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Association & Industry News
NRMCA's Virtual ConcreteWorks 2020 Conference is the industry response to stay at home mandates during COVID-19. As the leading annual live event trade show and marketing experience for the ready mixed concrete industry, ConcreteWorks has made the virtual shift with the help of technologies that our sponsors and exhibitors utilize every day to connect employees and engage customers. To make this the best experience possible with lasting results for your organization, we’ve shaped sponsorship opportunities that will give you sustained visibility and create connections during the event. Opportunities have been enhanced with digital marketing benefits that promote your products and services to registered ConcreteWorks' attendees, NRMCA members and the online community of industry professionals. Click here to view and select from the list of available virtual conference sponsorship opportunities. Sponsorships are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at 703-706-4865 or e-mail at jjenkins@nrmca.org. The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) has scheduled a webinar titled The Carbin App: Assessing Road Quality Using Crowdsourced Smartphone Measurements for Thursday, July 30, at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Since 2019, CSHub’s Carbin app has crowdsourced over 250,000 miles of road quality and emissions data from around the world. In this webinar, Meshkat Botshekan, a CSHub research assistant, validates this crowdsourced approach by comparing data collected by Carbin users with data from the Federal Highway Administration. The CSHub webinar series offers information of general interest to members of the building, paving and construction communities as well as to educators, students, journalists and law and policymakers interested in the environmental and economic impacts of decision-making concerning infrastructure. Videos of past webinars are archived to the CSHub YouTube channel. Webinars are free and open to the public. Presentations are geared toward a lay audience. Click here to register and here to request more information. NRMCA is looking for good men and women to serve on the Board of Directors. While serving on the Board requires both commitment and energy, it is a rewarding opportunity to give back to the industry. NRMCA represents a broad range of ready mixed concrete companies across the United States and our success is a direct result of the skills and expertise of our professional staff working in conjunction with our Board of Directors. Director nominees must be committed to promoting NRMCA programs and working in the best interest of its membership and the industry at large. The Board provides strategic direction, fiduciary oversight and governance of the organization’s operations. Nominees are vetted by the Nominating Committee, which consists of the current chairman of the Board, the immediate past chairman of the Board, and past chairmen of the Board for the previous seven years who are still in an active capacity in the industry. The selected slate of nominees is then presented to and elected by the general membership and will serve a three-year term that begins immediately following the annual convention in 2021. The deadline for submissions is Friday, July 24. Please click on links below for more information or contact NRMCA's Heather Houck at hhouck@nrmca.org. 
Last week, NRMCA, NSSGA and PCA sent a letter to Congress outlining their priorities for future COVID-19 relief legislation. While the House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act in May, the Senate is expected to pass a negotiated COVID-19 “Phase Four” bill by the end of July, with negotiations between Congress and the White House beginning this week. The joint letter outlines three categories of priorities, highlighting the importance of reforms to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), including allowing 501(c)6 organizations access to PPP loans; ensuring liability protections for businesses that operated through the pandemic as well as those opening now and revenue replacement for state departments of transportation to reinstate canceled or delayed projects. NRMCA has previously joined or sent letters to Congress on each of these priorities and will continue to advocate for them in COVID-19 “Phase Four” legislation. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. Last week, NRMCA and NSSGA met with staff from the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss some of the anti-business, anti-ready mixed concrete provisions contained in H.R. 2. In particular, the two associations raised concerns about truck-related policies that would increase costs and compliance burdens for the industry. H.R. 2 contains several damaging provisions that NRMCA opposes, including:
Each of these provisions are adverse to policies NRMCA supports (in the case of the new HOS provisions) or implement policies we oppose. The adverse trucking policies contained in H.R. 2 and the resistance to relaxing regulations is a foreshadowing of what the industry can expect if the House remains anti-business and the Senate majority flips in the 2020 general election. NRMCA will continue to educate Senate offices and work to kill these House-passed policies in any final surface transportation legislation. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in General Motors LLC that modernizes the standard by which union organizers and members are held accountable for profanity or language that is sexually or racially offensive, clarifying that unions are not automatically exempt from laws intended to prevent workplace harassment. