Momentum Index inches higher

The Dodge Momentum Index for U.S. construction activity moved slightly higher in July, increasing 0.5 percent to 134.7 (2000=100) from its revised June reading of 134.1. The Momentum Index, with the most recent update released on Aug. 5, is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year.

July’s modest rise follows a substantial increase in June, which saw the Momentum Index climb 10.9% from the previous month. The Index has now moved higher in four consecutive months, the first such string of increases since late 2014. July’s improved pace was due to slight gains for each of the two major sectors, with institutional planning up 0.7% and commercial planning up 0.4%. "The recent rise in the Index from April through July suggests that planning for construction projects is progressing, albeit in an uneven pattern, despite concerns over the subdued rate of economic growth," said Dodge Data and Analytics.

Union members' privacy threatened

A judge in Thurston Co. Washington has sided with the Freedom Foundation, granting the conservative think tank’s request for the release of tens of thousands of names, emails, and birthdays of unionized state workers. Lawyers for the state labor unions failed to convince Judge Mary Sue Wilson that the request was a politically motivated invasion of privacy, but the release of names is being held up by a court injunction.

On its web site, the Freedom Foundation says it wants to “reverse the stranglehold public-sector unions have on our government.”

Freedom Foundation’s Director of Labor Policy Max Nelson said the group’s goal is to contact state workers and let them know they don’t have to pay their full union dues; they can pay a smaller amount called an agency fee that covers the costs of collective bargaining.

Union members are unhappy with the decision for obvious reasons: Their goal is “to go on a fishing expedition to be able to go to people’s homes,” an attorney for the labor unions said.

“They want to privatize the work we do and break our unions, give them out information, you better be kidding me,” AFSCME member Steve Hoffman said.

Lawyers for the labor unions will be filing an appeal. On Aug. 2, a state court of appeals temporarily blocked the public release of the names and contact information of Washington Federation of State Employees union members private information.

The order means that the state will not release private information about the union’s members  for “presumably not until at least sometime after Aug. 15,” said a union attorney. Tim Welch, a union spokesman, told the Sky Chronicle that the union’s members are “outraged... they don’t know why any group would need that information.”