NJ TEENS ELIGIBLE TO WORK 50 HRS PER WEEK OVER SUMMER
OSHA SAFE + SOUND WEEK
CLASS C OPERATOR TRAINING MADE EASY
NJGCA CENSUS
SEMA/AAPEX CONFERENCE 11/2 - 11/5
I want to bring to your attention a large and incredible learning experience for auto mechanics to participate in with NJGCA. As issues in auto repair continue to become more and more difficult in the future, we want our members to be better prepared to run professional shops. All shop owners should be aware of industry week held in Las Vegas the first week of November every year, and many of you may already attend the SEMA/AAPEX shows. For the past few years, I have attended with our president Joe Ocello and found the conferences to produce incredibly informative seminars. We think it's more important than ever that NJGCA shop owners attend and participate in this conference that is being held November 2-5, 2021. I am hoping to organize a social activity including a fine dining experience for all members and their spouses who are attending the conference to be sponsored by NJGCA.
If you register for SEMA you are automatically registered for AAPEX and vice versa. There are thousands of rooms available all over the city depending on your preference and budget. I'm encouraging those of you who are interested to begin looking into this now as we put together the details of what NJGCA sponsored events we will organize. It will be nice to bring shop owners together in a social and informative environment. More details will be forthcoming.
CYBERSECURITY WEBINAR
I want to thank Thereasa Barker-Figueroa of the New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) for taking the time to put together an extremely informative webinar for our members on cybersecurity and avoiding hacks. If you are an avid reader of this newsletter, then you know that this is an issue dominating national news and everyone is vulnerable. Members can listen to the recording HERE and you can also access the slides HERE as well.
RIGHT TO REPAIR
We're still waiting for a decision from the federal court regarding the Massachusetts Right to Repair legislation, but remain confident the court will rule in favor of auto repair shops. The right to repair issue will mandate manufacturers to share all vehicle technical information with the owners of the vehicle or a shop that they designate. One of the most egregious offenders of the right to repair law is the John Deere tractor company. They have caused great burdens to small farmers trying to get their tractors repaired. Because of their egregious practices, Pres Biden is intervening and you can read his statement HERE. In his statement, he said he intends to issue an executive order to address right to repair concerns for tractors. It will further call on the Federal Trade Commission to address repair barriers that are erected by manufacturers. Of course, the auto industry takes the position that the same rules should apply to car manufacturers and independent auto repair shops. Helping to prove our case is Tesla, where even a simple fix can cost a motorist thousands of dollars due to part availability and construction. You can read more about it by clicking HERE. Continuous bad behavior on the part of manufacturers eventually will help us get the laws changed to prevent this.
EMV CREDIT CARD CHARGEBACKS
We continue to hear from members that they are receiving chargebacks from the major credit card companies because a proper EMV chip reader credit card terminal was not used to process the credit card sale. Of course the best way to eliminate this problem is to make sure your credit card processing equipment in your shop, store, or at the pumps is EMV compliant. Retailers are receiving chargebacks without any explanation or information regarding the sale that caused the chargeback. Retailers are simply receiving a debit from their account sating it was due to fraud. We are looking in to this problem further as we are learning it is becoming a big problem nationwide with all retailers. Please contact us with any information regarding chargebacks that you have received without explanation or info: michelle@njgca.org.
TEEN SUMMER WORK
I'm not sure if this will help or not knowing how tough it is to find young people who want to work at all, however, if you do find one they are now permitted to work longer hours without running afoul of the Department of Labor. This is only during the summer months and ends on Labor Day. Hopefully this will help business owners find help during the busy summer months amidst a national labor shortage.
OSHA SAFE + SOUND
According to OSHA, every year more than 5,000 workers are killed on the job (a rate of 14 per day), and more than 3.6 million suffer a serious job-related injury or illness. In order to highlight the importance of having health and safety plans in the workplace, OSHA is continuing their Safe + Sound campaign week (August 9-15, 2021). It is important for all business owners to have safety and health programs in order to be prepared for unknown circumstances. Safety and health programs can improve performance, save money, and improve competitiveness in businesses. Further, as you know, the annual dividends that are paid back to NJGCA members are based on the overall safety record of NJGCA members participating in the program. You save for being safe! NJGCA has a long standing safety dividend program for members that purchase their Workers Compensation Insurance with Ameritrust thru the Amato Agency. Check out these resources from OSHA for more information on health and safety programs and their Safe + Sound campaign.
CLASS C OPERATOR TRAINING
It is so important now that things are picking up again from the pandemic that you make sure you have a Class C Operator on site at all times!
Who is considered a Class C Operator? Anyone and everyone working at your location! This program is not only designed to teach the basics of Underground Storage Tanks, but also what to do in the event of an emergency, safety precautions around hazardous substances, what to do if there is a spill, understanding alarms, and more!
We made this as easy as possible for both you and the trainee: we provide all the 'proof of training' documents you need in order to be in compliance with DEP, send you a certificate of completion after passing our training, and archive all records.
