The spring 2024 Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) challenge asked SMART members to tell their union story, prompted by the question: Why are you proud to be a SMART member? For Paul Garner, a longtime Local 55 sheet metal worker out of Boise, Idaho, the answer boils down to our union’s tradition of mentorship and solidarity.
On August 1, 2024, Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) launched its brand-new standalone website, beforall.org — fulfilling a need the BE4ALL Committee had heard numerous times from SMART members and signatory contractors, and providing visitors with a one-stop shop for [...]
This work is about ensuring that all members feel welcome and have a place in our union. It is about building solidarity between workers and forging a stronger union.
SMART’s Rapid Response Protocol is intended to help union officers prepare for and respond to incidents of bias, discrimination and harassment. Why is this important? There are many reasons.
Helen Jury Armstrong was a union activist, feminist and anti-war leader who rose to fame during the 1919 Winnipeg general strike. Born in 1875 to a father who worked as a tailor and was a member of the Knights of Labour, Helen “Ma” Armstrong spent her life advocat [...]
SMART Local 219 (Rockford, Illinois) sheet metal worker Josh Reynolds is a first-year apprentice who learned about the union from his friend, fellow member Isaiah Myers. After completing his pre-apprenticeship and starting his career at Local 219, he says the trade has alread [...]
Local 473 (London, Ontario) member Patrick Gordon took a long, somewhat convoluted journey into the union sheet metal trade – one that brought him face-to-face with the exploitation and disregard that often afflicts nonunion workers, and demonstrated first-hand the union diff [...]
Another entry from the Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) fall challenge: Bob Bomboy, a sheet metal worker member of SM Local 44 (Northeastern Pennsylvania) shares how he overcame career-change nerves and joined SMART! “I was a mechanical/architectural draftsman with a [...]
As part of the Belonging and Excellence for ALL (BE4ALL) Committee’s fall challenge, Anthony LaBeau, an eight-year member out of Local 104 (Northern California) recently shared how his life changed when he joined SMART: “I was 24, working dead-end restaurant jobs [...]
The Belonging and Excellence for ALL (BE4ALL) Committee launched its first-ever Toolbox Talk on January 19, 2023 — the initial step in an ongoing effort designed to educate, spread awareness and help strengthen SMART and the unionized sheet metal industry. Toolbox Talk #1, ti [...]