Mechanical Insulators LMCT Executive Director Pete Ielmini opened his monthly appearance on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast with an update on the Federal Mechanical Insulation Act.
The FMIA was created to ensure energy efficiency. If passed, it will require all federal building energy audits to include mechanical insulation.
The other bill, the Mechanical Insulation Installation Incentive Act, if passed, will create more jobs for those in the mechanical insulation industry and promote better mechanical insulation installation across the country.
According to Ielmini, the FMIA was originally planned to go before Congress in 2024. Now, both legislative bills must be re-introduced and go through the committee review process again.
“We feel confident because the bills are about real efficiency,” Ielmini said. “It should get some looks from both Republicans and Democrats.”
Ielmini added that one of the issues the FMIA has is of 88 previous cosigners, 25 percent are Republicans. In order to proceed, more Republicans need to support the bill.
“We need proper support from both sides of the aisle,” Ielmini said. “That’s how you get results. You need to work with both sides to get to the finish line.”
Construction Users Roundtable
AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc then asked Ielmini about the annual Construction Users Roundtable event.
CURT is an event for construction contractors and organizations that are related to engineering and jobsite control,
“We want to use these trade shows to have a presence and make people realize that mechanical insulation is something that’s needed in their buildings and we have to make that presence known,” Ielmini said.
Ielmini then talked about the report that was released by the Independent Project Analysis.
The study compared union labor and non-union labor and concluded performance was 14 percent higher with the union labor rates with a cost savings of 10 percent.
This is because the union workforce is more educated, more skilled and more organized than the non-union workers.
“We’re going to use this report to show our customers if you want to be efficient with how you spend your money, you want to use a union contractor that’s going to utilize union labor,” Ielmini said.
Listen to the full interview here.