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January 30, 2009
2009 Construction
Outlook: Michigan's forecast mostly calls for pain
State's construction
fatalities remained relatively low in '08
Topped out C.S.
Mott Hospital replacement 'right on schedule'
Stimulus plan
for Michigan worth about $1.2 billion
Obama inaugural
address begins 'task of remaking America'
News Briefs
2009
Construction Outlook: Michigan's forecast mostly calls for pain
By Marty Mulcahy
Managing Editor
"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you."
Our state's motto applies to Lake Michigan sunsets and the
view from the Grand Hotel's porch, but "pleasant" is
not necessarily the word to describe prospects for construction
in Michigan in 2009.
Our completely informal and unscientific survey of anticipated
construction activity in 2009 around the Great Lake State finds
just a few pockets of good news.
The Bay Area, including Bay City, Saginaw and Midland, will
be booming for many trades, with decent work prospects for the
southwest Michigan region.
And for one statewide local, Boilermakers 169, "it's
not all doom and gloom," said Business Manager Tony Jacobs.
Outages at power plants around the state should bring about "an
above-average year for us," Jacobs said. "And if Severstal
and Marathon (described below) get going this year, it could
be a banner year."
But that's a highly exceptional scenario compared to most
local construction unions. Flint Area Building Trades President
Zane Walker reported that union reps in that area are "burning
up the phone lines" looking for jobs in and out of state
for members, usually to no avail. "Work across the country
is scarce," said Upper Peninsula Construction Council Executive
Director Tony Retaskie.
Michigan is hardly in a one-state recession. "Unfortunately,
there's not a lot of work out there anywhere," said Patrick
Devlin, chief elected officer of the Michigan Building and Construction
Trades Council. As we reported in our last edition, work prospects
around the country are dismal. According to an employer survey
by the Associated General Contractors, nearly a third of the
entire construction workforce in the U.S. may be laid-off in
2009. The AGC and many of our union contacts pinned their hopes
on the incoming Obama Administration, and quick passage of a
hoped-for stimulus package that might be a boon to construction
and the rest of the economy.
Such a federal stimulus could change the outlook. Until then,
here's what's going on…
Ann Arbor area - Hail, hail to Michigan.
In 2008 and 2009, more than ever, the University of Michigan
is leading the way in construction employment in Washtenaw County.
"Work at the U of M has been the savior for the building
trades," said Bryce Mitchell, business manager of Plumbers
and Pipe Fitters Local 190. He said while Local 190 has been
"slower than normal," other local unions would report
"slow and disappointing" levels of work.
At the U of M, the replacement $754 million Mott Hospital,
as we reported in our last issue, was topped out in late December.
The expansion of the University of Michigan Football Stadium
is ongoing, as is construction of an indoor practice facility
for the school's baseball team. The new $74 million Kellogg Eye
Center is approaching completion and the $175 million North Quad
student residence project is moving along.
The construction boom on the U-M campus continues, but the
list of projects is not as extensive as it was a few years ago.
Elsewhere in the region, a new patient tower at St. Joseph
Mercy Hospital is getting started. On the Eastern Michigan University
campus, construction of a new science building is expected to
start this year. Two decent-sized rehabilitation projects will
take place at Washtenaw Community College.
Significant projects are going on at the Ann Arbor School
District - Mitchell said about $3 million in work is ongoing
at "just about all their schools."
Overall, Mitchell said the mechanical trades "could have
a half-way decent year," in the Ann Arbor region in 2009,
"but overall it's going to be a slow year for everybody."
Bay City/ Saginaw/ Midland area - "We've been blessed
with a lot of work, we're very thankful, said Plumbers and Steamfitters
Local 85 Business Manager Robert Anderson. "We may have
worked record man-hours in 2008, and we're looking at full employment
with travelers in 2009."
There is a full complement of about 850 Local 85 plumbers
and fitters at work in the Tri-City Region, plus another 350
travelers. Other trades in the region are enjoying high employment
levels, too. Their primary work destinations are Dow Chemical,
Dow Corning and Dow's Hemlock Semiconductor plants, which are
undergoing about $1.8 billion in construction.
The Hemlock plant is undergoing a $1 billion expansion that
will double its production of polycrystalline silicon, a material
needed to produce solar cells.
