Monthly Archives : March 2020

Governor’s News Conference 03/29/2020

by on 31 March 2020in Uncategorized

Governor Raimondo and Commerce Secretary, Stefan Pryor, on their daily update expressed their support of the efforts of the manufacturing community.  Manufacturers are taking the lead on how best to protect their employees and setting a high bar.  All manufacturers are working to meet the RI DOH protocols or surpass those requirements for a healthy workplace combating the spread of the coronavirus.  Below is the comments made by Secretary Pryor….

Commerce Secretary Pryor made the following announcement related to manufacturing during the daily televised press conference with Governor Raimondo on Sunday, March 29:

The Secretary thanked Rhode Island’s manufacturers and said, “you all have been incredible; the level of cooperation that our industrial leaders have been showing us has been phenomenal. The Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, led by Dave Chenevert in particular, has been an amazing partner. They are in the process of sending out a pledge for Rhode Island’s manufacturers to sign saying manufacturers are following best practices and the protocols of Rhode Island Department of Health, informed by [Federal guidance] and others. They are working hard to make sure all employers know about best practices including: spacing (ensuring all employees are working 6 feet apart, avoiding gatherings in areas including breakrooms and cafeterias, screening employees for symptoms, not allowing people to enter facilities or the work environment [whenever it can be avoided] including truck and delivery drivers) but of course treating all people with respect. These are the things RIMA and some of their partners like Polaris MEP and some key manufacturers have been doing with their own initiatives in collaboration with Governor Raimondo and us and we are so grateful.” The Secretary went on to say, “It is one of the reasons we have confidence, for now, we can continue manufacturing operations in Rhode Island. Thank you very, very much. We ask each and every manufacturer to be in touch with Rhode Island Manufacturers Association (RIMA) on this new pledge they will be asking you to review and sign.”

VIBCO Vibrators taking care of their employees during the COVID-19

by on 27 March 2020in Uncategorized

Owner: Karl Wadensten

Karl Wadensten is always taking care of his employees especially during the COVID-19 crisis. Karl hands out personnel hand sanitizer to everyone Courtesy of sons of Liberty Whiskey distiller. VIBCO Vibrators is getting out the personnel hand sanitizer to their workers and families.

Also, VIBCO Vibrators had Monroe dairy coming there for years and Roch’s produce as well once a week.

Now they have instituted to taking orders from their whole shop to keep them out of grocery stores. VIBCO Vibrators are paying for it now and they are delivering twice a week.  

Rhode Island Companies working together

Printable Assorted Sizes of Signs

by on 23 March 2020in Uncategorized

To help our members and other businesses at this time along with Meridian Printing we have made up PDF signs for use in your facility. Print them out & Laminate.

We also suggest that you do NOT let a driver making deliveries into your facility such as UPS, FedEx or a truck driver delivering items to your loading dock.

RIMA is here to help in any way we can.

COVID-19 Informational Poster 11×14

COVID-19 Informational Poster 11×17

Assorted business entry signs for visitors and drivers

SmartWork (Work From Home) Guidance

News from Smith Hill – March 2020

by on 3 March 2020in Uncategorized

State House has begun hearings on various legislation

We will monitor those pieces of legislation that will have a negative impact on our membership.  We have already testified at the House Finance Committee in support of Real Jobs and also in support of various programs being presented by CommerRI such as the RI ReBuild program.

  We have also met with the Speaker to review several pieces of legislation that we feel is against the interest of the manufacturing sector. Over the coming weeks, I plan on meeting with the Senate President and the House Finance Chair.  If you have any concerns on specific legislation, please do not hesitate to reach to us.

PMPA – March 2020

by on 2 March 2020in Uncategorized

New Joint Employer Rule

Fisher Phillips has provided the following  update on the new Joint
Employment Rule:

The National Labor Relations Board just published a final rule that will
soon fundamentally alter the definition of joint employment, making it more
difficult for businesses to be held legally responsible for alleged labor
law violations by staffing companies, franchisees, and other related
organizations. The rule will also limit the ability of employees from
affiliated companies to join together to form unions.

Once the rule is in place on April 27, the joint employment standard will be
completely overhauled. There are five key considerations employers should be
aware of regarding the implementation of the new standard.

  *   New Standard: Share Or Codetermine Essential Terms Or Conditions
  *   Substantial Direct And Immediate Control
  *   Certain Practices “Probative” But Not Necessarily Determinative
  *   Certain Practices “Probative” But Not Necessarily Determinative
  *   Totality Of Circumstances

Caution: even though this is a published rule, it could be subject to
actions to delay or block its implementation.
PMPA Thanks Fisher Phillips for keeping us current on Labor law changes like
this.

