SMART members positioned for unprecedented opportunity
The time is now for our union. Across all the industries and crafts represented in our union — HVAC installation, railroading, indoor air quality, transit operation, architectural sheet metal, production, sign work, bus operation and beyond — SMART members are positioned for generational growth. Now, we need to seize these opportunities.
Political advocacy pays off for sheet metal workers
Unprecedented investment in the sheet metal industry — much of it due to strong labor standards and incentives included in federal legislation in the U.S. — paired with ongoing core work is creating incredibly high demand. SMART local unions now have the chance to organize and recruit aggressively to meet workforce needs.
SMART Transportation Division on offense
SMART-TD members are on offense against the railroads and their Wall Street-driven Precision Scheduled Railroading scheme for the first time in recent memory. We have seen victories and progress on two-person crew and rail safety legislation in Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio and other states across the country, and we need to keep pushing. More on page 28.
The same goes for the safety and working conditions of our brothers and sisters operating on public transit systems. We have seen far too many shocking, brazen attacks on our members while they are simply doing their jobs, safely transporting passengers from point A to point B. Policymakers and community members alike need to hear our voices and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this cannot stand.
Organize today, win tomorrow
It is a new day for organized labor. Workers are organizing like they haven’t in generations, and 71% of Americans approve of unions: the highest percentage since the 1960s. And yet, the percentage of unionized workers remains too low, and we have seen the consequences in Maryland, Washington, Colorado and beyond. It’s time to strike while the iron is hot.
SMART members from across the United States and Canada gathered in Washington, DC on April 25th and 26th for the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2023 Legislative Conference. Throughout the week, workers and elected union leaders came together to push for legislation that prioritizes union members, as well as hear from elected officials, industry stakeholders and others.
The April 25th plenary session began with a keynote address from NABTU President Sean McGarvey, who introduced and emphasized the 2023 conference theme: “Empowering the Infrastructure Generation.” Unprecedented investment — spurred by pro-worker federal legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and more — is creating tens of thousands of jobs and sparking the renewal of America’s infrastructure. This presents opportunity for the workers of today and tomorrow, McGarvey said, and it’s vital that unions push for legislation like the National Apprenticeship Act to ensure we can train the workforce to meet demand and bring workers of all backgrounds — rural, urban, women, people of color, the formerly incarcerated, veterans and more — into unions like SMART.
“Our model makes sure workers aren’t just trained for a project, but equipped with the highest skillsets for a long and meaningful career,” McGarvey explained. “This is our time to make sure we are building the opportunity pipeline to maximize private investment with public dollars and reach communities large and small.”
McGarvey was followed by various pro-worker officials, including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. Walsh discussed his time working with the Biden administration and the importance of making our voices heard in the halls of power — and the need to spread the word about how pro-labor elected officials are benefiting working families.
“Who you vote for has consequences,” Walsh said. “This is how we restore and expand access to the middle class in this country: through good, union jobs.”
Following Walsh, NABTU attendees were joined by Governor Pritzker, who has overseen a transformative pro-worker shift in the Prairie State — including the passage of the Workers’ Rights Amendment, project labor agreements on more than 1,000 construction projects, a $50 million Illinois Works pre-apprenticeship program and the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a pro-worker clean energy law that covers climate infrastructure projects with project labor agreements.
“Workers’ rights are gaining strength,” Pritzker declared. “Supporting workers’ rights is about investing in Illinois’ most precious resource, our nation’s most precious resource: our people.”
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin has been a steadfast advocate for the union apprenticeship model, recognizing the potential unions have to lift workers of all backgrounds into the middle class. She explained the continued significance of union apprenticeships as policy and technology shift the way the world works, and declared to NABTU attendees her intent to continue the fight to reauthorize the National Apprenticeship Act.
“There’s one tried and true method that has lasted and stood the test of time, and that’s apprenticeships,” Baldwin said.
The day concluded with a fiery address from President Joe Biden, who took the stage hours after announcing his intent to run for reelection. Throughout his speech, Biden focused on the steps taken by his administration to create an American economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out — and emphasized that “we need to finish the job.”