Dow Corning is also building nearby manufacturing space for
the production of high purity monosilane, a key specialty gas
used to manufacture thin-film solar cells and LCDs.
The presence of Dow's solar panel material manufacturing helped
attract a $55.2 million plant to be built by Evergreen Solar
Inc. Expected to be built in Midland's Eastwick Industrial Park,
the plant is set to manufacture wafer solar cells.
Other work on the horizon includes a new $20 million tower
at Midland Hospital, and at least $10 million work at the Saginaw
Army Reserve Center. Plus there's a major ongoing outage at the
Consumers Energy Karn-Weadock plant. A $28 million College of
Health & Human Services Building was approved last month
for Saginaw Valley State University.
Looking a bit farther into the future, the Michigan's legislature's
passage of a new utility law opened the door for new power plant
construction. Consumers Energy is proposing to build a new 800-megawatt,
coal-fired plant on the grounds of its Karn-Weadock facility,
and is waiting on the state permitting process. The price tag
is more than $2 billion. A 750-megawatt coal-fired plant for
Midland was planned by L.S. Power Group and Dynergy Inc., but
the $1.9 billion project may be delayed because of a split between
the developers.
In Alma, the Great Lakes Energy Research Park is a multi-billion-dollar
project centered around an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
clean-coal power plant. The proposed location is the former Total
Refinery site. The owner has announced their intention to start
building this year.
To the north, near Rogers City, the Wolverine Power Cooperative
is proposing to build a $1.2 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired
power plant, with tentative permission to burn petroleum coke
- a waste product of the oil refinery process. The company needs
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality permit before starting
construction, and the community seems to support the project
and jobs it would bring. A windmill farm may be part of the construction.
"If everything falls into place, the work outlook looks
good for the next several years," Anderson said.
Detroit/Southeast Michigan - The construction economy is looking
a lot better in the rear-view mirror than through the windshield.
"A lot of major projects were substantially completed
toward the end of last year, and right now, I just don't see
much light at the end of the tunnel," said Ed Coffey, Southeast
Michigan business representative with the Michigan Building and
Construction Trades Council. "Let's face it, we're in an
economy that's heavily based on the Big 3 automakers, and we
all know what's happened with them."
A short list of some of the major projects that were complete
or substantially complete during 2008 include the new North Terminal
at Metro Airport, the renovation of the Book-Cadillac and Fort-Shelby
hotels, the Greektown Casino hotel, and in health care, Oakwood
South Shore Hospital, Providence Park Hospital, and St. Joe-Pontiac.
Now, this economy has spawned a new category of construction:
halted or delayed projects. The $350 million Bloomfield Park
retail/residential project couldn't get additional capital, and
came to a grinding halt in early November. Because of declining
steel prices, in Dearborn, Severstal Steel put the kibosh on
$1 billion in work, including the rebuilding of "B"
Blast Furnace, a new coal mill and a new galvanizer.
Beaumont Hospital shelved a new critical care tower on its
Royal Oak campus, and pushed back some work on the west side
of its Troy Hospital.
Work continues at the Marathon Petroleum Co. refinery in Southwest
Detroit, but the planned $1.9 billion Heavy Oil Upgrade Project
has been extended from the original completion date in 2010.
The latest from Marathon is that due to "current market
conditions" (read: lower gasoline prices) the petroleum
refiner is working on a new extended timeline and cost estimate.
There is work to be done. Ground is expected to be broken
later this year for Oakland University's $61 million Human Health
Building. The $279 million expansion of Detroit's Cobo Center
is still in the works. In Marysville, a new high school in the
$50 million range is anticipated. A new parking deck will be
built at Port Huron Hospital.
A 72-day shutdown is scheduled to take place at DTE Energy's
St. Clair Power Plant, starting Feb. 21.
Given the new federal microscope the UAW is under, there's
now a negative new reality for the building trades. Coffey said
UAW skilled trades workers may be more willing to take on more
factory remodeling/upgrade work - as they're contractually allowed
to do.
"The UAW is going to be reclaiming some of that work,
and the building trades are basically going to be at their beck
and call," Coffey said. "There's a major remodel job
coming up at Livonia Transmission, and we may see the leading
edge of this right there."
The Big 3 haven't stopped building, but they're down to a
crawl. The work at Trenton Engine is nearly done. Construction
work continues at the $730 million Marysville Axle Plant, which
will be run by a partnership of Chrysler and a German firm. Beyond
that project, GM announced at the Detroit auto show that it would
build a $30 million advanced battery plant in Southeast Michigan,
starting this year.
