Even the strongest among us can fall: to exhaustion, to despair, to the weight of the fight. But in this union, we don’t leave any member behind.
In the third episode of Talking SMART, we’re joined by Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) Administrator Aldo Zambetti and Jeremy Holburn of the SMOHIT Helpline, a 24/7 helpline that SMART members and families can call whenever they need support (1-877-884-6227). Brothers Zambetti and Holburn talk about the SMART Member Assistance Program (MAP), the resources available to members and local unions when it comes to mental health support, the importance of talking about your own experiences with mental health, and much more.
“We spent so much time dealing with on-the-job safety, workplace safety [in the past], and we sort of stayed away from work-life balance, we stayed away from things that make us not so safe. When we’re dealing with emotions, and depression, and anxiety, and any time of mental situation or emotional situation that we might be going through, and how it affects us on the jobsite.”
This season of Talking SMART focuses exclusively on mental health and the resources available to SMART members and their families. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast program.
This season of Talking SMART focuses exclusively on mental health and the resources available to SMART members. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast program.
Talking SMART brings listeners the voice, stories and power of SMART union members across North America. Members are invited to send feedback and questions to info@smart-union.org.
Nearly 500 SMART sisters and allies from across North America traveled to Chicago, Ill., for Tradeswomen Build Nations — the world’s largest gathering of tradeswomen — from September 19-21, 2025. Alongside more than 6,000 fellow union workers, SMART members and leaders put the power of solidarity on full display: building connections across trades, learning in breakout sessions and marching through the streets of Chicago in the annual banner parade.
“I first went to Tradeswomen Build Nations 10 years ago,” said SMART Local 17 Business Development Rep. and International Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner during the annual SMART caucus. “There were 38 people in the SMART caucus.
“Now we’re nearly 500 strong.”
SMART attendees posed for a picture following the SMART caucus.
Speakers to tradeswomen: This movement is here to stay
TWBN 2025 featured a series of plenary sessions throughout the weekend, with a number of speakers whose presence and remarks illustrated the work-changing work of union women.
“I never thought at the first conference I went to in Oakland, California … that we’d wind up in a room with 6,000-plus people,” he said. “Today we stand here, thousands strong, and this movement is changing our entire industry.”
“This year’s theme says it loud and clear: She’s not waiting. She’s leading. That’s a statement of fact,” McGarvey added.
Thanks to the activism and leadership of generations of tradeswomen, building trades unions have made incredible progress across the United States and Canada, McGarvey said. Specifically referencing SMART’s Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) initiative, alongside broader industry progress on correctly fitting PPE, lean-in circles and more, he praised the courage that union tradeswomen have brought to the fight to grow and improve the construction industry.
“Recruiting and retaining women isn’t just a feel-good sentiment. It’s crucial strategy,” he said.
Union tradeswomen, along with working-class families across North America, are facing attacks on the progress we have made. The most notable example is 2025’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” set to negatively impact SMART members’ jobs and health care costs. When politicians delay or cancel projects, threaten project labor agreements and prevailing wages, or pass laws that benefit the ultra-wealthy, McGarvey noted, those laws hurt all of us: women, unions and families. In response, it’s up to all of us to fight back.
“We cannot and we will not back down. Not now, not ever,” McGarvey declared. “Sisters and allies, let’s keep changing lives for the better. Don’t wait for permission.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler spoke about the importance of recognizing the power and influence we all have, and using that influence to change our world for the better. In a world full of influencers — whether on TV, TikTok or behind the scenes in DC or Ottawa — it’s more important than ever for trailblazing union tradeswomen to tell their stories and to influence family members, friends and entire nations.
“I just want to say that everyone in this room is an influencer,” Shuler said. “You have the power to influence each other, those around you and your communities.”
When one tradeswoman blazes a trail in her local union, her industry or her community, and then tells her story for all to hear, it changes things for the better, Shuler explained. When we spread the word about the life-changing careers that are available in the sheet metal industry, we do more than help people find meaningful, family-sustaining work. We strengthen our union, and we build better communities in the process.
That is especially crucial now, as we see the end of pro-worker funding for infrastructure projects and clean energy jobs, and the beginning of policies that raise costs for working people in order to benefit the richest people in America.
“We’re in the middle of a tough moment right now,” Shuler said. “Forget about politics and who you voted for, I want to talk about common sense.”
It’s not common sense to cut funding for apprenticeship programs when we need more people in the trades, she noted. It’s not common sense to cut programs that benefit working families in order to fund tax breaks for the Jeff Bezoses of the world. It’s up to us, Shuler said, to bring common sense back into the equation. She urged tradeswomen and allies to show up to union meetings, city councils and school boards, to talk to their family at Thanksgiving, to spread the word about the anti-worker actions impacting all of us, and to forge community and solidarity across our two nations.