Be sure to follow directions closely. You will need to register your location first and purchase the test for each employee you wish to certify, then make sure to pass the relevant information on to your employees to take the training and test.
ClickHERE to access the registration site and get your location in compliance today!
NJGCA CENSUS
Our census project continues, please be cooperative if you are called to verify information. We want to be especially sure we are capturing geographical information in order to contact every legislator that may represent you at both home and business. We also need to be sure we have correct email addresses in order to send you fast and timely information to keep you updated. We want to have every available means to contact members in the event of another emergency such as Superstorm Sandy. We have not updated this information in many years, and having this accurate info will be helpful to us when we communicate with you and legislators. Please be cooperative when you are called.
In order to make this process as seamless as possible for you, we have also created an online version to complete this information yourself. You are permitted to fill out the information online or wait to be called by staff. Please be sure you are completing the entire survey, as each question contains data that could be used to help persuade legislators.
Texas has seen a rash of nighttime thefts of automated teller machines (ATMs) by organized teams that pry and pull the machines off of their foundations, force them open, then make off with the cash. Security experts say ATM smash-and-grabs are increasing in other states, reports KrebsOnSecurity.com. Last year, Travelers insurance registered a 220% bump in claims for ATM theft damage in 2020 over 2019, NACS Daily reported in February.
Yesterday, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York proposed legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level amid a growing push to legalize cannabis, reports the New York Times. Called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, the draft bill proposes to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and begin regulating and taxing it, creating federal rules for the growing industry. States would still be allowed to devise their own marijuana laws, but businesses and individuals in states that have legalized the use of marijuana would be free to sell and consume it without the risk of federal punishment.
European officials are preparing to introduce ambitious legislation designed to wean one of the world's biggest and most polluting economies off fossil fuels far more quickly than other nations have pledged to do. The proposals could include phasing out coal as an electricity source as well as imposing tariffs on polluting imports - an idea with the potential to set off global trade disputes. The European Commission's package of around a dozen legislative proposals, expected on Wednesday, is designed to swiftly reduce the emissions of planet-warming gases and meet an ambitious climate goal, already enshrined in law: The 27-nation bloc has said it will cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by 55 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. The legislation is expected to be in sharp contrast to vague aspirations by various other countries to neutralize their emissions by midcentury.
An SUV caught fire at a gas pump at a New Jersey Turnpike service area on Monday afternoon, according to police. The fire at the Sunoco station at the Richard Stockton service area on the southbound side near Exit 7A around 1:35 p.m. sent a plume of black smoke that could be seen for miles, according to State Police Trooper Charles Marchan.
Back in January, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that would spread out a looming $1 billion UI payroll tax increase - resulting from a large, pandemic-based draw of the state's UI Trust Fund - over three years, instead of all at once. Under the law, New Jersey's UI tax rate was supposed to increase from Column B to Column C in Fiscal Year 2022, which started on July 1. But no word came to employers, payroll providers or to NJBIA from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development before, during or after July 1 passed. On Thursday, however, NJBIZ quoted a DOLWD spokesperson as saying those increases will not go into effect until Oct. 30. She also noted that rate notices will be sent out to employers in the near future.
The Democratic governor ushered four bills into law focused on increasing solar energy and building more infrastructure for electric vehicles in the Garden State. Murphy said the measures are part of his administration's goal to get 50% of its power from clean sources by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
President Biden will push federal regulators to crack down on noncompete clauses, occupational licensing requirements and other measures that administration officials say hurt workers' ability to pursue better jobs, as part of a broad executive order meant to bolster competition across the economy. The efforts to increase competition in the labor market, according to a person familiar with them, will be detailed in an order issued in the coming days. The order will encourage the Federal Trade Commission to ban or limit noncompete agreements, which employers have increasingly used in recent years to try to inhibit their workers' ability to quit for a better job. It encourages the commission to also ban "unnecessary" occupational licensing restrictions, which can restrict workers' ability to find new work, especially across state lines. And it encourages both the commission and the Justice Department to further restrict the ability of employers to share information on worker pay in ways that might amount to collusion. More broadly, the executive order encourages antitrust regulators to consider the ways that mergers might contribute to monopsonies, or industries in which workers have few choices of where to work and therefore lack leverage to negotiate higher wages or better benefits.
Since last August, merchandise deliveries to Square One Markets in Pennsylvania have been delayed at least 10 times, usually for about 24 hours. The reason: There was no driver available to make the delivery. . . Talk to people in the trucking industry, and they'll tell you there is no shortage of truck drivers. "That's a myth," said Norita Taylor, public relations director for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a Missouri-based organization that advocates for the rights of independent truckers. "What's going on is high turnover in the long-haul sector of trucking," she said. "If you look at the number put out by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), they report extremely high turnover-sometimes 90% or higher. If you have high turnover, you don't have a shortage. You have a surplus. But you're not retaining them."
Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.
Parts For Sale: Incon TS-1000 tank monitor works well just taken out of service. Printer is aprox 2 months old. Also, Incon 8, tank probes. System replaced because on an Exxon upgrade. Call John Twin Towers Exxon (201) 224-8444
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