On the highways, the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project - the
largest single construction contract ever undertaken by the Michigan
Department of Transportation - is expected to continue through
this year.
The $230 million investment is expected to improve traffic
flow at the Ambassador Bridge, and help drivers navigating the
area freeway interchanges leading to I-75 and I-96 and Mexicantown.
The I-75 freeway through southwest Detroit has been closed for
nearly a year as part of the project.
Flint area - "Work is terrible," said Flint Area
Building Trades President Zane Walker, a business agent with
Iron Workers Local 25. "Man-hours are way down. We just
had a building trades meeting and nearly every local is running
30 percent, minimum, unemployment."
The biggest project on the horizon is on hold: General Motors
is conserving its cash and has halted construction of its new
$349 million plant that would build engines for the plug-in hybrid
Chevy Volt and compact Chevy Cruze. The red light was placed
on the half-million square-foot project in December. Structural
steel has been fabricated by Bristol Steel, but Walker said it's
not going anywhere.
Walker said the employment situation will improve - just a
little - when the warm weather comes around. Two middle schools
are scheduled to go up in Lapeer following the passage of a $56
million bond issue. Some smaller projects will take place in
the Davison School District.
A new parking deck will go up in downtown Flint. Work will
ramp up on the $30 million renovation of the historic Durant
Hotel. Constructed in 1920 and closed in 1973, the Flint hotel
will be renovated into about 100 apartments. About $20 million
in work will take place at Mott Community College.
"There's work here and there and in a lot of little strip
malls - actually that work is pretty steady," Walker said.
"But overall it's going to be tough through the winter."
Grand Rapids/Muskegon - Construction in 2008 "wasn't
too bad" with some crafts "staying fairly busy"
- before the bottom dropped out at the end of the year.
So said Mark Mangione, assistant business manager of West
Michigan Plumbers, Pipe Fitters and Service Trades Local 174
and President of the West Michigan Building Trades Council. "It's
going to be a slow year in 2009," he added. "Developers
are having a problem getting money to build."
Mangione said health care, food service and upper education
work were the major employers for West Michigan trades last year.
Multi-million dollar projects like the $170 million Van Andel
Institute and the $250 million Devos Children's Hospital will
continue to employ Hardhats into this year.
This year some work will also continue on the $115 million
Gerald Ford International Airport parking project, which includes
a four-story, 4,900-space parking deck. There is also ongoing
work to erect new fieldhouses at Calvin College and Grand Valley
State University. A new culinary arts school at Baker College
has been enclosed for the winter.
The K-12 education construction outlook is slow right now,
"but we could see a significant amount of work in that area
based on the bond issues we're seeing," Mangione said. Also
to come in 2009: the Meridian Project, an all-union 10-story
apartment/mixed use building in downtown Grand Rapids, and a
10-story, $10 million Cambria Suites hotel near the Van Andel
Arena.
Consumers Energy is also planning an outage to begin Feb.
6 at Campbell Plant, Unit 2.
"There is going to be some work, but overall 2009 looks
slow," Mangione said.
Lansing area - "Last year at this time we were cautiously
optimistic about work opportunities going into 2008," said
Scott Clark, business manager of IBEW Local 665. "We were
disappointed; there was unprecedented unemployment in the area.
Unfortunately 2009 is continuing in the same vein."
There are some "promising" projects that will go
out for bids/and or start in the springtime, Clark said, but
not enough to ease the unemployment situation in the building
trades.
The second phase of Delta Dental's $85 million headquarters
expansion will begin in earnest. The $49.8 million renovation
of Brody Hall on the Michigan State campus will commence, as
will the redevelopment of the 78-year-old Mary Mayo Hall dormitory.
Addition work will continue on the Wharton Center for Performing
Arts.
The Accident Fund Insurance Company of America will be further
along in 2009 in the $180 million redevelopment of the former
Ottawa Street powerhouse into the company's corporate headquarters.
The headquarters will span 333,000 square feet, and include a
connected 101,000-square-foot, four-story building. The two structures
will be connected by a four-story atrium that would serve as
the main entrance to the complex. Also included will be a 1,000-vehicle
parking deck.
