Page 50 - PCCA Journal 2nd Quarter 2012

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PCCA Journal|2
nd
Quarter 2012
50
FINALWORD
PCCA Speaks Up
W
elcome to the Fi-
nal Word, a new
column in the
PCCA Journal
.
Each quarter,
PCCA staff and leadership will use this
page to make announcements and dis-
cuss issues that affect our segment of the
utility construction industry. We hope
to capture your interest and encourage
interaction among our members. The
Final Word will always be located just
inside the back cover so that readers
can easily flip to a recap of PCCA’s most
urgent topics.
During the recent PCCA convention
in San Antonio, two issues came to the
forefront, first during the board of direc-
tors meeting and then in further detail at
the Construction Industry Roundtable:
prevailing wage determinations on feder-
ally funded projects and FCC efforts to
revamp the Universal Service Fund. Both
issues greatly impact the availability and
profitability of PCCA member work.
At its meeting in San Antonio, the
PCCA Board decided that these issues
require strong action on our part and
have initiated plans that aim to change
these policies. The board is asking PCCA
members to help us in these efforts that
will greatly benefit our industry.
Our association first started looking
closely at prevailing wage determina-
tions for teledata workers in response
to requirements in work funded by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Acts of 2009. A PCCA delegation met
with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
officials in 2010 to discuss the DOL
wage classifications and determinations.
Our contention was that the job clas-
sifications being used by DOL did not
accurately reflect jobsite realities, and
we showed them labor rates and job
descriptions that had been collectively
bargained and successfully used on proj-
ects throughout the United States.
Our points were well received, but
change in Washington, D.C., never
comes quickly or easily. However, PCCA
was able to forge a strong relationship
with the DOL’s Hour and Wage Division
staff and with Washington-based labor
attorney Leslie Stout-Tabackman.
Working with Leslie, our prevailing
wage initiative will focus on DOL wage
surveys. We want to standardize classifi-
cations on teledata projects and produce
wage determinations that will more
closely match the work being performed.
PCCA contractors employ hundreds of
thousands of workers who work millions
of manhours every year, so our voice is
strong. When DOL plans to conduct a
wage survey, PCCA will alert its mem-
bers via a special portal on pccaweb.org,
e-mails, and direct mail. We will provide
members with instructions for complet-
ing the wage surveys and sending them
to DOL.
The first step of this initiative will be
a survey of PCCA members to collect ac-
curate data on the size and reach of our
membership. The results will show DOL
and other parties the collective size and
impact of our association. The survey
will also be used to fine-tune our data-
base so that DOL wage surveys will be
forwarded to appropriate companies and
to the proper people at those companies.
PCCA has also begun work to pro-
tect the viability of USF in the face of
vast changes proposed by the FCC. We
have reached out to other associations
concerned with the future of broadband
in rural America, including the National
Telecommunications Cooperative As-
sociation (NTCA) and the Organization
for the Promotion and Advancement of
Small Telecommunication Companies
(OPASTCO). Both groups have been
working hard on rural broadband issues,
and they are eager for our assistance.
Rather than me try to briefly explain
this issue here, I urge you to turn to page
7 where NTCA’s Director of Policy Josh
Seidemann explains the importance of
the USF by putting it in historical per-
spective and explaining why it is impor-
tant for all of us and for all of America.
I also urge you to visit www.saverural-
broadband.org, which offers many ways
to get involved and lend your support.
While PCCA has often been hesitant
to become politically active because of
limited association resources, we feel
that these issues are too important to
ignore. PCCA is a small organization,
but we represent hundreds of thousands
of American workers and we build
projects that benefit all Americans. It is
incumbent on us to do everything we
can to make sure our voice is heard.
Through our efforts we can ensure that
the prevailing wages for our industry are
accurately recorded with the DOL and
that the USF continues to bring broad-
band to rural America and helps support
American jobs.
TimWagner, PCCA Executive Vice President