Complete  Fisher Phillips post here:
https://www.fisherphillips.com/resources-alerts-5-things-you-need-to-know-about
Rule itself:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-03373.
pdf
NLRB Notice:
https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/nlrb-issues-joint-employer-final-rule
NLRB Fact Sheet:
https://www.nlrb.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/basic-page/node-7581/fact-sheet-joint-employer-final-rule.pdf

Web-based resources you may find useful for your organization as you monitor, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak

by on 2 March 2020in Uncategorized

Please find a number of web-based resources you may find useful for your organization as you monitor, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak:

The primary websites for COVID-19-related information from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO):  

CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

A very important website to monitor for local interpretations and applications is the Rhode Island Department of Health: https://health.ri.gov/covid

The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Global Case Map shows all of the confirmed cases, recovered cases, and deaths due to COVID-19 across the world:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Below are several additional links that could be of interest to the members of RIABR:

GENERAL BUSINESS:
Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), February 2020: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/guidance-business-response.html

GENERAL PREVENTION:
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs): https://www.cdc.gov/nonpharmaceutical-interventions/index.html

OSHA  COVID-19 Guidance: 
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/novel_coronavirus/index.htmlexternal icon

TRAVEL:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 Information for Travel: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html

Travel Health Notices: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices

Department of State Travel Advisory Levels chart and color-coded map: https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap/

Prevent the Spread of the Flu and Other Viruses

by on 2 March 2020in Newsletter Articles

Because human coronaviruses most commonly spread through respiratory droplets, Rhode Islanders are reminded to take the same measures that healthcare providers recommend annually to prevent the spread of the flu and other viruses.

  • Get your flu shot, and make sure the people around you do the same.
  • Wash your hands often throughout the day. Use warm water and soap. If soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based hand gel.
  • Cough or sneeze into your elbow. Flu is spread through coughing or sneezing on other people or into your hands. Cover your coughs and sneezes to prevent others from getting sick.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.
  • Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious foods.
  • Keep surfaces (especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, and toys for children) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant.

The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. You should only wear a mask if a healthcare professional recommends it. A facemask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms. This is to protect others from the risk of getting infected. 

American Machinist – March 2020

by on 2 March 2020in Newsletter Articles

Enterprise
software developer IFS released a research study involving 600 ERP executives
and managers in a wide variety of business sectors worldwide, revealing that an
overwhelming majority — about 90% of the total — have some plans to implement
artificial intelligence (AI) in their organizations. Industrial automation us
the most likely object of AI investment, for 44.6% of the respondents; customer
relationship management (CRM) and inventory planning and logistics shared for
the second rank among respondents, at 38.9%.

Asked how
they plan to use AI, 60.6% of respondents reported they expect the technology
to help current workers to become more productive. Almost half of respondents,
47.9%, said they would use AI to add value to products and services they sell
to customers.

NAM – March 2020

by on 2 March 2020in Newsletter Articles

The
unemployment rate remained near 50-year lows, even after inching up from 3.5%
to 3.6%. Encouragingly, the rise in the unemployment rate stemmed from an
acceleration in the labor market participation rate, up from 63.2% to 63.4%,
the best reading since June 2013. Nonfarm payrolls increased by a solid 225,000
in January.

Yet, manufacturing employment fell by 12,000 workers in January, dropping for the third time in the past four months. Indeed, over that four-month time frame, hiring in the sector was essentially stagnant. That suggests that, while there have been some signs of stabilization in other indicators, manufacturing job growth has lagged that progress. We still expect to see improvements moving forward, especially considering greater trade certainty and some economic progress globally.

Along those lines, the Institute for Supply Management® reported that manufacturing activity rebounded, up from 47.8 in December to 50.9 in January, starting 2020 off on a stronger note after contracting for five straight months at the end of 2019.

New orders for manufactured goods rose 1.8% in December, skewed by significant gains for both defense aircraft and parts and ships and boats. Excluding defense sales, orders fell 0.6%. New orders for core capital goods-a proxy for capital spending in the U.S. economy-declined 0.8% in December. Nonetheless, core capital goods spending has risen 0.9% over the past 12 months, the best year-over-year reading since June.

The bulk of
the sentiment surveys and economic data described below predate recent worries
about the novel coronavirus outbreak. Manufacturers in the United States and
elsewhere are experiencing production disruptions and lost sales.

Nonetheless, the J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI expanded for the third straight month, rising to a nine-month high. Respondents were also the most upbeat in their assessments for future output since August 2018.

Eight of the
top 10 markets for U.S.-manufactured goods experienced stronger manufacturing
activity in January than in December, continuing the stabilization trend seen
in recent months.

After more
than three years of work, manufacturers began 2020 by focusing on the following
issues:

1. Applauding
final U.S. government approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement,
with full implementation expected later this year

2. Welcoming
signing of a “Phase One” U.S.-China deal while urging that intensive
talks continue on the many remaining issues as part of a broader bilateral
trade agreement

3. Working to
ensure that the seven-year reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank is
fully utilized by manufacturers across the country

4. Manufacturers
remain focused on several other important trade priorities:

5. Moving
forward a positive agenda at the critically important World Trade Organization

6. Securing
a strong Miscellaneous Tariff Bill in 2020 to eliminate tariffs on products not
produced or available in the United States

7. Monitoring
congressional activity relating to sanctions:

  • Manufacturing production edged down 0.1% in January after inching up by 0.1% in December. Overall, the data continued to reflect weakness in the sector, even as activity has stabilized somewhat in the past three months. Over the course of the past 12 months, manufacturing production has declined 0.8%, up from 1.3% year-over-year in the previous release.
  • Nonetheless, my forecast for manufacturing production growth in 2020 is currently 0.5%, representing some progress from essentially stagnant average annual growth in 2019.
  • Job openings in the manufacturing sector weakened once again. They went down from 381,000 in November to 360,000 in December, the slowest pace since May 2017. Despite softer data at the end of the year, manufacturing job postings remained elevated over much of 2019, averaging more than 462,000 per month, including the all-time high reached in June (515,000).