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Older Issues

The Building Tradesman Newspaper Editions

Report touts benefits of union training vs. nonunion or college

Date: May-12-2017

LANSING - With an aging industry workforce losing workers to retirement, and a strong, long-term forecast for good employment opportunities in most of the state, the unionized construction industry in...

Trades assemble body shop at GM Flint campus

Date: May-12-2017

FLINT - There is much left to do, but the end is in sight for the years-long, extreme makeover of General Motors' massive Flint Assembly Plant campus. General contractor Barton...

GOP House OKs comp time for overtime

Date: May-12-2017

WASHINGTON (PAI)—Ignoring strong objections from the AFL-CIO and committee Democrats, the U.S. House of Representatives on May 2 approved the latest version of a favorite GOP cause, forcing workers into...

News Briefs

Date: May-12-2017

State jobless rate drops; others do too  Michigan's unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.1 percent in March - not bad, but other states are doing better. That's why Michigan's unemployment...

Strong '17 first quarter for U.S. construction spending

Date: May-12-2017

Construction spending was at record levels for the second straight month in March and is up 4.9 percent for the first three months of year compared to the same period...

Trades like Trump's buy American order

Date: May-12-2017

WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump issued an executive order on April 18, calling for "buy American" provisions when it comes to federal contracting and hiring.  The order looks to...

'Ideological nonsense' - Mackinac Center issues bogus link of right-to-work with higher wages

Date: Apr-28-2017

Earlier this month the West Michigan Policy Forum circulated a media release citing a Mackinac Center for Public Policy report linking residents' higher incomes with the state's right-to-work law, which...

Trades clearing the deck on Rouge River Bridge revamp

Date: Apr-28-2017

DETROIT - After 50 years of having its concrete deck broken down by trucks of 18 wheels or more, road salt, and the freeze-and-thaw cycle, the I-75 Rouge River Bridge...

Trump's first 100 days a boon for business; labor, not so much

Date: Apr-28-2017

Just call it the corporate wish list. In the first three months of total Republican control in the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump and the GOP-run Congress have either solicited,...

Fix health care? First let's fix prescription drug system

Date: Apr-28-2017

By Paul O. Catenacci, Esq. Novara Tesija, P.L.L.C. In early March, Congressional Republicans unveiled their proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act, titled the American Health Care Act (“AHCA”).  The...