Plans are in place for a new Lansing Market Place, a $24 million
to $30 million mix of retail, office and residential space.
Unfortunately, aside from those few big- and medium- ticket
items other work prospects are slim in other areas like K-12
and health care construction.
A highly publicized $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope
Beams (FRIB) facility that was awarded to Michigan State University
will take three to four years before shovels are turned. The
Lansing area may get a new coal-burning power plant, but that
might be two years away.
"Some heavily touted projects have not come about,"
Clark said, "and people have to realize that those we've
heard about recently, like the FRIB, are still two to four years
away. It looks like 2009 doesn't appear to have the makings of
a good year, hopefully things will be better rolling into 2010."
Monroe - For some trades it was a very good 2008. And it will
be a very good first quarter of 2009 - then the bottom drops
out.
Construction work has been plentiful thanks to projects at
DTE Energy. A project to install pollution control scrubbers
on Units 3 and 4 at the Monroe Power Plant started in late 2007,
continued through 2008, and will wrap up this spring. As many
as 200 pipe trades workers have been on the project through last
summer, and about 100 are still on the job, said Ron Sweat, business
manager of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 671.
Starting on Feb. 7, an eight-week outage at the Monroe Power
Plant will begin on Unit 1, primarily using boilermakers to replace
water walls. Then a 33-day outage will start in May, with similar
work being performed. Some preliminary work on Unit 1-2 scrubbers
may take place later in the year.
The Fermi 2 plant will experience a 23-day refueling outage
starting March 27.
"We had full employment for most of last year and into
this year, and we still have some travelers on," Sweat said.
"But we're looking at a lull after the spring. "There's
not much school work, and commercial work is slow. "Our
problem is that everything we have is going to wrap up at the
same time, and later in the year, there's not much on the horizon."
Southwest Michigan - "It was a flat year in 2008, with
some trades doing better than others," said Hugh Coward,
president of the Southwest Michigan Building Trades Council.
"In 2009, I would describe prospects as generally good in
light of what's gone on in the financial markets and the economy."
The list of construction projects that are going on and are
expected to take place during 2009 is fairly lengthy. The $300
million Firekeepers Casino, slated to open in August, is employing
between 100 and 150 Hardhats.
Battle Creek Public Schools is spending about $119 million
in bond money on new renovations. Bellevue Public Schools will
spend $55 million in bond money on renovation work. Portage Schools
will be spending $120 million to upgrade their schools through
2011.
A new $35 million juvenile home in Kalamazoo will be completed
this year.
The Unisolar project is a $225 million plant to be constructed
in Battle Creek - and that price tag could rise to $1 billion.
Kellogg's in Battle Creek will underwrite a new six-story,
$30 million office building. A total of $86 million in revitalization
work is expected to be constructed downtown in conjunction with
that work, including the relocation of a YMCA.
Two outages are planned at the region's two nuclear power
plants. Outages will commence at Consumers Energy's D.C. Cook
plant and at its Palisades Plant beginning in March, with both
lasting 30-45 days. There is also ongoing turbine repair work
at the Cook plant. The $80 million renovation of an old GM stamping
plant at the Midlink Business Park in Kalamazoo into a Kaiser
Aluminum casting and extrusion facility began in October, but
is on hold.
Other projects are less certain. Redevelopment of a major
Parchment paper mill has been on and off. The latest version
of the proposal calls for $100 million in redevelopment into
new housing and retail. A planned new terminal at the Kalamazoo/Battle
Creek International Airport, with a price tag of $31.5 million,
is awaiting financing.
The City of Holland has applied to the state to build a $250
million, 78-megawatt coal-fired boiler at the James De Young
Plant, replacing an aging boiler. The proposed $225 million Gun
Lake Casino in Wayland is tied up in the courts.
"I'm optimistic," said Coward, who is also business
manager of Iron Workers Local 340, "especially if Obama
is able to shake loose the stimulus money. It's not all doom
and gloom, by far."
Traverse City/NW Lower Peninsula - Last year started well,
with the construction of the $80 million Turtle Creek Casino
and hotel in Williamsburg winding down, said Jeff Bush, business
manager of IBEW Local 498. About 300 building trades workers
were on the site last January.
Fast forward 12 months, that job is long completed and employment
in the region is down significantly. "Last year was a pretty
good year, not super," Bush said. "This year we're
slow in the residential market, slow in the service, and we have
about a third to half of our members off. We don't have very
good prospects for 2009."