“Today, more than anyone else … union women are the ones who can rebuild that trust,” Shuler said, adding: “Union women: We are EXACTLY what this country needs. … I’m so proud to be marching alongside you.”
Sisters and allies also heard from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has defined his time in Springfield with strong, pro-union policies. Describing Illinois’ rich labor history — from the Haymarket affair, to the Pullman Strike, to the thousands of tradeswomen who converged on Chicago for TWBN — Pritzker explicitly tied that history to the leadership of union sisters: “The women of organized labor have helped drive the progress we’ve made for workers throughout our state’s history. … women have been taking the lead.”
With the support of union women and organized labor, Pritzker said, his administration has passed laws and programs that specifically benefit union construction workers. Illinois enacted the largest state infrastructure bill in the nation in 2019, with strong labor standards included to put union members to work. But that wasn’t all: Alongside the infrastructure package, the state created the Illinois Works Jobs Program, designed to support women starting their careers in the trades and to address the obstacles tradeswomen face, such as childcare.
“I’m very proud to tell you that the number of women enrolled in pre-apprenticeships in Illinois has tripled since 2017,” Pritzker declared.
Just recently, in response to threats to project labor agreements and prevailing wages at the federal level, he signed a bill into law stating that when federal construction projects are managed by a state or local government, and the Illinois prevailing wage is higher than the federal rate, workers on that project will get paid the higher state wage. And in 2022, Illinois voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers’ the right to organize and collectively bargain.
“No right-to-work law will ever see the light of day in the state of Illinois!” Pritzker bellowed to thunderous applause.
Union members are facing uncertain times in the United States, he said. That’s why it’s crucial that union tradeswomen refuse to back down.
“You are showing the next generation of young women that they, too, belong on the jobsite and at the bargaining table,” Pritzker concluded.
SMART sister Ashley Deschenes speaks during the 2025 TWBN Conference.
Sisters and allies gather for SMART caucus
At every TWBN, the SMART caucus brings SMART sisters and allies together to build solidarity, hear from the International Women’s Committee and build a stronger union for our collective future. Tradeswomen Build Nations 2025 was no different, with SMART sisters and allies gathering to learn with and from one another.
Following a presentation from the Women’s Committee on the various initiatives that committee members are working on, sisters talked about what they wished they knew coming into the trade, how they joined our union, how they felt the first time they came to the jobsite and more. Prompted by the Women’s Committee, members talked about the webinars and events they would like to see, as well as ways the Women’s Committee can support SMART women in the year ahead. They also reflected on one action each woman can do right now to shape the future of her local union: from respecting one another, to showing up to union meetings, to refusing to quit.
SMART General President Michael Coleman couldn’t attend Tradeswomen Build Nations 2025, but Women’s Committee member Lisa Davis paid tribute to his leadership nonetheless. She acknowledged and praised the progress SMART has made on maternity leave, childcare and the fight for SMART members’ due process under his presidency.
“I have never been more proud to be a sheet metal worker than I am under the leadership of General President Michael Coleman,” she declared.
GST Daniel marched with the IA Women’s Committee
Sisters and allies also heard from Dr. Calvina Ellerbe, who delivered a presentation titled “Recognizing the Internal Fight: The Path to Peace.” Ellerbe is an award-winning professor, parenting expert and mother of six children who works with Union EAP, an employee assistance program available to SMART members. In an interactive session, she talked with SMART sisters about self-care, work-life balance and the ways we can try to find peace within ourselves — even when peace is difficult to find at work, at home or in the wider world.
Ellerbe started working with Union EAP after learning about the incredible work SMART and other union workers do to serve our communities, laboring tirelessly — and often thanklessly — to keep our two nations moving.
“Even if [people] don’t know, even if they aren’t paying attention … they need you,” she said.
Among other topics, Ellerbe discussed stress, burnout, recognizing when stress becomes burnout, knowing when to step back to take care of yourself, and the interconnectedness of self-care and community. With women frequently expected to shoulder caretaking responsibility in our society, this discussion was especially important. She also overviewed the resources available for SMART members, such as the Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT), SMART Member Assistance Program (MAP) and the SMOHIT Helpline.
“When we come to your area, sign up for the [SMART MAP] peer trainings,” she urged attendees. “Help support each other on the job.”
