Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/724035
16 • September 2016 www.concreteproducts.com NEWS SCOPE READY MIXED Texas-based U.S. Concrete, Inc. continues a New York City market roll up, closing last month on asset transactions involving Jenna Concrete Corp., Bronx, and Kings Ready Mix, Brooklyn. With two plants and 52-mixer fleet, Jenna Concrete has established a presence over 25 years, supplying ready mixed to commercial and residential building projects in its Bronx home base and the neighboring borough of Man- hattan. Kings Ready Mix runs 60-plus mixers from four plants, and maintains a leading stake in non-union, low- and mid-rise building jobs across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. "We remain committed to purchasing and integrating well-located ready mixed concrete producers with great underlying businesses and reputations," says U.S. Concrete CEO William Sandbrook. "[The Jenna] acquisition further demonstrates our ability to strengthen leadership positions in our markets, [and] will offer significant opportunities to leverage our expanded customer base and delivery efficiencies." "The combination of Kings and U.S. Concrete should allow for additional project diversity on an expanded customer base while delivering concrete more efficiently through enhanced logistics, streamlined operations, and other cost-saving efforts," he adds. The Jenna Concrete and Kings Ready Mix plant and fleet assets join a Big Apple portfolio that U.S. Concrete has significantly strengthened in the past 18 months through Ferrara Bros. Build- ing Materials, Greco Brothers and Nycon Supply deals. They have helped replicate east of the Hudson River a strong footprint that U.S. Concrete's legacy Eastern Concrete Materials business maintains in northern New Jersey. U.S. Concrete burrows deeper into the Big Apple via Jenna, Kings deals Jenna Concrete serves commercial and infrastructure markets. DRIVERS RATIFY CENTRAL CONCRETE AGREEMENT International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 853 in Oakland, Calif., reached a four-year agreement with major San Francisco Bay Area ready mixed producers Central Concrete Supply, a U.S. Concrete com- pany, and Cemex USA. It covers 640 drivers at plants in Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties. The union presented the pro- ducers' offer to rank & file in mid August, noting how a marathon bargaining session had yielded a contract containing "significant wage and benefit increases while holding fast on other terms and conditions the employers attempted to modify." Local 853 officials report that a) drivers were prepared to begin picketing the employers' ready mixed facilities if the negotiations did not settle the areas of contention; and, b) a strike would have shut down concrete work from Santa Clara County into Solano County, including many San Francisco commercial and public jobs, plus various Silicon Valley sites. A mixer driver work stoppage would likewise have affected most other building trades. "Our members spoke loud and clear concerning the [initial] offer, and although a decent economic offer, it had some areas regarding working conditions that our members were not ready to accept," says IBT Vice President and Northern California Teamsters Joint Council President Rome Aloise. "A long session with the employers was held in a last ditch attempt to prevent what would have been a devastating work stoppage for many people and construction sites. We reached a settlement that our bargaining committee endorsed unanimously." PHOTO: Jenna Concrete Corp.