Bush said there are some relatively small projects in the
works, such as a patient room remodeling project at Munson Hospital,
work at a Wal Mart in Traverse City and some wrap up work at
the Blue Lake Gas Compressor Station.
"There are a few jobs out there, but everything just
depends on whether those purse strings start to loosen up,"
Bush said.
Upper Peninsula - Construction man-hours have been dropping
in recent years in the U.P., and 2009 is likely to see a continuation
of that trend.
"We're hoping for the best, to get as many people working
as possible," said Tony Retaskie, executive director of
the U.P. Construction Council. "I wish we could just shut
off the TVs and not listen to all the negative economic news,
because it seems to have a snowball effect."
There are some jobs on the horizon. Mascoma Corp. has intentions
of building a $250 million clean-burning, fuel-grade ethanol
plant in Chippewa County, south of Sault Ste. Marie. The plant
will use timber fiber to create cellulosic ethanol. State and
federal funding is in place to help the project along.
Steel is going up this month at the new $37 million Mackinac
Straits Hospital in St. Ignace. Iron County Community Hospital
is undergoing a $17 million, 38,000 square-foot renovation/addition.
New high schools will be erected in Houghton and Hancock. Hangar
facilities at the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Marquette
County are being upgraded for use in the winter.
If prices in the heavy metals market go back up, the Empire
iron ore mine may start a planned $250 million pellet production
plant. Lower nickel prices, lower demand and legal action have
also slowed the process for the start of construction of the
Kennecott Eagle Mine near Marquette. The $80 million rehabilitation
of the Humboldt mill, which would work in conjunction with the
Eagle Mine, also may or may not go this year.
Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan University both have requests
in for funding projects, and NMU engineers are still studying
a $55 million addition to the Ripley Heating Plant that would
burn coal, wood chips and natural gas.
"It's going to be lean a lean year, but we're not destitute,"
Retaskie said. "But I sure would like to see more blueprints
out there."
TOP
State's
construction fatalities remained relatively low in '08
By Marty Mulcahy
Managing Editor
LANSING - Michigan's construction worker fatalities jumped
in 2008, but remains at a historically low level compared to
previous years.
There were 15 construction workers fatalities on the job in
2008, compared to 11 in 2007, which was a record low for deaths
recorded by MIOSHA. In recent years in Michigan the single-year
high was 37 construction fatalities in 1997, and the lows were
17 (both in 1995 and 2005).
"I think you probably have to look at lower work levels,"
said Patty Meyer, safety manager for the MIOSHA Construction
Safety and Health Division, referring to the slower economy to
help explain the relatively low fatality count. "A lot of
it might be the lack of work in residential."
The leading causes of fatalities in 2008 were the usual suspects:
falls (five); struck-by or crushed (four), and electrocution
(three). "Fall protection continues to be our number one
area of emphasis," Meyer said.
Meyer said this year, MIOSHA will begin to track the number
of fatalities vs. the amount of employees and work going on in
the field, in an attempt to statistically get a better handle
on that ratio.
In addition, in a new program, MIOSHA's Construction Safety
and Health Division is slowly going to roll out the Michigan
Volunteer Protection Program for Construction. Already similarly
used with employers in general industry in Michigan and in other
states, the program will rely on partnerships with contractors
that have a proven track record of safety. Employers that meet
strict safety criteria and record-keeping will eventually be
allowed to be exempt from safety inspections on certain jobs.
Meyer said the state will be "taking baby steps,"
on implementing this program, and said it's too early to talk
about which contractors would be involved. (Although big general
contractors like Barton-Malow, Walbridge and Skanska, among others,
have been working closely with MIOSHA on top-flight safety programs
on several projects in recent years).
On those projects, MIOSHA, owners, contractors and union representatives
sign a pledge to work together on safety, moving away from traditional
enforcement methods to collaborative agreements. She said one
of the advantages for those chosen companies is they would able
to use that status as a marketing tool. MIOSHA inspectors could
then focus their energies on construction jobs and contractors
more likely to have safety problems.