“I learned a long time ago: There’s labor, and then there’s UNION labor,” he declared.
Biden explained how his administration’s pro-worker agenda has led to the passage of laws including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together these laws helped protect multiemployer pension plans; invested heavily in HVAC, energy efficiency, production, transit, rail infrastructure and other SMART sectors; created more than 800,000 manufacturing jobs; capped insulin copays at $35 per month for those covered by Medicare; and much more. The president also referred to his executive order requiring project labor agreements on federal projects that cost more than $35 million — a policy that amounts to an investment in union labor.
“I’ve said it many times: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said.
“For decades, trickle-down economics hollowed out the middle class. America rewarded wealth, not work. … As jobs were lost, something else was lost as well: a sense of pride, a notion of who you are, a sense of self-worth, earning your way,” he added. “My economic plan is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America, and that’s what we’re doing: rebuilding America.”
The April 26th plenary saw remarks from a range of bipartisan speakers, including Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Republican Congressmen Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick, Senator Raphael Warnock, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and others. Once again, the focus was firmly on the future — and how unions like SMART need to ensure we meet the workforce demands of this moment for generations to come. From making sure people of all backgrounds have pathways into union apprenticeships, to passing legislation that helps fund ever-evolving apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, now is the time to secure our future
“Thank you for building the strongest and most robust country in the world,” Bacon said during his speech. “You deserve fair wages for a hard day’s work; pension when you retire and safety at work.”
“You are at the center of America,” Warnock added during his remarks. “We need to hear your voices and countless efforts you’ve made to build this country. As you continue beating that drum, I will keep looking for every opportunity I can to stand up and protect our working people.”
Following the speaking agenda, SMART members joined representatives from the rest of the building trades on Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation that benefits our members.
“SMART has proudly gathered with our fellow building trades unions at the annual NABTU Legislative Conference for decades, and in recent years we have seen first-hand how conditions for workers have changed under the Biden administration,” SMART General President Michael Coleman said. “We will continue to work with pro-labor allies and push for policies that put our members to work.”
SMART released the latest episode of SMART News on Thursday, July 6. Episode 10 features an interview with Local 19 apprentice Elena Farina on the Biden administration; coverage of SMART General President Mike Coleman’s visit to Ford Blue Oval City in Tennessee; an overview of SMART-TD’s recently negotiated railroad agreements, which include paid leave; infrastructure funding and jobs in Boston; and another two-person crew victory for railroaders in Minnesota.
Farina, a second-year apprentice with Local 19, joined her fellow Philadelphia sheet metal workers and members from across organized labor for an event with President Biden in June. During her SMART News interview, she explained the impact of pro-worker policies implemented by the Biden administration, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. She also emphasized the importance of voting for candidates who have materially acted in the interests of the working class.
“Vote with your pocket, you know what I’m saying,” Farina said. “Everyone has their own personal issues, but at the end of the day your livelihood is what’s going to sustain you.”
Longtime sheet metal worker and union leader Mike Coleman assumed the position of SMART general president on June 1st, 2023. He immediately began emphasizing the extraordinary opportunities on the horizon for SMART members, including work at megaprojects like Ford’s Blue Oval City in Stanton, Tennessee.
“There’s just so many things to be excited about, but what I think I’m most excited to do is answer the call for these megaprojects: getting our members on those jobs, and making sure we get every hour out of those projects,” Coleman said.
Following on last year’s national rail negotiations, SMART-TD members have gained paid sick leave benefits for train & engine workers at some of the Big Four U.S.-based carriers. SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity provided an overview of some of the historic agreements — both tentative and ratified — that have been made.
Workers, union leaders and elected officials came together during a May event at the Local 17 training center in Boston to highlight the union jobs created by ongoing infrastructure investments. SMART Northeast Regional Council Business Rep. Shamaiah Turner spoke with SMART News about how infrastructure funding is creating unprecedented opportunity for sheet metal workers in New England.
