Swore I would quit whining about the antics of our federal government and get back to more topical roofing issues but the hits just keep on coming. 

Swore I would quit whining about the antics of our federal government and get back to more topical roofing issues but the hits just keep on coming.

Had the good fortune of attending the Florida Roofing & Sheet Metal Contractors Association (FRSA) convention last week. There I heard a speech by my good friend, Allen Lancaster. Allen is president and CEO of Metalcrafts, Inc., Savannah, Ga., and newly-installed president of the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA). Allen had a lot of good things to say, but one I made note of was his mention of Executive Order 13496: Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws.

The Order states, in part:

“Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to inform employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector. See 29 CFR Part 471. The notice, prescribed in the Department of Labor's regulations, informs employees of Federal contractors and subcontractors of their rights under the NLRA to organize and bargain collectively with their employers and to engage in other protected concerted activity.”

You can get all the details online beginning here:www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/EO13496.htm

I am not against worker rights and I am not against the government having rules for contractors covering the conduct of business with our money. But even the administration knows the nation’s economy is in a recession. Some economists continue to predict a “double-dip” recession. Someone needs to tell my why this is a good time to add costs to federal jobs (by way of adding regulations that federal contractors must comply with). This simply is not a good time.

So now that there is less tax revenue coming in the Feds have decided to add more costs to the construction work they purchase on our behalf. Not enough they have to interfere with our businesses and lives, now they have turned the weapon on us by way of themselves. This is almost as creepy as the government spending our money to promote itself. For instance, I wonder what this cost us: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpzPVaJC8A0