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), of which NRMCA is an active member, provided this statement late Tuesday: Under the Obama administration the NLRB had been extremely tolerant of abusive speech, claiming it qualified for protection under the NLRA, according to the CDW. The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal called these policies an aberration and a mistake. NLRA Chairman Ring was quoted in an NLRB press release as stating, "For too long the Board has protected employees who engage in obscene, racist, and sexually harassing speech not tolerated in almost any workplace today. Our decision in General Motors ends this unwarranted protection, eliminates the conflict between the NLRA and antidiscrimination laws, and acknowledges that the expectations for employee conduct in the workplace have changed.” CDW filed an amicus brief in the case in November 2019 with 13 other employer organizations. The brief argued the following:
For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
Government Affairs
NRMCA Government Affairs is asking all members to urge their representatives, senators and the White House to pass a bipartisan, long-term surface reauthorization and infrastructure investment. Despite strong bipartisan support for transportation reauthorization and investment in America’s infrastructure, we are approaching the September 30 deadline without a surface transportation bill. However, progress is being made. Last year, the Senate passed surface reauthorization legislation that would increase funding for infrastructure projects by nearly 30%. Earlier this month, the House passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure-related spending bill that would commit nearly $500 billion to surface reauthorization. And President Trump has touted a $1 trillion infrastructure investment. Click here to make your voice heard by sending pre-written messages to Congress and the President. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. The Fiscal Year 2021 House of Representatives’ National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included an additional $50 million for the Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP). This program was first included in the FY2019 NDAA but was not funded. Funding the DCIP has been an NRMCA priority; last year it received $50 million in funding for the first time. In late May, the Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment posted the grant opportunity and NRMCA advertised this funding opportunity to member companies, urging those that service communities that support military bases to provide information regarding the grant opportunity to their state and local governments. As a result, at least one NRMCA member communicated the opportunity to its local government, which then wrote a grant application for a local infrastructure project. That application is pending. NRMCA will continue to keep member companies apprised of these opportunities. As NRMCA and its allied associations continue to advocate for a surface reauthorization and robust infrastructure investment, the DCIP is an additional opportunity to secure infrastructure funding for states and localities, especially during this time of declining state and municipal transportation revenue. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
NRMCA’s Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards competition offers producers national recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment and maintaining sound management practice in their operations. The program salutes companies that have not only met, but surpassed, governmental compliance measures and demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through plant and staff investment. NRMCA member companies producing ready mixed concrete from fixed plant locations in the U.S., its territories or Canada are eligible to enter. Awards will be determined upon individual plant merits. Winning entrants will be honored during the Awards Luncheon this fall during NRMCA‘s virtual ConcreteWorks event. Winners will also be featured in NRMCA’s Concrete InFocus magazine as well as Concrete Products magazine. Entries and photos must be e-mailed to Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org Friday, July 24. Click here for more information, the link to download the entry form and staff contact. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. July 22, Online Course July 29, Online Course August 5, Online Course August 12, Online Course August 19, Online Course August 26, Online Course September 2, Online Course September 9, Online Course September 15, Charlotte, NC 
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Business Advancement
Only 39 producers have completed the survey to date; a whopping 80% decrease from a year ago. To put such a small participation in perspective, current data represents 3% of the mixer driver pool. Typically, the survey represents about 30%. Current data shows 30% of the driver pool quit last year, a huge 10% increase. Can this be true? Statistically, the numbers are too small to know. PLEASE have your appropriate person gather your driver employment data and fill out the anonymous survey. No one has to calculate formulas; just give us the employment numbers and we run the calculations. Average time to complete the survey is 14 minutes. The survey closes on Friday, July 31, just 10 days away. Help NRMCA provide the industry with data that matters. Click here to access the survey. For more information, contact Eileen Dickson at edickson@nrmca.org. October 5 – 6, Now Online October 20 – 22, Now Online November 10 - 12, New Orleans November 17 – 19, Now Online December 15, Charlotte, NC December 15 – 18, Phoenix 2021 January 26 – 29, Charlotte, NC February 10 – 12, Dallas March 23 – 26, Boston 
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