Education and energy: Breakout sessions and the banner parade
SMART sisters joined fellow tradeswomen at a variety of breakout sessions and panels designed to help attendees develop skills, knowledge and training that they can take back to their locals. Sessions delved into a variety of important topics, including advancing policy that benefits union tradeswomen, understanding pension benefits, mental health, empowering veterans in the industry, how to tell our stories, and much more.
Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner sat on a panel titled “Training for the Future: Apprenticeship Readiness Programs.” Together with other panelists, Turner presented on apprenticeship readiness programs (ARPs) and how such programs help ensure the future of the construction workforce, discussing ARPs across the country and effective strategies for recruiting and supporting women in their paths to registered apprenticeship programs. Turner, a graduate of an ARP called Building Pathways, told her story of entering the sheet metal industry and discussed how to best remove barriers to entry as we work to grow the unionized building trades. Building Pathways enabled participants to discover all the building trades, and when she walked into a sheet metal shop, she recalled, “I knew I was home.”
In the “Beyond the Hardhat: Expanding Career Pathways for Women in the Trades” panel, Rochelle Bonty — Local 36 (St. Louis) member and the founder/owner of signatory contractor RMB Mechanical — joined fellow panelists to talk about careers in construction beyond the tools. Bonty, the first Black woman in the Local 36 apprenticeship program, started her business in 2020 and has since been recognized by organizations such as Missouri Women in the Trades. Alongside other pioneering tradeswomen, Bonty helped provide attendees with practical insights into the strategies and support systems necessary to pursue careers beyond working in the field, including becoming a member-owner.
The breakout and plenary sessions offered valuable perspectives and training for sisters to bring back home. But the number one highlight of every Tradeswomen Build Nations is, without question, the annual banner parade. As SMART sisters and allies from across our union took to the streets of Chicago — spanning sheet metal and the Transportation Division, hailing from locals and regional councils across the United States and Canada, brandishing banners and flags, and ringing cowbells — the solidarity that defines our union took on extraordinary energy.
Hundreds of SMART workers taking over the streets of one of America’s great cities, walking in solidarity and having each other’s backs: that’s what union power looks like.
“This is our very first time ever coming to this conference,” Local 27 sister Kathy Fairfield said. “There’s two of us here today, and we’re more than excited to be here. … I’ve been in the local 23 years, and I’ve never, ever had something like this happen. And it’s finally coming true.”
I’m writing as we approach the end of the year — and everything that comes with it. In the United States, we recently celebrated Thanksgiving, along with Veterans Day and, in Canada, Remembrance Day in early November. By the time you read this, members across our union will have celebrated various holiday traditions — Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve and many others — and will be looking forward as we begin 2026.
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Veterans Day, Remembrance Day — all these holidays mean different things for different people. But to me, they have powerful things in common.
For one, they all carry a message of gratitude. Veterans Day and Remembrance Day remind us to be thankful for the selflessness, the service and the sacrifice of military heroes in the United States and Canada; the people who fought, in the name of something bigger than themselves, to bring us the freedoms we enjoy today. And whatever faith you hold or tradition you recognize, holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah also remind us to be grateful: for our communities and for each other.
They also remind us to be thankful for our union. For so many of us, our SMART membership is the reason we have the ability to give gifts to family, spend time with loved ones, gather with those we haven’t seen in a while. Those things weren’t given to us. They were earned. They were won by us, working Americans and Canadians, when we came together and used our collective voice to make change.
And that is why, as we take on the first weeks and months of 2026, I’m also filled with determination.
There’s no point in sugarcoating it, brothers and sisters: 2025 was tough. The cost of living has continued to climb. Trade policies at the government level impacted members in both of our nations. In the U.S., legislation passed that will threaten our members’ jobs — in fact, there has already been a negative impact — and will raise the costs of our health care plans. The rich continued to get richer, all while we fight so the people who power North America get the pay and respect they deserve.
But that’s the thing about our union. We are defined by our solidarity. We fight collectively. We bargain as one. We stand together as hundreds of thousands of working people across our two nations, ready to defend each other and fight for our families. As I look back on 2025 — at the way we worked tirelessly, even in the face of challenges, to win better contracts, safety on the job, and good lives for our families — I know our future is brighter than the past.
Lastly, I want to make sure to note something. The holiday season isn’t always the easiest, even when our societies make it seem like it’s simply a time for joy and celebration. In that spirit, I hope all of you know that your union, your brothers and sisters, are here for you. We have support systems and resources available to members, from the SMOHIT Helpline to Union EAP. We have your back.
When we stand with one another, we know what we can achieve. Let’s continue to do exactly that in the year ahead.
As we start another year, it’s worth reflecting on where we’ve been — and where we want to go.