“The future for sheet metal workers in Boston is very bright,” she explained. “Right now we have a LOT of work … we’re out there every day, talking to people who work at open shops, we’re organizing new shops every day, and we’re organizing new journeypeople every day.”
Finally, SMART-TD Minnesota State Legislative Director Nick Katich called in to SMART News to discuss how Minnesota railroaders were able to finally secure two-person crew and passenger rail funding in the state (as well as a slew of pro-worker bills). Long story short, he explained, the victory had everything to do with putting pro-worker elected officials in office — something union members achieved when they helped the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party take control of the state house, senate and governor’s office.
Image credit: Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons”
Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helped jumpstart two enormous projects on the East Coast in January, creating jobs for SMART sheet metal workers and bettering the working conditions of SMART Transportation Division members. In Baltimore, SMART TD Alt. National Legislative Director Jared Cassity joined Amtrak officials, President Biden and others to kick off the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program. The Civil War-era tunnel will be replaced by the brand-new Frederick Douglass Tunnel, increasing reliability, capacity and speed from 30 mph to a peak of 110 mph. Not only will this save commuters time on the largest rail bottleneck between Washington, DC and New Jersey; thanks to a new project labor agreement (PLA), both SMART sheet metal workers and SMART Transportation Division members working at Amtrak stand to benefit.
“The sorely needed replacement of the B&P Tunnel represents one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region,” SMART General President Joseph Sellers said at the time. “It will improve the lives of Amtrak riders and the SMART TD members who work those trains, and the PLA covering the project will ensure the job is completed by highly skilled workers — lifting local communities up in the process.”
The PLA, negotiated by Amtrak and the Baltimore-DC Building and Construction Trades Council, will cover the replacement of the Warwick Bridge and is the first of its kind under a 2021 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Amtrak and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). The MOU will pertain to Amtrak’s major civil engineering projects moving forward, including the remaining phases of the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program, and will help put SMART sheet metal members to work on critical infrastructure jobs across the country.
The project will also improve working conditions for SMART TD Amtrak employees. The B&P Tunnel is Amtrak’s oldest tunnel on the Northeast Corridor, and it has endured a range of age-related maladies, including excessive water infiltration, structural deterioration and delays that impact more than 10% of trains during the week. Now, thanks to the receipt of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — as well as a $450 million contribution from the state of Maryland, which will combine with Amtrak’s intended commitment of approximately $750 million — the SMART TD members on those trains can look forward to performing their duties with significantly less hassle.
“Our members are ready to take on this work, and we as an organization are ready to bring in new members and elevate the working class throughout this nation.”
Further north, $292 million in infrastructure funding is spurring the completion of the Hudson Tunnel modernization project, which will rehabilitate the old North River Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, build a new tunnel and improve reliability for the 200,000 passengers who traverse the tunnel each weekday. President Biden visited New York City to champion the project on January 31, 2023, where he noted that this phase of the project would create 72,000 jobs.
“Yesterday in Baltimore, I announced that we’re building [the B&P Tunnel project] under the new project labor agreement. And we’re making sure there is [a PLA] here as well,” Biden said.
Funding for the modernization project faltered under the previous president’s administration. But thanks to the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, construction can resume in earnest for this crucial phase. This alone put tens of thousands of union members to work — and once the tunnel has been fully modernized, it will vastly improve working conditions for SMART Transportation Division members working at Amtrak and regional transit systems.
“Since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’ve seen time and again how important critical infrastructure projects are for our members — both the sheet metal members who work on these projects, and the transit workers who keep our country moving every day,” said General President Sellers. “We applaud the pro-labor leadership of Congress and the Biden administration in putting these funds directly towards projects that benefit working people.”
In addition to New York and Baltimore, the AP reports, infrastructure law funding will spur work on the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Kentucky and Ohio; the Calcasieu River Bridge in Louisiana; a commuter rail project in Illinois; the Alligator River Bridge in North Carolina; a transit and highway plan in California; and roadways in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Mississippi.
