Friday, February 26, 2010
More US Engineers
This past Saturday, the National Building Museum in Washington, DC hosted Discover Engineering Family Day. My son Brendan and I went to check it out.
The floor of the immense, open pavilion in the museum was filled with exhibits booths featuring hands-on demonstrations of engineering skills. The purpose of the event was to discover how professional engineers turn ideas into reality.
We built a stomp rocket with paper, a plastic tube, and an empty water bottle (aerospace engineering). We made slime (chemical engineering). We used a few Lego pieces to build a structure that was supposed to withstand a simulated tsunami in a wave tank (civil engineering). We failed.
We learned about the science behind popcorn (agricultural engineering), and we were able to play with competition robots (mechanical engineering). We controlled radios with light beams (electrical engineering), and we took a break to eat hotdogs and giant cookies (smart parenting).
Basically, we had a good time, and we learned first-hand how a career in engineering can be practical, interesting, and fun. I wish we had Engineering Family Day in my community when I was growing up. I started college as an Engineering major, but I switched to Business at the end of my freshman year. I didn’t have a clear vision about what all my math studies would lead to.
Getting our young people excited about engineering is a good thing. We need more home grown engineers in this country. India and China are producing many more engineers than the United States, and that will lead to their competitive advantage.
I think our country would be better off with fewer lawyers and investment managers, and more engineers.
Monday, February 1, 2010
SOTU Reaction
State of the Union.
I didn’t know what it meant either. I kept seeing “SOTU” in e-mails from the Government Affairs folks. I finally figured it out.
This isn’t a commentary on the President’s speech, but some of my personal observations on the new legislative reality — post the Senate election in Massachusetts.
Obviously, things have changed dramatically, whether political leaders will admit that or not.
I think there will still be some kind of health care legislation, but not the comprehensive package that was being brokered a couple weeks ago. The air has been let out of that balloon.
Likewise, don’t expect to see climate change legislation, immigration reform or the Employee Free Choice Act. You may hear talk about these, but in the end nothing will be enacted.
Much more will be focused on creating jobs, even if it isn’t in the form of a third stimulus package. The President is already floating proposals regarding small business loans and hiring incentives for small business. Note that these programs will be aimed at small businesses, which most see as the real engine of job growth. Plus, most people feel too much attention was focused on bailing out big banks, auto companies, and financial institutions.
There’s lots of talk about applying the “cash for clunkers” concept to other industries. A program called Home Star would offer rebates to homeowners for energy-conservation and improvement projects. Building Star would do the same thing for commercial buildings. One aspect of that program would encourage energy audits — something that NECA is hoping electrical contractors will be able to market as one of their services. Another energy-conservation rebate program will be directed at manufacturing.
Other good news for our industry: Programs to fund the creation of high-speed rail lines and the promotion of nuclear energy. I also think we’ll see some movement on pension funding relief legislation and getting a permanent fix for estate taxes.
Expect the Administration to increase its attacks on big business — especially banks, insurance companies and business lobbyists.
One red herring is the concern being expressed over the recent Supreme Court decision allowing freer political spending by corporations and unions. It really doesn’t change that much and it won’t have much impact either. This doesn’t allow direct corporate contributions to candidates. Those still need to be personal contributions or from PACs. That’s why Justice Alito shook his head and mouthed “not true” when President Obama said that the decision overturned 100 years of legal precedent. It hasn’t. The decision nullifies a more current law which kept corporations and unions from financing political ads within a certain number of days before an election. I don’t think corporations are lining up to spend big bucks on political ads.
BTW, NECA GA DIR Lake Coulson was in 202 for SOTU and sat in the balcony F2F with FLOTUS. KEWL.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Our Plans for 2010
Meeting in not-so-warm Florida last week, NECA’s Executive Committee reviewed and approved NECA’s Budget and Plan of Operations for 2010. Here are some highlights:
While expecting a continued decline in revenue, the association has an active and aggressive agenda for 2010. The cutbacks made in 2009 helped us stay within spending limits, and we expect to be financially stable this year. We anticipate tapping 7 percent of the reserve fund to balance the budget.
We expect some very positive labor relations progress this year. NECA and the IBEW are dead serious about moving forward to grow our industry. Members of the NLMCC (leaders from both organizations) are meeting in early February to assess where we are and to decide what we need to do next. There will be a continued push for expansion of small works agreements, portability of manpower, and use of the CW/CE classifications.
