Construction Industry Council

PURPOSE:
We are committed to promoting constructive dialogue and action on issues of policy, practice, theory, research and education that lie at the intersection of the interests of labor, management, government, neutrals and scholars in the Construction Industry.

Our scope is all sub-sectors of the national and international construction industry. Our focus is on workforce, organizational and institutional challenges and opportunities associated with the core missions of this industry. These missions are:

• Building quality projects which provide the highest value for their investment
• Providing safe employment that provides income and benefits sufficient to support a family
• Advancing the industry through the use of new technology, business practices and work organization
  

LEADERSHIP:
Dale Belman, Michigan State University, Academic Co-Chair
James M. O'Neill, Hill International, Management Co-Chair
John Spavins, New York City Department of Design and Construction, Neutral/Government Co-Chair

NEXT MEETING: TBA

LAST MEETING:
Thursday, January 3, 2008 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Poydras Room, InterContinental New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Held in conjunction with the LERA 60th Annual Meeting, January 3-6, 2008, in New Orleans, LA.

PROCEEDINGS FROM CONSTRUCTION ECONOMICS RESEARCH NETWORK (CERN):
Members of the LERA Construction Industry Council (CIC) continue to meet in conjunction with the CERN and all CIC members are welcome to attend CERN meetings. The proceedings from "The Economics of Immigration" held December 6-7, 2008, at the Hotel Washington in Washington, DC are now available on the CERN website. The next CERN meeting, "The Economics of Construction Training," will be held April 17-18, 2008, at the Washington Hilton.

NOTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS:
Wednesday, August 16, 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m., Hyatt Regency, Chicago, Illinois
Held in conjunction with the FMCS National Labor Management Conference

Helmets to Hardhats: Connecting Military Veterans to Careers in Construction and Aerospace Industry
This “Helmets to Hardhats” workshop will discussed how military veterans are provided with skill assessment and placement support into apprenticeships and construction industry jobs (covering all fifteen building and construction trades and employer associations representing about 82,000 contractors). Presenters reviewed construction industry efforts and explore applications in the aerospace industry. Strategic overviews of industry challenges in construction and aerospace were also be provided.

Presenters:
General Matt Caulfield, Helmets to Hardhats, Oceanside , CA
Dan Caufield, Helmets to Hardhats, Oceanside , CA
Stephen Sleigh, The Yucaipa Companies, Washington , DC
Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign , IL

NEWS:
Construction Industry Council Announces First National Research Study

" Contractors are warning that a local craft labor shortage threatens the modest recovery under way … " (Engineering News Record in 1990)

" Shortages of craft workers continue to plague the construction industry… " (Construction Industry Institute website in 2005)

Ever more serious human resource issues confront the construction industry. The most pressing is an on-going shortage of skilled workers. Other serious issues include a looming wave of retirements as the baby boom generation moves out of the labor force, a construction training system which is unable to provide a sufficient number of workers with appropriate skills, an increasing dependence on immigrant workers at a time when homeland security issues are impinging on the flow of documented and undocumented immigrants, and problems in providing wages/benefits to keep workers in construction within the financial constraints of current market forces.

Despite the increasingly vocal concerns of employers, owners and labor representatives, there has been little systematic research on the construction labor force, even fewer studies that address the pressing labor force issues of the industry, and scant research that focuses on regional labor markets. We are proposing six coordinated detailed regional studies of the construction labor force that address pressing human resources issues including: the size and composition of the construction labor force by sector and trade; the effects of the looming baby boom retirement cycle; the capacity of training systems vis-à-vis skilled labor supply requirements; the growing role of immigration by sector and trade; the size and role of the self employed labor force; compensation levels and trends; sources of recruitment for new construction workers; the role of the business cycle in creating in and out flows of workers from other sectors.

The studies will combine information from well established public and private data sources with interviews and case studies to create a rich portrait of the regional labor markets: the Northeast, the Southeast, Midwest , the Southwest, the Prairie/Mountain states and the West Coast. Faculty from prominent universities in each of these regions, including the University of Texas, Michigan State University, the University of Utah, the University of Rhode Island and George Washington University have been recruited to lead these studies. In addition, each academic team will have an advisory support group drawn from construction employers, labor and government.

These studies will not resolve these issues, but will provide the factual basis for discussion and actions that can resolve them. The studies will provide accurate regional information such as changes in the immigrant construction labor force post '9/11' as well as factual insights on construction worker recruitment.

Foresighted organizations within the construction community will want to support and participate in the study in an effort to address the pressing human resources issues of the industry and to display leadership on a national basis.

COPY OF CHARTER:
Construction Industry Council Charter

The LERA Construction Industry Council is funded in part by a grant
from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
LERA Industry Councils are supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Labor and Employment Relations Association
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
121 Labor and Employment Relations Bldg., 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign, IL 61820
Tel: 217-333-0072 | Fax: 217-265-5130 | LERAoffice@illinois.edu| www.lera.illinois.edu