NEA — The Asssociation of Union Constructors
Launches Revamped Web Site

Dec. 11 – NEA, The Association of Union Constructors' new Web site is up and running at www.nea-online.org. The site provides news and information about the Arlington, Va-based association and plenty of other information of interest to union steel erectors. The Great Lakes Fabricators & Erectors Association is an NEA Local Employer Organization (LEO).

Currently on the new NEA Web site, you can read brief descriptions of NEA's Executive Committee and staff. Assuming office in the fall were NEA President Donn Taylor, president of Century Steel Erectors in Pittsburgh, Pa.; First Vice President Gerard Schreiber, Graycor Industrial Constructors Inc., Homewood, Ill.; Second Vice President William Brown, Ben Hur Construction Co., St. Louis, Mo.; Secretary Thomas Kerr, IC Construction Co. Inc., Brecksville, Ohio; Treasurer Edward Calcaterra, J.S. Alberici Construction Co., St. Louis, Mo, and Executive Vice President Noel C. Borck. Borck was also named Impartial Secretary of the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee. Along with Alberici's Calcaterra, GLFEA members serving on the NEA Board of Directors include Ronald Hausmann, Walbridge Aldinger Co., Detroit; Cyndi Broad Nestor, CBN Steel Construction Co., Novi, and William Treharne, Midwest Steel Inc., Detroit.

Also posted on NEA's new Web site is information about the quarterly Labor/Safety Forum NEA hosted Dec. 4th in Washington, D.C. Highlighting the forum was guest speaker Bruce Swanson, Directorate of Construction at the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who answered questions about the new standard for steel erection scheduled to go into effect in January, and the proposed steel erection standard compliance directive recently released by OSHA. The NEA Board has faulted OSHA for what it considers an insufficient timeframe for submitting comments on the directive. Comments were to have been submitted by Dec. 10th, following a release of the directive in mid-November. The Board also agreed there were "serious flaws" in some of the interpretations the compliance directive makes about the new steel erection standard. See the Dec. 12 Riveteer for more.

OSHA's new recordkeeping standard, www.osha-slc.gov/recordkeeping/ppt1/ppt1script.html, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1st, was also on the agenda at the forum, as were discussions of the National Heavy & Highway Alliance (NHHA) and the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee Inc. NHHA Executive Director Raymond Poupore provided an overview of the new agency, independent since early November from the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department. Unions signatory to the NHHA include Cements Masons, Bricklayers, Teamsters, Iron Workers, Carpenters, Operating Engineers, and Laborers. Pete Stafford, executive director of the Center To Protect WorkersÕ Rights www.cpwr.org discussed that group's efforts to improve health and safety in the construction industry, and Robert Gasperow, executive director of the Construction Labor Research Council, discussed current trends in collective bargaining agreements.