Southeast Area Team Report

Work in the Southeast Region of the Council has been very positive throughout the spring and summer months. It looks like the work will continue to be strong up to the end of 2011. We currently have less than 3% unemployment in the area.

Our industrial shops overall are seeing an increase in orders; some have recalled all the members who were previously laid off due to the economy and some are now in the hiring mode. The one shop that is most closely connected to the housing market still hasn't seen a rebound.

We have two nuclear outages scheduled for this fall, one at Peach Bottom Power Plant and the other at Three Mile Island. These outages will run back to back. This will give our members extended hours of work because they will be able to go from one outage to the next.

In our 6 month work outlook we have several projects that will take us out to the end of the year: Holtwood Power Plant, Accelor-Mittal Steel plant, Hershey's Children's Hospital, Hershey Foods Addition, Deka Batteries warehouse, a fourth floor addition to the Pinnacle Health Hospital, and the Blue Mountain Turnpike Plaza. Clark Construction has the Plaza and will be using union subs to do the carpenter work.

Our 12 month work outlook shows some work that will be let out in the next 12 months. Two projects we have that will continue for at least the next 12 months are the Goggle Works Apartments in Reading and the Cooling Tower maintenance package at Peach Bottom that will begin in January. The Swatara Plaza Project will be coming out for bid in the next 12 months – it is a large, mixed-use project consisting of retail shops, large box stores and hotels.

We have been targeting Patient First Medical Centers in our area. We plan on handbilling and bannering their next grand opening in Mechanicsburg. We will be handbilling the grand opening of the new Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse. We bannered a Warfel Construction project in Harrisburg, and we will be meeting with the owner of the project shortly to discuss the work they have planned. We are planning on bannering all of Warfel's projects in the area throughout the upcoming weeks.

Mike Platt, Team Leader – Southeast Area