Throughout 2025, SMART members won victories that changed lives. Our own lives, the lives of our families and the lives of people we most likely will not ever meet. We organized, signing up new members in production shops in right-to-work states, recruiting sheet metal apprentices and journeyworkers all over the United States and Canada, bringing in new properties on the railroad and winning big victories at municipal bus carriers. We bargained, coming together to collectively secure contracts — across the sheet metal and transportation industries — that provide the pay, benefits and dignity that every single one of us deserves. We mobilized, whether we were helping build better communities through SMART Army service projects or packing city hall buildings to secure project labor agreements and union jobs.
That is what we do, sisters and brothers. We are sheet metal workers, sign workers, roofers, railroaders, bus and transit operators, and production employees. United by our common cause and our values, we achieve things together that we could never do alone.
And yet, as General President Coleman wrote, last year was still a tough one. We faced attacks from people who are wealthy, powerful and determined to hold on to that power, even if it means making life harder for working families.
The truth is, this isn’t new. Anti-worker forces have been attacking the labor movement for decades. They did it through “trickle-down” economic policies in the 1980s that cut taxes for the wealthy. They did it through deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to outsourcing and lost jobs for working people in both of our nations. And they kept it up this past year, in the U.S. especially: canceling funding for construction jobs, including when the government was shut down, and passing legislation that will raise costs and lead to lost work hours for SMART members.
With all those challenges, it can be easy to feel like the odds are against us. They have money, they have influence, and they have allies in government who will prioritize their interests over policies that benefit working families. But there’s a reason these forces are so determined to pass right-to-work laws, undermine collective bargaining and try to weaken our movement. It’s because they know our strength.
There’s a saying: “Organized people beat organized money.” SMART members prove that every single day. When we pass laws that extend prevailing wages to offsite fabrication, like we did in Connecticut, New Mexico and other states. When we get project labor agreements passed in cities and counties across the country. When we win state railroad safety policies in states like Colorado, or when we secure bipartisan support for our issues. All of that shows that when we stand together, we have real power and strength — even when we are up against the richest and most powerful people in the world.
The start of a new year gives us a chance to chart where we go from here. Over the next 12 months, let’s stand together, have each other’s backs and secure the future for ourselves, our families and our union.
It’s a simple fact: Unions provide stability for workers in an economic environment where that concept is rare.
That’s true across many different industries but especially in the technology sector, where workers are seen as expendable and burnout (both physical and mental) is the norm. This should sound familiar to all of us!
Also normal are mergers and mass layoffs with little thought given to the actual humans who make these companies run.
One of the most well-known mass layoffs in the technology industry happened in 2002. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) announced that it would cut thousands of jobs as part of its acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp, a merger that promised to “boost efficiencies” — AKA Precision Scheduled Manufacturing.
In total, more than 17,000 workers lost their jobs and their livelihoods in the blink of an eye.
It was a lose-lose situation: Employees were seen as disposable and put on the chopping block while the merger failed to meet its lofty, promised goals.
Without representation or protections like a union contract (or a Jobs For Life agreement) in place to push back against these massive layoffs and safeguard their interests, these workers were ultimately lost to the footnotes of history.
More than 20 years later, this move has seemingly become second nature.
The unmentioned but common denominator? These are almost always nonunion workers who lack the benefits and job protections that are a well-known hallmark of membership.
Jobs that from the outside might be seen as flashy, cushy or status-bearing usually carry little to no insulation from things like mass layoffs and at-will employment, where you can be fired for any (or no) reason.
That’s where a union and a union contract are game changers.
In September, SMART-TD announced a landmark agreement with Union Pacific that puts a promise in writing: Our members working in train and yardmaster service will have job protection for the length of their careers following the carrier’s merger with Norfolk Southern, subject to the usual requirements for continued employment.
This is an unprecedented guarantee in the history of American railroading.
When the agreement was announced, we didn’t mince words: The biggest railroad and biggest rail union in America were breaking new ground that protects jobs, families and the future of the United States supply chain.
That’s the union difference at work.
Or take our brothers and sisters at the Port Terminal Railroad Association. As SMART News reported in October, a disturbing pattern emerged over the past several years highlighted by ongoing disregard for union agreements, safety obligations and basic respect for the workforce.
We fought for our yardmasters who were being mistreated and sent a clear, unmistakable warning to PTRA management: This behavior will not be tolerated and stops now.
What’s been most notable, however, is the solidarity between crafts on the property. Although represented by several different unions, yardmasters, engineers, conductors and maintenance workers have demonstrated that unity and solidarity are the best protections against intimidation and are proof of what solidarity in action looks like.
