The National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee Inc.'s Owner Advisory Committee held its annual planning meeting on March 31st at the British Petroleum Husky Refinery in Oregon, Ohio to discuss recent industry trends and work hour forecasts for the coming year, and their potential impact on the NMAPC program in 2010.

Twelve of the thirteen committee members attended, along with NMAPC Labor Co-Chair Brent Booker, Management Co-Chair Bob Hoover, NMAPC Director of Industrial Relations Dan Hogan and NMAPC Impartial Secretary/CEO Steve Lindauer.

Companies represented at the meeting included:

Allegheny Energy, Inc.

Ameren Corporation

American Electric Power

Bayer Corporation

BP Products North America, Inc.

Chrysler, LLC

FirstEnergy Corp.

Ford Motor Company

General Motors Corporation

Public Service Enterprise Group

RRI Energy Inc.

United States Steel Corporation

The Owner Advisory Committee (OAC) was developed by the NMAPC to facilitate a more open and direct exchange amongst all stakeholders through a national tripartite forum. As its name suggests, the OAC acts in an advisory capacity, giving the labor and contractor representatives a valuable perspective of the industry and broad economic trends that impact the owners' budgeting decisions. Although the committee is still relatively new, the NMAPC is enthusiastic about its long-term benefits.

The majority of committee members reported that they worked with reduced capital budgets last year, resulting in the delay of many maintenance and improvement projects at their facilities. The consensus was that this general trend would continue throughout 2010 with an emphasis on costs, although conditions were expected to improve slightly.

Members also pointed out that projects placed on the back burner to meet dramatically reduced operating budgets will eventually have to be addressed, and once they are, the labor demand will potentially rise to a level similar to what the U.S. experienced in 2006 and 2007.

The OAC's next meeting will be held June 8th at the NMAPC Second Quarter Labor Management Meetings in Annapolis, Maryland.

April 02, 2010