Union members urged to re-subscribe
The bitter five-and-a-half year labor dispute between the Detroit newspapers and their union employees was brought to a conclusion in December 2000, but thousands of former and potential subscribers have continued to keep the News and Free Press on their boycott list

Now, the Michigan AFL-CIO is urging union members in Michigan to help union workers at the papers by subscribing to the papers.

"Today I re-subscribed to the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press," said Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney, in an April 22 letter to affiliates. "I am now re-subscribing to assist the 2,500 union workers, retirees, and family members whose jobs and pensions depend on the success of the newspapers. The union workers have a new contract coming up, and we need to improve circulation so they can go into negotiations with a stronger hand."

Ups and downs due for building industry
The outlook for the nation's construction industry is "very uneven" in terms of volume and spending levels, said Associated General Contractors chief economist Ken Simonson, even as the general economy seems to be on the upswing.

Speaking to a convention of the AGC's national and regional contractors, he said there "is great variation" in the work outlook by industry segment. Consumers, he said, have continued to spend "as if there were no recession" and played a role in the expansion of the retail market.

As recorded in Construction Labor Report, Simonson said housing has continued its strong growth, with housing starts rising 2.8 percent in February. He said the federal government recently reported a two-month rise in industrial construction - the first two-month rise since 2000.

The outlook for federally government-funded construction is mixed, and state-funded construction is expected to drop over the next two years.

Ex-military personnel targeted by trades
Military personnel leaving the service are seen as an untapped resource for recruitment into the building trades.

According to the report by the AFL-CIO Building Trades Department, trades unions and contractors have a goal of recruiting 700,000 ex-military personnel to work in the construction industry, which would help meet the industry's anticipated shortfall of workers.

The recruitment effort would be funneled through the Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment and Veterans Employment, which is a nonprofit labor-management group that was started last fall.

Upon leaving the service, ex-military personnel could take advantage of the program, and undergo skills testing to determine how skills learned in the military could be used to obtain work in construction. Job candidates who are interested would be referred to a local union near where they live.