Posts by growthzone

During its Nov. 15 meeting in Dallas, the ABC Board of Directors elected Chuck Goodrich, president of Gaylor Electric Inc., Noblesville, Ind., to serve as the association’s 2017 national chair. George Nash of La Plata, Md., was elected to serve as ABC’s 2017 chair-elect. New members elected to the board are: Diane Byron, I.E. Pacific,…

This editorial as published in Crain’s NY Business Journal can be found here. Nonunion contractors can deliver cost-effective rental projects under the city’s tax-exemption program while paying middle-class wages. Mayor Bill de Blasio is right to make affordable housing an integral component of his policy agenda. His ambitious goal of creating 80,000 affordable housing units and…

THE ISSUE: On Thursday the National Labor Relations Board handed down one of the biggest labor decisions of the Obama administration, ruling a contractor is equally responsible for labor issues committed by its subcontractors. THE IMPACT of the DECISION: The NLRB determined that a contractor is a “joint employer” obligated to negotiate with the representative…

ABC in ACTION As the only association in New York State advocating for the merit shop philosophy, ABC Empire State is YOUR VOICE. We have been making sure that YOUR VOICE is being heard. Across the state, everyone from government officials to the general public is taking notice.  Background We received an alert from a…

By Brian Sampson, President Associated Builders & Contractors Empire State To read the editorial as it appeared in the Buffalo News, click here I was extremely encouraged by news of the construction of a SolarCity plant in Buffalo, where this large, publicly traded company will build solar panels. This excitement came not only as the executive…

By Brian Sampson, President, Associated Builders & Contractors, Empire State The Op-Ed as published in the Real Estate Weekly can be found here. Last week it was reported in Real Estate Weekly that a deal on a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) would save the city an estimated $347 million dollars on a capital investment of…

This also appeared as an editorial in the Utica Observer Dispatch. It can be found here. With the framework of the creation of the Career and Technical Education diploma now in place, New York state needs to fast track the process so that students will be able to make use of it. Former New York City…

SUNY Binghamton Should Avoid Anti-Competitive, Costly Project Labor Agreement We caught wind of a potential Project Labor Agreement from one of our members. Understanding that many outside of the construction industry are not familiar with the numerous issues and tremendous increased costs that accompany PLA’s, we decided to be proactive and educate the public on…