Union members are much more difficult to treat as disposable. We fight for our fellow brothers and sisters, because we’re a family. Like all families, unions are far from perfect and not without flaws. But when the going gets tough, we get going.
We stand up and fight for our members to ensure they don’t become another set of statistics in an article about the latest layoff.
We ensure they have a voice at work and are afforded the protections that they’ve earned as union members.
We’ve got their backs — from the day they receive their union card until it’s time to retire.
That’s the value of being union, and being in the SMART-TD family.
In solidarity,
Jeremy R. Ferguson President, Transportation Division
As we begin the new year, there is a lot to be thankful for. Our industry is thriving, our members are supported through existing and newly negotiated collective agreements, and we are preparing to take on an increased number of megaprojects in healthcare, the industrial sector and housing. At the same time, our production units continue to be busy.
We are entering 2026 well-positioned to build on this momentum. Supporting our members and the unionized construction industry more broadly is the 2025 Federal Budget, passed on November 17, that included significant investments in infrastructure, housing and megaprojects across the country.
Some of these major investments include:
$75 million over the next three years to fund the Union Training and Innovation Program.
$51 billion over 10 years through the Build Communities Strong Fund to support provincial and local infrastructure projects.
$115 billion over five years for infrastructure in healthcare, transit and wastewater systems.
$25 billion to accelerate homebuilding and address housing needs across the country.
SMART members have always played a critical role in building community infrastructure that keeps our cities thriving. Looking ahead, we will remain key in delivering transformative megaprojects, with the federal government’s goal of “building an enormous amount of infrastructure at speeds and scales not seen in generations.” SMART members will be on the front lines, shaping Canada’s future while leading the shift toward modern, low-carbon construction.
This is the work our members have excelled in over the centuries. Now, that expertise will be formally recognized through the SMART Green Certificate program, which is currently being developed. This program will reaffirm our members’ knowledge and readiness to contribute to upcoming clean-economy projects. The SMART Green Certificate program is being established in collaboration with Canada’s Building Trades and Skill Plan Canada.
In the new year, SMART will continue working on the development of this program, which will feature sheet metal-specific learning modules tailored to today’s evolving industry and will provide unified, industry-leading green training nationwide. Down the road, this certification will increase employability, support greater mobility between provinces and give our members pride in the environmental leadership that SMART Canada is striving for.
SMART Canada team members join training experts from coast to coast and our Green Future Partnerships collaborators
SMART Canada was proud to host Secretary of State for Labour, Minister Zerucelli, at the Local 47 Training Centre (Ottawa, Ontario) for the re-announcement of the SMART Green Certificate. The visit highlighted how government, industry and unions continue to work together to strengthen our training and support the future of our trades.
We closed 2025 on a high note and look forward to what 2026 will bring as these major infrastructure and training investments begin to take shape. Together, we can build a stronger future for our members, our industry and our country.
Throughout the past several years, SMART members and working families across the United States have made one thing clear: The system just isn’t working.
The numbers say the same thing. CEO pay in the United States is 281 times the pay of the typical worker (source: Economic Policy Institute). The costs of basic goods continue to increase, including housing, energy and food. More than 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, according to a study by Realtime Inequality published in February 2025.
This rise in inequality, in the United States especially, has been accompanied by a rise in misinformation and conspiracy theories. But there is one conspiracy that’s real — the organized effort by the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the U.S. to get richer at the expense of working people. It’s an attack that has been ongoing for decades, spanning political parties, nations and leaders. And it’s a fight that will require SMART members and working people everywhere to stand together
Union power and the American dream
Things weren’t always this way. When American unions began organizing in the 19th century — including SMART’s predecessor organizations — workers were fighting their way out of poverty, even as robber barons tried their best to suppress the growing movement. By the time World War II came to an end, the landscape had changed. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration passed laws including the National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Labor Relations Act, which the Library of Congress notes “required businesses to bargain in good faith with any union supported by the majority of their employees” — in other words, outlawing employers’ ability to interfere with workers trying to form a union.
Labor unions organized to new heights in response. In 1936, only around one in 10 households in the United States were union households. By 1955, approximately one-third of U.S. households were union. Millions of workers went on strike in the 1940s, demonstrating the strength of the labor movement. The Economic Policy Institute reported that “when union membership was at its peak (33.4 percent in 1945) the share of income going to the top 10 percent was only 32.6 percent.”
An Economic Policy Institute graph shows that as union membership has fallen, the top 10 percent have been getting a larger share of income.
