News from ECA Chicago - April 2021 LiveWire Newsletter

The March ECA Membership Meeting was held as a virtual session on March 17, 2021. The meeting featured a number of industry updates and was highlighted by special presentations from representatives of ERS-EAP, Equifax, NECA Safety Meeting App and e-Safetyline.

The presenters re-familiarized the participants with current member benefits. If you're not active with any of these groups, we hope that this will encourage you and those in your company to participate! Listed below are the presenters and a brief description of the member benefit(s) available.

ERS-EAP

Kathleen Horton

Employee Resource Systems - Employee Assistance Program provides a wide breadth of options to individuals and the organization to help remove the stigma of mental health services with everyday solutions for everyday people.

Equifax

Maggie Niehoff

ECA works with TALX-UC Express aka Equifax Workforce Solutions (EWS) for representation of unemployment claims, assist your firm to contest claim(s) and the identification and credits of inaccurate charge credits to your state account(s).

NECA Safety Meeting App

Jennifer Hernandez

1100+ SAFETY TOPICS

With over 1100 concise and well-documented safety topics, you can rest assured you will have plenty of topics to cover during your safety meetings.

e-Safetyline

Joseph O'Connor

e-Safetyline saves money by providing access to up-to-date multiple electrical construction safety industry resources in one location at one low price. Minimizes effort in managing safety responsibilities and requirements which also reduces labor costs. Helps to keep workers from getting hurt or fatality injured by targeting prevention measures specific to our industry.

We thank Kathleen, Maggie, Jennifer and Joe for their special presentations.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.

ECA Educational Programming

The ECA Research and Education Committee is pleased to have been able to present the following program in March. We hope that you will be able to participate with future sessions.

"Change Order Management" Webinar -

The ECA's Research and Education Committee presented a virtual classroom program called, "Change Order Management." The program was held on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 and facilitated by Stephane McShane, Maxim Consulting Group.

Effective change order management can dramatically reduce a subcontractor’s risk and increase profitability. This interactive course explored the change order process from a subcontractor’s view point and provides participants with hands on training in recognizing, scoping, pricing, and negotiating change orders. This course culminated in a mock negotiation where participants immediately practiced the skills that they had learned.

Following this class, participants will be able to:

Identify how to properly notify owners and general contractors of changed conditions to reserve your rights
Discuss how to scope, price and sell a change order
Explain how to negotiate using strategies to maximize outcomes

We thank Ms. McShane for her expertise with this event!

"Get More Work: Biden's Energy Plan & Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Projects" Webinar -

Electric Vehicle sales are estimated to be 1.4 million in 2025 versus 1.2 million. About 9.6 million charge ports will be required to support 18.7 million EVs in 2030. This represents a significant investment in EV charging infrastructure. President Biden's new Energy Plan calls for 500,000 new EV Charging Stations in the US. His Energy Plan specifically calls for "EVITP" Certified Contractors on these projects. In order to be a Certified Contractor, a member of your team must complete the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program. This 20 hour course will be conducted at IN-TECH this spring. The webinar was intended to inform ECA Members on the importance of the certification and requirements for your Certified team member. The webinar was led by: Bob Hattier, IBEW Local 134 & Jennifer Mefford (Southeast Michigan / IBEW 58 LMCC) and National Co-Chair of the EVITP organization. We hope that you were able to participate with this special session. We thank Jennifer and Bob with their expertise with this program!

Please click the link below for follow-up to the program:

-EVITP Contractor Agreement

-PowerPoint Slides

-Letter from IBEW/NECA Leadership

CLICK HERE for the Webinar Follow-up Info.

Any questions regarding certification of your employees or other concerns, please contact Jennifer Mefford at: (248) 318-7885 / [email protected]; Bob Hattier at: (312) 474-4160 / [email protected]; Gene Kent at: (708) 389-1340 ext 237 / [email protected].

ECA Education Program Update

Please click below for the updated ECA Education Program list for 2021.

ECA Educational Program List for 2021.

NECA NOW

As a reminder, the NECA NOW Leadership Conference will be held virtually on April 13-14, 2021. Far from your typical meeting, NECA NOW 2021 is a two-day Executive Leadership Conference focused on your professional and personal growth. CLICK HERE to learn more about what the program offers!

Until Monday, April 5, 2021 -- You can get the early registration pricing with code: EA4LYR.

ECA Stipend for NECA NOW Conference

The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration fees for up to two representatives of participating ECA member firms for the NECA NOW Conference on April 13 – 14, 2021. All stipends / reimbursements are made after each conference with registration confirmation(s) forwarded to ECA.

NECA WIN / FL

The Women in NECA and the NECA Future Leaders Conference that was held virtually, March 9 - 10, 2021. was well attended. Over 15 ECA members were able to participate with the event. The conference featured two half-days of meetings which included:

Three breakout sessions with never-before heard speakers
Two roundtable discussions with peers and taskforce
Two networking receptions with live entertainment

We look forward to your participation with next year's event!

IMSCA Town Hall Legislative Forum

Virtual Program - March 19, 2021

The Illinois Mechanical & Specialty Contractors Association’s (IMSCA’s) Virtual Town Hall Legislative Forum was held on Friday, March 19^th via Zoom. IMSCA had an exciting panel of legislators who provided IMSCA members with an overview of important issues facing our state that the Illinois General Assembly will tackle during the spring 2021 legislative session. This event was designed to provide IMSCA members with a unique opportunity to receive an “insider’s view” from key Illinois State Senators included Senate President Don Harmon, Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes and Senator Ram Villivalam. Each panelist provided a special presentation followed by a Q & A session.

We hope that you were able to attend this event and learned more about legislative issues important to the Illinois construction industry and your business. We thank Jessica Newbold Hoselton, Executive Director, Illinois Mechanical & Specialty Contractors Association (IMSCA) for coordinating this special program.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.

Safety Update

-CSC February Schedule / Joint Safety Forum

CSC Update

For a listing of coursework available through the Construction Safety Council (CSC) for the month of February, please visit: www.buildsafe.org.

NECA Safety Professionals Conference

May 25 - 26, 2021 - VIRTUAL

The NECA NOW Conference registration will open on March 24, 2021! Please click on the link below for more information.

STIPEND AVAILABLE

As a reminder, The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration fees for up to two representatives of participating ECA member firms for the NECA Safety Professionals Conference on May 25 - 26, 2021. All stipends / reimbursements are made after each conference with registration confirmation(s) forwarded to ECA.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.