Those collaborative agreements and an improved safety culture
on many Michigan job sites may have be reflected in injury and
illness rates in construction. While 2008 numbers won't be available
until much later this year, MIOSHA reports that from 2001 through
2007, the injury and illness rate in the construction industry
dropped from 8.9 to 5.8 per 100 full-time workers - a 35 percent
decrease. MIOSHA's goal has been to lower injury and illness
rates by 20 percent.
Started in 1974, MIOSHA has saved construction workers' lives:
In the 1960s, an average of 44 Michigan construction workers
were killed on the job every year.
TOP
Trades
putting a cap on Henry Ford hospital expansion
By Marty Mulcahy
Managing Editor
DETROIT - The expansion of Henry Ford Health System's main
campus in the city's New Center is moving toward completion,
capped off by the addition of two floors atop the West Pavilion.
Last month, construction manager George W. Auch and the building
trades handed over the completed 45,000-square-foot sixth floor
of the West Pavilion. Included are 40 new private rooms, which
have patient-controlled lighting and temperature, as well as
room for family members to stay overnight. The floor plan repeats
on the other half of the project - the fifth floor - where the
building trades are currently at work and are expected to finish
this summer.
When their work is complete it will wrap up an unprecedented
expansion of the hospital, which was designed by Albert Kahn,
funded by Henry Ford, and completed in 1915.
"This investment represents the single-largest investment
in renovation and expansion in the hospital's history,"
said Anthony Armada, president and CEO of Henry Ford Hospital
and Health Network. "Our vision is to continue to renovate
and update existing units to continue to meet the needs and expectations
of our patients. This expansion provides for more flexibility
in patient bed locations, allowing us to renovate existing units
without impacting patient care."
The West Pavilion's first four floors were constructed about
a decade ago. The structure was prepped for an eventual expansion
- which started in 2007. Silence was golden during the construction
process, and every effort has been made to minimize noise during
and after construction, said Eric Wheatley, project manager for
Henry Ford Health Systems Facilities Design and Construction.
Soundproofing insulation was added, and kept in place on the
existing roof. Stud walls included additional drywall. High-end
acoustic ceiling tiles were installed.
The sound dampening aside, Wheatley said the overall process
has been guided by the desire to "give patients more control
over their environment," with remote controlled adjustable
window blinds, adjustable lighting options, temperature controls,
flat screen TVs with bedside speakers, and wireless Internet
access.
The floor plans have been designed to optimize work space
for health care providers, with work alcoves outside patient
rooms to minimize distractions for patients. Rooms on the two
new floors will be in close proximity to existing intensive care
units, surgery, operating rooms and the emergency department.
George W. Auch Project Supt. Will Tselios said the project
is down to employing about 30-35 Hardhats. "They've been
doing great, it's been a very, very good project," he said.
"It really has been," Wheatley added. "The quality
of the work, the safety, everything."
The price tag on this portion of the expansion is $35 million,
but it's part of a $310 million investment in the campus in recent
years. Nearly $90 million has been spent in the last two years,
including the expansion and renovation of the Emergency Department.
Some other expansion projects include construction of a $5
million clinical skill simulation center which allows health
care professionals to practice their work on computers and mannequins;
expansion of the existing operating rooms ($10 million); outpatient
tower redevelopment ($33 million), and heating, cooling and electrician
infrastructure work ($50 million).
"We're extremely pleased with the construction process,"
Wheatley said. "Everyone here has been very satisfied with
the work being done. We're creating a very comfortable environment
for our patients."
 |
|
THE TOP TWO FLOORS of the West Pavilion at
Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital were built in the last two years
above the existing four-level wing. Construction manager George
W. Auch, their subcontractors and the building trades completed
the sixth floor last month and are currently working on the fifth
floor. They're adding a total of 80 new private patient rooms. |
 |
|
THREADING A PIPE on the fifth floor is Bryan
Henry of Sprinkler Fitters 704, working for Lawrence Green. |
 |
|
UNDER THE FINISH WORK, new patient rooms at
the expanded Henry Ford Hospital will be packed with technology
and mechanical infrastructure. Pulling wire to make it go are
(l-r) Jeremiah Howell and Anthony Bolsley of IBEW Local 58 and
Gillis Electric. |
TOP
Stimulus
plan for Michigan worth about $1.2 billion
President Barack Obama's $825 billion economic stimulus plan,
still a work in progress in Congress, would net Michigan about
$1.2 billion in immediate construction work, according to the
Congressional Research Service.