As a result, numerous studies have found, life was looking up for working families in the United States. Income inequality was at an incredible low. Working Americans had a greater share of the wealth and more purchasing power, and they could negotiate for strong contracts that raised wages with the rate of inflation. The American dream was that much more accessible to union members, their families, their children. This was thanks to both the strength of the labor movement and to government policy that focused on the public: Rather than prioritizing individual wealth through the free market, initiatives designed to benefit all Americans helped working people get a leg up in the economy.
Not everything was good. Workers still faced attacks from employers and anti-union legislators, and issues related to jobsite safety plagued workplaces. Additionally, even with the growth of the labor movement, racism, gender-based discrimination and political persecution threatened the livelihoods of working people from coast to coast — including within unions themselves.
Still, progress continued through the following decades. The 1960s Great Society program of President Lyndon B. Johnson “expanded job opportunities and workplace protections,” according to the North Shore AFL-CIO. “Johnson also strengthened labor protections through various anti-poverty initiatives and increased federal funding for job training programs.”
But as the 1960s rolled into the 1970s, things began to change. Corporate elites, anti-worker politicians and others began to organize themselves, setting out to create an America that discarded public benefits and programs in favor of privatization and corporate power.
The results are still felt to this day.
A decades-long attack on American workers
The foundation for the assault on workers and their unions was laid in the late 1940s. The Taft-Hartley Act, passed over President Harry Truman’s veto, restricted the tactics that could be used by the labor movement and enabled states to weaken unions by passing right-to-work laws. This not only negatively impacted union members’ bargaining power; it set the stage for corporations and the wealthy to take power from workers and unions.
Anti-worker entities kicked their plan into high gear in the 1970s. In August 1971, an article in the Monthly Reviewreports, corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote a confidential memo to the United States Chamber of Commerce, “calling on corporations and their CEOs to organize a concerted attack on labor … and to use their financial leverage to dominate government.” The number of corporate PACs quadrupled, the article adds, between 1976 and the middle of the 1980s. Powell was later nominated by President Richard Nixon to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
Sheet metal workers in the 1981 Solidarity Day march
With United States labor law mostly unchanged since the passage of Taft-Hartley, employers started to take advantage, holding captive audience meetings and cracking down on workers’ attempts to organize. The number of anti-union consulting firms skyrocketed throughout the 1970s, according to a consultant’s testimony to Congress. And when unions and worker allies tried to pass labor law reform throughout the decades, corporate-backed lobbyists and anti-worker politicians made sure to defeat it.
Meanwhile, the domination of government by corporate interests unfolded shortly after Powell’s memo — under the leadership of both political parties.
President Ronald Reagan pursued an aggressive deregulation agenda in the 1980s, and his National Labor Relations Board — filled with management-side appointees — chipped away at workers’ rights while making it easier for employers to harass union members. The Reagan administration famously prioritized “trickle-down” economics, claiming that lowering taxes on the richest Americans would lead to wealth being distributed to the rest of us. The numbers tell a different story: The average annual wages of the top 0.1% in 1979 were $586,222 (in 2021 dollars). The 2021 average annual wages of the top 0.1%? $3,312,693. Compare that with the average annual wages of the bottom 90% of the country, again in 2021 dollars: $28,415 in 1979, and just $36,571 in 2021. That’s not trickling down. SMART members make more thanks to the power of collective bargaining, but still nowhere near the astronomical growth of the rich.
Reagan also famously broke the air traffic controllers’ (PATCO) strike in 1981 — a move that gave corporate America the green light to go on offense and signaled to workers that the U.S. government would no longer stand with union members.
In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton helped pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — another deregulatory move aimed at boosting trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Clinton claimed that NAFTA would lead to an “export boom to Mexico” and create millions of jobs. The reality was very different, as the Economic Policy Institute reports: “U.S. imports from Mexico grew much more rapidly than exports, leading to growing trade deficits … Jobs making cars, electronics, and apparel and other goods moved to Mexico, and job losses piled up in the United States, especially in the Midwest where those products used to be made.”
Canadians suffered similar consequences: “Between 1989 and 1997, 870,700 export jobs were created, but during the same period 1,147,100 jobs were destroyed by imports. Thus, Canada’s trade boom resulted in a net destruction of 276,000 jobs.” And workers in Mexico have not seen substantial wage growth either. In other words, NAFTA empowered companies and corporations to offshore, outsource and prioritize cheap labor over good-paying jobs, across all three countries. Again, the free market was prioritized over the well-being of working people — this time under a Democratic president.
