apply to employers (section 9, which applies to businesses with government contractors, and Section 15, which applies to all employers) are modified in significant ways. First, as noted above, the proposed changes would clarify that the law applies only to those hired or employed within the State of Alabama. Second, the penalty provisions for violations of Section 9 and Section 15 would be amended. Previously, a violation of either section required the suspension of a company’s business licenses – automatically. Under the proposed amendment, a court may decide not to suspend a business entity or employer’s permits and licenses if it makes a determination that such a suspension would not be in the best interest of the public.
- Business entities and employers who conduct business with the state, county and municipal governments would no longer be required to provide a sworn affidavit of compliance with the law – although they would still be required to provide documentation of their enrollment in E-Verify. Primary contractors would also no longer be required to obtain sworn affidavits from subcontractors.
- Other sections which are currently enjoined by the courts are also amended. The “Stop and Ask” provision limits law enforcement to verifying citizenship and lawful status to situations involving either issuance of traffic citation or lawful arrest. The bill proposes that law enforcement be authorized to determine citizenship and immigration status of persons in the same automobile as the person who was lawfully arrested or issued a traffic citation.
- In response to a direct challenge by religious organizations, the bill adds an exemption to the prohibition on harboring, concealing and shielding from detection aliens unlawfully present. Bona fide nonprofit religious organizations, and their agents or officers, may encourage, invite, call, allow, and enable an alien present in the United States to perform the vocation of a minister or missionary as a volunteer.
- The bill changes the section that allows a United States citizen or alien lawfully present to bring a lawsuit against employers for unlawful employment practices; It would add a causation requirement (this section is currently enjoined and not in effect). The bill requires a person seeking to bring an unlawful employment practice against an employer to prove that the employer intended to discriminate against the person because of the unauthorized alien’s status. A legitimate business reason defense for business entities and employers is also added. An additional change makes it a Class C misdemeanor to knowingly file a false or frivolous complaint against a business entity or employer.
- Section 30 of last year’s legislation prohibited business transactions between the government and a person not lawfully present. In HB658, business transactions only include: 1) applying for a motor vehicle license plate; 2) applying for a driver’s license or nondriver identification card; and 3) applying for a business license. All references to requiring verification for renewing licenses are removed.
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AGC Help – Building Your Workforce
04.05.2012 More -
Shoals Section 2012 Bass Tournament
03.29.2012 More -
The BCIA Offers Crucial Service To the Construction Industry
03.23.2012 More -
Alabama AGC Members Travel
03.23.2012 More -
Alabama AGC Sponsors the Construction Safety Conference & Expo
03.07.2012 More -
2012 Alabama AGC Bass Tournament – 38th Annual Tournament
02.09.2012 More -
Contractors, Industry Celebrated at BuildSouth Awards
01.24.2012 More