The Michigan-specific information was released last week to
various media outlets around the state. While hardly final -
Congress has not voted on the stimulus - numbers in the package
show Michigan would get about $875 million in road work, $121
million for "transit capital," and $250 million for
water and sewer work.
The report also says Michigan would separately get about $1.4
billion for education in the bill, and a large portion of that
would help the construction industry by paying for school repairs.
Other portions of the "American Recovery & Reinvestment
Bill of 2009" would fund science facilities and research,
educational programs, extend jobless benefits, increase the availability
of food stamps, and provide some $275 billion in tax cuts.
There was also $54 billion mentioned in the package to fund
the development of alternative energies, upgrade the nation's
electrical transmission grid, and for "green" energy
purposes, but the information was not state-specific.
Some Democrats have argued that not enough money is being
earmarked for construction work or for purposes that would immediately
put people to work. Some Republicans argue that the package is
too large and there is not enough accountability in the spending.
The proposal reportedly would save or create 158,190 jobs
in Michigan, although those numbers are very hard to quantify.
The Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan's share of $1.2
billion would be more than all but nine states would get, which
would make proportionally in line with the state's population
rank.
Overall in the U.S., the proposed infrastructure and public
building investments would create or support almost two million
jobs throughout the entire economy in part because of the economic
slowdown and massive construction layoffs that have occurred,
George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller testified before
Congress on Jan. 22.
Fuller, who made the arguments during Congressional testimony
on behalf of the Associated General Contractors of America, noted
that the current stimulus plan's proposed infrastructure investments
would create or support more than 1.85 million new jobs between
now and the end of 2010. He said that would include over 620,000
construction jobs, 300,000 jobs in supplying industries and 930,000
jobs throughout the broader economy.
"The sharp decline in construction employment and activity
we have seen over the past two years mean that the sector has
plenty of capacity to quickly take on new projects," Fuller
told the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
"Two years ago these kinds of investments might have trickled
out the door, but in today's climate, they are going to flood
out into the economy."
The report said "spin-off" work associated with
the spending could bring about the creation of 600,000 new jobs.
Manufacturing in particular would benefit from such an infrastructure
stimulus, seeing an increase of 252,000 jobs nationally. Domestically
sourcing all manufactured materials in the new infrastructure
investment would increase manufacturing job creation by one-third,
the study added.
Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers International
Union, said the $825 billion is thinking too small. "Any
step forward is progress, but this level of investment falls
far short of needs and fails to fully take advantage of the opportunity
to put America back to work building the essential and long-neglected
basics of our country," he said.
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Obama
inaugural address begins 'task of remaking America'
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
(PAI) - President Barack Obama's inaugural address praised
the nation's workers, but also laid out stark challenges they
- and the country - face as the Illinois Democrat became the
nation's 44th chief executive.
And he also made it very clear he intends to end the ideological
warfare of the last two decades - warfare that cost workers their
rights, their income and, increasingly, their jobs under his
predecessor, Republican George W. Bush.
Obama took the oath of office at 12:04 p.m., Jan. 20, before
an estimated 1.8 million people stretching from the West Front
of the Capitol all the way down the miles of the Mall in Washington
to the Lincoln Memorial at its farthest end. Hundreds of thousands
more lined Pennsylvania Avenue for his inaugural parade, which
included 265 unionists and their own pro-worker float, driven
by a Teamster.
"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty
grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out
dogmas that for far too long have strangled out politics"
in past years, stretching back through the Clinton administration,
he said.
"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand
that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey
has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has
not been the path of the fainthearted, for those who prefer leisure
over work or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather,
it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things
- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their
labor - who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards
prosperity and freedom," he declared.
Obama made it clear in his address that his administration
would try to serve those people, and not the rich and influential.
And he warned cynics, whom he did not name, that their time has
passed.
Not only did Obama again urge the Democratic-run 111th Congress
to pass an $825 billion stimulus package to help stave off rising
joblessness and state fiscal crises, among other things, but
he also served notice that the rich will be regulated in favor
of the greater good.
"The question we ask today is not whether government
is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps
families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford and
a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is 'yes,' we
intend to move forward. Where the answer is 'no,' programs will
end," Obama stated.
As for the rich, the GOP's supposed "free-market"
economy and the Wall Street denizens whose machinations have
led to the second Bush recession - deeper and already, at 13
months, longer than the first - Obama had a stern warning.