The most recent attack on American workers, once again a giveaway to the wealthy, took place in the summer of 2025, when President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. The bill included cuts to Medicaid that will cause working families to suffer and raise the costs of health care plans for SMART members and families, cuts to tax credits that will lead to canceled projects and lost work hours for sheet metal workers, and more. Funding cuts included in the bill have already led to canceled projects, taking work away from members almost immediately. And it’s likely the bill will increase the costs of housing and energy, as well as lead to the closing of nursing homes and rural hospitals nationwide.
In what has become a familiar pattern, these policies — which will increase costs for the American working class — benefit one group of people: the wealthy. The 0.1% will likely gain more than $290,000 each year as a result of tax changes in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
For most people in this country, these policies, boosted and enacted for decades, make no sense. They make it harder for working families to live the American dream. But that doesn’t matter to the richest and most powerful among us. For decades, they’ve enacted a conspiracy to disenfranchise the rest of us. And for decades, they’ve succeeded.
Fighting back: strength in solidarity
There’s a reason it so often feels like the odds are stacked against us — they are. But we have something powerful on our side; something that has been at the root of every victory working people have ever won. Our solidarity is our strength. When we come together as millions of individuals to fight collectively as one, we can fix the broken system that prioritizes the few over the many.
We know this from our own history. The gains SMART members and union workers made in the late 1800s and early 1900s would have once seemed unimaginable. Before then, working conditions in industries across North America were largely horrific. Workers’ rights in many places were nonexistent, overtime pay was unheard of, child labor was rampant and deadly workplace accidents were commonplace.
Working people had very little power to fight back. But that changed when workers organized: winning the right to bargain collectively, winning workplace protections, winning pay and benefits that lifted families out of poverty. From a situation that seemed unchangeable, the labor movement created a new way of life.
We face a similar challenge now. American workers are up against more than 50 years of meticulously planned and executed anti-worker strategy. But we have power in numbers. From the ballot box to the bargaining table, whether organizing on the shop floor or on the railroad, now is as good a time as any to fight back — to end the war on working people.
The SMART Education Department, in collaboration with the Organizing Department, held its Organizing III class during the week of October 6–10, 2025, in St. Louis. This redesigned class focused on the “top-down” organizing strategy, with a specific emphasis on developing organizing campaigns targeting nonunion contractors.
Expanding SMART’s signatory contractor base is one of the best methods local unions have to keep members employed. For that reason, it’s more important than ever for organizers to strengthen their ability to identify, build relationships with and ultimately sign new employers.
The primary subject of the October class centered around what contractors need to succeed and how our locals are built to fulfil that primary need: a flexible labor force. Participants delved deep into a contractor’s mindset to understand the challenges of running a construction company, learning how to reframe common employer objections to unionization as benefits for both workers and contractors. Attendees also roleplayed interactions with the gatekeeper, delivered a custom-built elevator pitch and practiced both first meetings and subsequent meetings with the contractors.
Throughout the week, participants learned to find nonunion contractors in their local’s jurisdiction using Standard Industrial Codes (SICs) and turned their lists into maps and routes using Google Maps. There were nearly 20 exercises during the course; after mock exercises, participants debriefed with critical feedback to their peers.
A point system was in place, with organizers grouped into fiction local unions and evaluated by their fellow participants. “Local 111” — Phil Berg (Local 23), Cesar Carrillo (Local 26) and Yadriel Carrasquillo (Local 68) — took third place. “Local 444” — Adam Kerr (Local 71), Doug Meyers (Local 103) and Aaron Leslie (Local 104) — was ranked second place. “Local 333” — Dustin Hysmith (Local 16), Hallie Jennerman (International organizer/Local 18) and Jay Jones (Local 265) — was recognized by peers as the top group in the class.
“Congratulations to Jay Jones, the highest point winner in the top group, for winning the coveted ‘Coffee is for Closers’ coffee cup!” said SMART Director of Education Eli Baccus. “We hope this class spurs participants’ top-down organizing efforts, and that more contractors are brought in for more member jobs.”
Following the retirement of Thomas DeBartolo and Lance Deyette’s hiring as assistant to the general president, the SMART General Executive Council (GEC) voted to elect two new members.
Bryan BushCorey Beaubien
Local 19 (Philadelphia) Business Manager Bryan Bush, 10th general vice president, began his career as a sheet metal worker in 1989, entering Local 19’s four-year apprenticeship program in 1991 and successfully graduating as a journeyperson in 1995. Bush has demonstrated active labor leadership throughout his career: He was a site steward on numerous jobs, a foreman on many occasions, and in 2009 he successfully ran to be a Local 19 business representative. He served as business rep. from 2009–2017; assistant business manager from 2012–2024; financial secretary-treasurer from 2017–2023; and, since 2024, has represented Local 19 members as business manager.