In that regard, NECA is developing a program to help our members understand and take advantage of these labor relations tools. We’re learning from electrical contractors using the CW/CE classifications about what changes are needed to successfully manage a lesser-skilled workforce.
The NECA Management Education Institute (MEI), which is responsible for this project, is also working on a new introductory foreman training course. It will dovetail with the more extensive Effective Supervision courses but can also serve as a basic leadership training course for lead journeymen. In addition, the MEI is putting together a networking and mentoring program for women electrical contractors.
Our government affairs program is looking ahead to the big legislative issues coming down the pike after the health care bill is resolved. Pension reform, taxes, and energy are at the top of the list. After a banner year for ECPAC in 2009, we are planning an even bigger push in 2010. This is the year to get the right people elected to Congress and to support our efforts to protect small businesses and promote policies that grow our industry.
A special Energy Solutions Task Force, formed last year, has been expanded. It will continue to implement the recommendations from a master plan developed in 2008. This year, we will focus on the new Energy Auditing training course and developing a “funding source” matrix that contractors can use to help customers pay for energy solutions projects.
Safety also takes a front-burner position with the creation of a new contractor safety orientation training program. There will also be several webinars focused on NEC and NECA safety materials.
NECA continues its support for the National Electrical Installation Standards (NEIS). In addition to updating some of the existing standards, we will begin the process of creating four new standards. We are also working with the Canadian Electrical Contractors Association to develop a CEIS version of the NEIS for Canada.
The ELECTRI foundation is meeting next week to select up to $200,000 worth of new research projects. In addition to completing many other research projects in the pipeline, ELECTRI will once again sponsor the Talent Initiative program that encourages college students to seek careers in the electrical contracting industry.
Personally, I will be involved with a financial futures task force appointed by NECA President Rex Ferry to address NECA’s future revenue needs. Rex and I are also planning to experiment with a few electronic town hall meetings, where we hope to foster an open dialogue with NECA members in various areas of the country.
And of course our showcase event is the annual NECA convention and trade show, October 2-5 in Boston.
Well, these are just the highlights of the highlights. Look for a lot coming out of NECA this year.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Holiday Wish List - 2009
As we are in the midst of celebrating the holiday season, I once again asked NECA staff what they are wishing for this year. Here are some of the responses:
Always the optimist, Southern Region Executive Director David Roberts wants roller skates for his staff so they can keep up with our members as they accelerate their businesses during 2010. I wonder what the field reps think of that.
Midwest Region Executive Director Drew Gibson wants a commitment by local unions and chapters to succeed in market recovery expansion by cutting costs, improving profitability, and retooling training for emerging markets. Drew also hopes for continued global warming to ease the burden of Midwest blizzards. The Midwest reps will get ice skates instead of roller skates.
Convention Director Beth Ellis naturally wants a good turnout for the NECA 2010 Convention in Boston. She would also like something in a little blue box (Tiffany’s) and an additional staff person for help. My wife asks for the same things.
Public Relations Director Beth Margulies wants to see NECA members take advantage of the business opportunities that social media offer. Beth has been active in getting NECA involved in Facebook, Twitter and the like. Lets all give a tweet in 2010.
Marketing Executive Director Rob Colgan is hoping for a “sustainable” recovery. He’s pushing NECA members to explore new market opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy production.
Greg Mankevich, executive director of the Management Education Institute, put in a shameful plug for his latest MEI offerings such as “Adapt or Perish,” “The New Business Model of Construction Contracting,” “Business Development for the Design-Build Market,” and “Understanding Net-Metering, Distributed Generation, and the Energy Policy Act and its Impact on the Electrical Contracting Industry.”
Safety Director Jerry Rivera is hoping for a zero accidents for our workforce in 2010. Jerry is our designated driver at office parties.
Mike Thompson, NECA secretary-treasurer, had a rough year revising the NECA budget downward more than once. His fervent wish is that we have only one budget in 2010.
As for me, I’m hoping that we all take advantage of the many opportunities coming our way in the year ahead.
Now I’m off to Tiffany’s to see if I can buy just a blue box for a bracelet that I bought at Costco.
Merry Christmas!
The Best of New Years!
