Flashings

Spring cleaning

If your piles of files have reached the ceiling and your e-mail account is filled to capacity, it may be time to do some spring cleaning in your office. Cleaning out e-mails, file folders and old handouts will give you more space and keep you organized. Following are some guidelines from Barbara Hemphill, organization expert, to help you figure out what should be trashed.

• Does the item require an action? Often, the papers you accumulate do not require action. Only keep the papers that require a response or filing.
  
  
• Is there a use for the information? If you believe that it has a use, determine whether it is a high priority or related to anything important.
  
  
• Can you get this information elsewhere? If it is something you can access on the Internet, from a specific organization or within your own organization, it most likely is not necessary to keep it.
  
  
• What is the worst-case scenario? If the information is absolutely vital for a client or for your job, by all means, keep it. But if it does not affect the livelihood of your work, trash it.

Source: Adapted from Spring-clean your crowded files from The Manager's Intelligence Report, April issue.

BASF product prices increase

On April 1, BASF Corp., Hudson Falls, N.J., increased its prices for all carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex products by 5 cents per dry pound in the United States and Canada. These products are supplied to industries such as construction, adhesives and architectural coatings and include brands such as Butofan,® Styrofan® and Styronal.®

In addition, BASF increased the prices for all acrylic and styrene-acrylic latex products by 6 cents per wet pound. Butanol products are supplied to industries such as the construction, adhesives and architectural coatings industries.

Defining small business

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Small Business Association (SBA) recently has been involved in a debate among advocacy groups, politicians and business owners about modifying and simplifying the existing size standards for small businesses. Size standards determine whether a business can participate in SBA programs, such as loans and disaster recovery.

The current standards are based on employee count or average annual revenue, depending on the industry. SBA believes "small" can vary from industry to industry, and its belief has been that a revenue-based standard is more accurate in some industries because some businesses require more employees to compete in their industries.

SBA proposed standard restructuring during summer 2004 but withdrew it when it was met with criticism, especially because an estimated 34,000 small businesses immediately would have lost their small-business status. SBA has suggested streamlining to 10 the number of size standard levels and tossing revenue-based size standards.

SBA has been soliciting input from the public and asking questions, including whether it should use a revenue-based system, how SBA should define an employee for size standards and whether it should create standards solely for procurement programs. It also has asked the question of including a "grandfather provision" to cushion businesses that lose their status. SBA has received 4,500 comments, and the American Small Business League has filed 3,850 of those.

For more information, visit www.sba.gov/size.

Fight your fears

Everyone has fears—fear of failure, fear of spiders, fear of clowns. Although it can be healthy to be afraid sometimes, it can become a problem if your fears start to control your decisions and your life.

Following are five common fears and some ways to try to overcome them:

• Fear of ridicule—Most people fear others will laugh at them, leading to insecurity and timidity. Don't worry so much about what other people think. Reject fear, and speak your mind.
  
  
• Fear of losing success—People who are successful tend to take more risks because they assume they will continue to be successful. People at the bottom also tend to take more risks because they have nothing to lose. People in the middle often fear losing all they have worked to achieve. Keep working hard, and don't worry so much about what you could lose.
  
  
• Fear of rejection—Many people are afraid others will reject who they are, especially when their ideas are rejected. It is important to separate your ideas from yourself—just because your idea was rejected does not mean you were rejected.
  
  
• Fear of the unknown—Many of us wish we could consult a crystal ball to discover how a situation will turn out. But being afraid to do something because you are unsure of what the outcome will be won't get you anywhere. Uncertainty is a part of life and taking risks.
  
  
• Fear of revealing your weaknesses—People often fear others will find them to be inadequate or stupid if they try something and it doesn't work. Be brave—trying is key.

Source: Adapted from Jump Start Your Brain as cited by First Draft, May issue.

NRCA and the Asphalt Institute win media award

NRCA and the Asphalt Institute were honored with the 2004 Association TRENDS Silver Award for their Safe Handling of Hot Asphalt DVD/workbook at the All-Media Contest in Washington, D.C. Winners were recognized for excellence in association publishing and communication design.

The safety program demonstrates best practices for safely handling loading, transporting, unloading and storing hot asphalt. NRCA developed, directed and produced the safety video, and NRCA Associate Executive Director of Education and Risk Management Tom Shanahan and NRCA Manager of Education Programs Peter Greenbaum attended the awards program on behalf of NRCA.

For more information about the video program, visit the Asphalt Institute's Web site at www.asphaltinstitute.org.

AFL-CIO pushes union to rejoin

AFL-CIO executive council has given the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America a July deadline to decide whether it will rejoin or be ousted from the federation's affiliate Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD). The 530,000-member union must decide by AFL-CIO's July convention.

Union President Douglas J. McCarron withdrew from AFL-CIO in 2001 after disagreeing with the federation's leadership views and organization. AFL-CIO's constitution requires unions to be members of the federation to retain involvement in an industry division, such as BCTD. Federation leaders were hoping negotiations would bring the union back to federation membership.

However, John J. Sweeney, president of AFL-CIO, is involved in disagreements with other unions about such topics as organization. At AFL-CIO's winter council meeting in March, unions proposed slashing the federation's budget by $35 million and returning funds to individual unions—a move that was rebuffed. Instead, labor leaders supported Sweeney's plan to increase spending on political and legislative programs to $45 million, as well as allocating $15 million, or 17 percent of dues, to underwrite organizing efforts.

Sweeney is determined to uphold the federation rules that require federation membership for involvement in department membership.