In addition to his local union leadership, Bush has served on the Washington Township Economic Development Board, the Governor’s Transition Committee for Labor and Management, as South Jersey Transportation Authority commissioner, Building Trades chairman for Center City Philadelphia, delegate for the Bucks County AFL-CIO and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, and many other positions. He is also active in various community service efforts, including career days and job fairs, City of Camden Drug Awareness Walks, the City to Shore MS Bike Ride, volunteering at Camden County Homeless Shelters and more.
Born and raised in New Jersey, where he is now raising his own family, Bush’s family history dates back at least 90 years in the labor movement. Today, he carries that legacy forward by proudly representing Local 19 members across aspects of the organization: helping and overseeing business agents with jurisdictional and contract situations, organizing efforts, growth strategies and, most importantly, fighting for members.
Local 33 (Northern Ohio) President and Business Manager Corey Beaubien, 11th general vice president, began his career in the sheet metal industry as an apprentice in July of 1999. Beaubien worked for various contractors in and around the Toledo, Ohio, area for 13 years before being hired as a local organizer in September of 2012. Before working as an organizer, he was elected to the Local 33 Executive Board in 2010.
In March 2015, due to his success as an organizer, Beaubien was elected as a business representative for the Local 33 Toledo District, serving in that position for eight years. During this time, he served as the financial secretary-treasurer of the Northwest Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, as well as a trustee on the Toledo Health & Welfare and Area Pension Funds. After many years of service as a trustee, Beaubien is now a chair or trustee on four pension funds; he was most recently appointed as trustee on the SMART Local Unions & Councils Pension Fund.
Beaubien was named president and business manager of SMART Local 33 in November 2023 and elected to the position the following year in June. Since his election, Beaubien has successfully negotiated, along with his committees, multiple contracts in four of the nine contract areas within Local 33.
In late August, President Trump’s Department of Transportation canceled $679 million in federal funding for 12 offshore wind projects across the country. That included fully taking back hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money for infrastructure work at Humboldt Bay Harbor District in Northern California — immediately throwing Local 104 members’ work opportunities into question, in the short and long term.
“As long as this administration makes decisions that directly impact our members, I’m going to keep calling balls and strikes. This decision is clearly a ball,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “For our members in Northern California, this was a once-in-a-lifetime project — one that was going to create dozens of jobs in the short term, and keep employing Local 104 sheet metal workers for the long haul. Taking back that grant money, which was already awarded, just makes zero sense.”
The DOT had originally awarded a $426 million infrastructure grant to the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, allowing the Harbor District and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties — which includes Local 104 — to agree to the very first project labor agreement in the region. Around 90% of that grant was earmarked for the development of a heavy-lift marine terminal to support offshore wind; money that has since been pulled back, putting construction in jeopardy.
When SMART members hear “offshore wind,” they may not immediately think “sheet metal jobs.” But the fact is, the Humboldt offshore wind development would have turned a brownfield site into a full-blown, brand-new facility, expected to include multiple new buildings. That means sheet metal work: duct fabrication, facility construction and potentially up to dozens of Local 104 members on-site at various project phases. And that was just the immediate opportunity. The offshore wind company, RWE, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that committed to using union labor for long-term operations and maintenance of the facility, guaranteeing work for years to come.
“In short, this project represented a generational opportunity for our members in an area that doesn’t see many large infrastructure projects,” said Local 104 State Legislative Director Vince Sugrue. “The cuts are a devastating blow to the immediate construction jobs that would have put our members to work, but also to the long-term union maintenance and operations jobs that were guaranteed under the MOU.”
The Humboldt Bay Harbor District is just one example of many jeopardized jobs across the country. In Massachusetts, the DOT canceled $34 million in federal funding for the Salem Wind Port Project, where work had already started. The project was expected to create 800 construction jobs over the next couple years.
“Our government leaders have the power to do things that directly benefit our members. Federal funding for these port projects is a great example of that,” General President Coleman said. “Taking that funding away, and threatening our members’ jobs by doing so, is just not the right thing to do for members, our families or our country.”
Additional projects impacted:
Withdrawn funding:
Sparrows Point Steel Marshalling Port Project (Maryland)
Bridgeport Port Authority Operations and Maintenance Wind Port Project (Connecticut)
Wind Port at Paulsboro (New Jersey)
Arthur Kill Terminal (Staten Island, New York)
Gateway Upgrades for Access, Resiliency & Development at the Port of Davisville Project (Rhode Island)
