MLA Area Meetings

 Register Today!

MLA is offering a series of meetings to update you on critical industry issues and legal concerns everyone should know. An attorney from the law offices of Seigfreid, Bingham, Levy, Selzer & Gee will be on hand to present important information for dealers – customer credit issues, wage and hour, succession planning, and more – and to answer your questions.

We’re taking our “show on the road” and will be in these cities on the dates shown. Meetings will begin at 10:30 a.m., will include lunch, and will be over at 2:00 p.m.

March 23 – Garden City

March 24 – Hays

March 25 – Kansas City

March 30 – Wichita

March 31 – Oklahoma City

April 1 – Joplin

April 6 – Jonesboro

April 7 – Hot Springs

April 20 – Moberly

April 21 – St. Louis

April 22 – Jefferson City

Click here for a registration form, then complete and return today. We hope to see everyone at an area meeting this spring!

COST OF DOING BUSINESS STUDY

Sign Up Now and Get the Reports You Need

The “Cost of Doing Business” survey has changed. We’ve gone web-based along with other LBM associations to make entry easier, to make comparisons both regional and nationwide, and to provide immediate results. But, you need to act quickly as all data must be entered by April 1. Results will be available on April 2.

A brief video demonstration of the BMOC program is available at http://financials.gocsa.com/Tutorials/Overview/

Features of the BMOC program include:

·         Web-based program with easy data entry. Definitions are provided for categories so that analysis makes “apples to apples” comparisons.

·         System auto-computes many numbers and highlights potential errors to prevent typographical errors from ruining analysis.

·         A secure environment that conforms to the high SSL standards required for e-commerce. Passwords are encrypted. Information is stored on a server that is ISO9001 compliant.

·         More than 80 charts and graphs, many with industry benchmarks and tags showing which way you want your data to be trending.

·         Ability to store your data from year to year, allowing you to see how you have improved (or not) over time.

·         Created and managed by regional Lumber and Building Material associations dealers trust. The data is safe, secure and confidential.

·         Combines cost studies and salary surveys into one program for less time and expense.

Cost for MLA members to participate in the program is $200. Click here for a downloadable registration form. All data must be entered into the system by April 1, and the final results will be available to participants on April 2.

UPDATE ON EFCA

In an effort to show that the reported demise of card-check and government mandated binding arbitration have been much exaggerated, the White House has recently renewed its full support for Big Labor’s number one legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act.

Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden addressed the AFL-CIO’s winter meeting in Florida and told the attendees, “In the fight for EFCA, we’ve got to sit down and figure out where we go from here….I think we’re going to get it done.”  You can read more here.

Last week, the White House’s “Middle Class Task Force” released its annual report for 2009. The report highlights EFCA as a tool for helping the “middle class,” stating:

“The Administration has supported the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) as a way to rebalance the union organizing playing field. In our policy work and events, as well as in various statements by the Vice President, the Task Force has consistently stressed the importance of EFCA as well. This support stems from our diagnosis that one underappreciated reason for the negative trends portrayed in our economic analysis of middle-class families is the loss of worker bargaining power.

Over the course of this year, the Task Force will continue to promote the benefits of union membership and to amplify the President’s message of the importance of EFCA as a way to guarantee workers who want to organize a fair chance to do so.”

You can access the Task Force’s report here.

While posturing by the White House and others won’t be able to produce 60 votes in the Senate, this renewed push by the Obama Administration reminds us that we’re not out of the woods yet and EFCA remains the top priority for Big Labor and its allies in Washington.

Source: Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), March 2, 2010