"This crisis has reminded us that without a watchful
eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper
long when it favors only the prosperous," said the former
community organizer who worked with out-of-jobs Steel Workers
when the mills were shuttered on Chicago's South Side.
"The success of our economy has depended not just on
the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our
prosperity, on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing
heart, not out of charity, but because it is our surest route
to the common good," he explained. Obama also said "greed
and irresponsibility" caused the economic slump.
But Obama also summoned workers, and citizens, to sacrifice
for the common good. Early in the speech, he warned the country
would finally have to face some hard choices "and unpleasant
decisions" in "the task of remaking America."
He did not specify what they would be, but he previously said
his administration would convene a task force to examine the
future funding of the nation's large entitlement programs.
And late in the speech, he praised workers for being willing
to sacrifice for the greater good: "It is a kindness to
take in the stranger when the levees break," he said, as
they did when Hurricane Katrina smashed New Orleans.
He also cited "the selflessness of workers who would
rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job"
and "the firefighters' courage to storm a stairway filled
with smoke" -- as New York Fire Fighters did during the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks -- along with "a parent's
willingness to nurture a child that finally decides our fate."
All workers can help rebuild and change the nation, the president
declared.
Union leaders praised the address, and particularly Obama's
new direction after eight years of Bush's rule. Change To Win
Chair Anna Burger called his inauguration "the beginning
of a new movement. Now we must work together to build on this
victory to restore the economy, rebuild the middle class and
renew the American Dream."
Steel Workers President Leo Gerard, who sat both at the Capitol
just in front of Obama but also in the inaugural parade reviewing
stand with the new president, was moved "to the verge of
tears" for the honor he accepted on behalf of the nation's
workers, he told his hometown paper in Sudbury, Ont. Obama is
"a real human being who has a real set of values that really
connects to ordinary folks," said Gerard. Obama "indicated
the old economic order is going to be thrown aside for a new
one and we want to be part of helping him to build that new one."
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News
Briefs
Construction dives 15% in 2008
Total U.S. construction starts dropped 15 percent to $542.8
billion in 2008, marking the second straight year of reduced
contracting after a 7 percent fall in 2007.
But excluding the moribund residential market, new construction
starts for 2008 were actually up a modest 2 percent compared
to 2007.
"The pattern of construction starts revealed a downward
trend over the course of 2008, as the extended slide for housing
was joined by emerging weakness for commercial building and to
a lesser extent public works," said Robert A. Murray, vice
president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction, in
a report released Jan. 21. "At the same time, there were
still several bright spots in 2008. These included more growth
for educational buildings and healthcare facilities, plus large
gains for manufacturing plants and electric power plants.
"For 2009, the depressed economy and troubled financial
sector will lead to further declines for housing and commercial
building, and a loss of momentum is also anticipated for the
institutional and manufacturing structure types. "The eroding
fiscal position of states and localities poses a constraint for
public works, but this could be more than offset by the boost
arising from the Obama Administration's stimulus package."
The two regions with the sharpest declines for total construction
during 2008
were the South Atlantic, down 26 percent; and the West, down
25 percent. This was followed by the Midwest, down 12 percent;
and the Northeast and South Central, each down 1 percent.
Bush's 'midnight rules' bite the dust
WASHINGTON (PAI) -To the delight of unions, among others, President
Barack Obama used his first moments in the nation's highest office
to make sure predecessor George W. Bush's "midnight rules"
turned into pumpkins.
The first memo Obama approved said rules Bush promulgated
in his final days would be suspended pending review for another
60 days, and those which have not yet been officially published
would be yanked.
Among the Bush rules that Obama halted were a scheme to lengthen
the number of hours truckers spend consecutively on the road,
and a plan to make it harder for workers to show they've been
exposed to toxic substances on the job.
They also include rules pushed by business to make it tougher
for workers to take family and medical leave and to let their
bosses demand workers' medical records.
Another Bush midnight brainstorm that Obama's action stopped
would have added further onerous reporting requirements for local,
state and national union officers.
The first reports under that rule are due this coming March.
The moves elated foes of the midnight rules, including the
Teamsters. Withdrawal of Bush's midnight rules "was one
of the recommendations on our transition document, so we're very
excited about this," said AFL-CIO spokeswoman Alison Omens.
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