Congratulations: To the PHCC of Massachusetts, for once again putting on a tremendous trade show recently in Marlborough. The show is a "must see"--since it brings together the full spectrum of our industry's vendors, and also includes informative sessions with the State Plumbing Board. This year, for the first time, there was a session with the new Sheet Metal Board.

Regs: Regulations governing licensing of Sheet Metal workers in Massachusetts went into effect on March 1. Google "Mass. Sheet Metal Board" for details and applications. Grandfathering available until next February.

Great Building: Best wishes to Mark Erlich and the Carpenters union for their impressive new building just off the Expressway in Dorchester. The neighborhood is now filled with union training centers--including those for union plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, and ironworkers.

The Economy: Is it improving? This is the big question on people's minds. In the commercial sector, where most of our contractors work, there are signs of hope: MassPort will be doing 379 projects worth $1 billion over the next 4 yearsŠpublic school building is increasing. There is no doubt that the public sector has been the place to be. Many contractors who never bid public work are now doing so.

Schools: Despite a national decline in construction spending, in Massachusetts a steady increase in school construction has begun. Since its establishment in 2004, the Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) has been receiving 20% of all state sales tax revenue. For several years, it banked its income, but now has begun spending. It is currently involved with planning or construction for 180 projects. Last year's decline in sales tax revenue slowed up some of its plans.

Confidence Up: Associated Industries of Mass. recently surveyed business leaders: "The March survey found Massachusetts employers slightly positive about current business conditions for the first time since the end of 2007."

Spending Down: Numbers released on April: nationally construction spending had fallen by 1.3% to an annual rate of $846.23 billion. Residential home building, commercial and government projects are all affected. As Engineering News Record (ENR) put it in a cover story: the recession has shut down the nonresidential building market. Go to any major US city (including Boston) and you won't see many construction cranes.

Stimulus: Many in the construction industry complain that there was no "stimulus money" for anything except roads and bridges. The Obama administration tried to get school and public building construction and renovation funds in the stimulus bill--but this was opposed by Republicans and conservative Democrats.

Good News: One piece of stimulus money is coming to our industry. Our organization, the PHCC of Greater Boston, wrote a grant for building a demonstration site for solar hot water and rainwater reuseŠand will be receiving $300,000 in stimulus money. The new systems and related training programs will be at the Local 12 Training Center, which is operated jointly by the PHCC contractors and Local 12.

Blue Collar Blues: The official construction jobless rate nationwide in January was just under 25%. In many trades, it is higher. "The recession has been more like a depression for blue-collar workers," the Boston Globe wrote recently. Professor Andrew Sum of Northeastern says job losses suffered by blue-collar workers matches the Great Depression. Reportedly there are 65 unemployed construction workers for each available job.

Unemployment: The picture is brightening a bit. Nationwide, 162,000 new jobs were created in March, the most positive jobs report in three years.

Other Signs: Mostly good: auto sales in March showed a big 24% increase over a year ago. Both Ford and Toyota sales grew by approximately 40% over last March. Manufacturing was also up significantly--the most since 2004. But bankruptcies continued to rise--up 19% since last year. Many unemployed are simply walking away from their mortgages.

Nuclear: You will be hearing much more about nuclear power in the coming years. The Obama administration has just approved $8 billion in loan guarantees to build two new nuclear power plants in Georgia. Obama is siding with Republicans in supporting new nuclear construction.

Instrumental: Cutting the deal for government support for financing the Georgia nukes was held up until owners agreed to use union contractors and Project Labor Agreements (PLA's). Those plants will have lots of pipingŠ.Don't forget that the very first national union leader to endorse Obama for president was the United Association's Bill Hite. Both are from Chicago, and they have been friends for years. Hite was instrumental negotiating Project Labor Agreements for the new nuclear plants.

Disposal: There is still a big concern with nuclear plants: the disposal of used fuel rods. The government is in the process of closing the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada (30 years under construction; never opened.) Some claim that new technologies allow easier, safer reprocessing of spent fuel, and that burying nuclear waste in a mountain is unnecessary. Others say that storing waste at reactor sites (which is happening now at Plymouth and Seabrook) will not work in the long run.

Drinking Water: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently imposed stricter limits on contaminants in drinking water. There has been growing concern about the dangerous stuff that is found in almost all our drinking water.

Explosion: The explosion at the power plant in Connecticut reportedly killed a Boston pipefitter, along with 4 others. A gas line of over 800 feet was being purged at the time of the explosion. Engineering News Record (ENR) reports that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has been asked to review its regulations regarding purging of gas systems.

Suffolk Grows: In case you hadn't noticed, Suffolk Construction, the region's largest GC, has purchased major Virginia company, Dietze Construction Group. The Boston Globe reports that Dietze has strong experience in building government and health care facilities in the DC area. In 2009 Suffolk purchased Berry Construction, a company with much experience locally in the health care construction.

Union Construction Impact: Cornell University just released a study of the economic and social impact of union construction jobs in Massachusetts. The results show that union wages provide a "multiplier effect" that adds an annual $1.8 billion benefit to the Massachusetts economy. Learn more at builtbest.org. More details in our next newsletter.

Health Care: One of the big factors that created the mood in Washington to pass the health care bill was word that California's largest for-profit health insurer had raised rates by as much as 39%. Meanwhile, the company had just made $2.7 billion in the 4th quarter of 2009Š.Recently our office got calls from local contractors who were being hit with health cost increases for their office employees of 35%.

Cadillac Plans: Construction unions have been concerned that the new health plan will inflict a tax on health benefits for "high cost" plans. Final bill says no tax goes into effect until 2018, when any plan costing more than $27,500 for a family ($10,200 for an individual) would be taxed at 40% rate on any cost above the threshold. Most union plans today are below $20,000 for family coverage. Will the typical union plan in 2018 cost more than $27,500? The bill allows threshold to be raised if inflation causes costs to rise unexpectedly high.

Opposition: The National PHCC, whose president is local open-shop contractor Skip Pfeffer of Canton Plumbing, opposed the bill, fearing it would be costly to businesses. According to the Kaiser Foundation, the final bill provides small employers with no more than 25 employees a tax credit--IF they provide health coverage, and employees' annual wages average less than $50,000.