“Funding from this law — along with renewed investment from private companies — is creating a level of opportunity across our country that is almost unheard of,” SMART Assistant to the General President Darrell Roberts remarked. “Our members are ready to take on this work, and we as an organization are ready to bring in new members and elevate the working class throughout this nation.”
WATCH: “I am very excited about the big jobs that are coming up. We have many opportunities that they offer for those who are willing to work, work hard and learn new skills.”
North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) hosted an event titled “Meeting the Moment” on Thursday, March 30 in Columbus, Ohio. The event, part of NABTU’s Opportunity Pipeline series, featured NABTU President Sean McGarvey, SMART Local 24 (southern Ohio) member McKenzie Quinn, representatives from the Ohio governor’s office, state politicians from both sides of the aisle, local union workers and more, all talking about one thing: $200 billion worth of megaprojects breaking ground in Ohio.
“Join us in rebuilding America and join us in establishing your place in the middle class,” McGarvey said at the event, addressing the union tradespeople of the future. “… We look forward to building this together as a team, as a community for the benefit of all in our country.”
As a result of massive investment and new megaprojects from companies like Intel, Honda and more – spurred in part by federal legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act – the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council estimates that more than 115,000 union workers will work full time from 2023 to 2025. That enormous number of jobs opens a huge window of opportunity for SMART sheet metal workers, both current and future members.
McKenzie Quinn (front row, second from right) with the leadership of Local 24.
“In Columbus right now, we have a lot of exciting upcoming projects,” Local 24 journeyperson Quinn said. “We have chip factories, data centers, electric vehicle battery plants, and this is going to bring hundreds of good-paying jobs in the next few years.”
That not only means family-sustaining jobs for Ohio SMART members – it creates a golden opportunity for local unions to recruit, organize and grow their market share.
“We need to do our best to continue recruiting people from every background,” Quinn noted. “This opportunity is available to everyone.”
Megaprojects, union apprenticeship programs create opportunity for all
Multiple speakers at Thursday’s event testified to the power of a union apprenticeship when it comes to lifting workers up, no matter their background or identity. Year after year, the statistics demonstrate that unions reduce economic disparity for women, people of color and other members of historically marginalized communities. By taking advantage of megaprojects and bringing more workers into the unionized trade, SMART locals can do more than fortify their strength – they can create real opportunity for all.
“Joining a union has given me safety and security in my job and safety from discrimination, not only with wages but also gender-based discrimination,” Quinn said. “This is a great chance for everybody, including women and minorities, to get into the trades and have a great career.”
SMART members from across the United States and Canada gathered in Washington, DC on April 25th and 26th for the 2023 North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) Legislative Conference. Throughout the week, workers and elected union leaders came together to push for legislation that prioritizes workers, as well as hear from elected officials, industry stakeholders and others.
The April 25th plenary session began with a keynote address from NABTU President Sean McGarvey, who introduced and emphasized the 2023 conference theme: “Empowering the Infrastructure Generation.”
Unprecedented investment – spurred by pro-worker federal legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and more – is creating tens of thousands of jobs and sparking the renewal of America’s infrastructure. This presents opportunity for the workers of today and tomorrow, McGarvey said, and it’s vital that unions push for legislation like the National Apprenticeship Act to ensure we can train the workforce to meet demand and bring workers of all backgrounds – rural, urban, women, people of color, the formerly incarcerated, veterans and more – into unions like SMART.
“Our model makes sure workers aren’t just trained for a project, but equipped with the highest skillsets for a long and meaningful career,” McGarvey explained. “This is our time to make sure we are building the opportunity pipeline to maximize private investment with public dollars and reach communities large and small.”
McGarvey was followed by various pro-worker officials, including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. Walsh discussed his time working with the Biden administration and the importance of making our voices heard in the halls of power – and the need to spread the word about how pro-labor elected officials are benefiting working families.
Former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh speaks at the 2023 NABTU Legislative Conference
“Who you vote for has consequences,” Walsh said. “This is how we restore and expand access to the middle class in this country: through good, union jobs.”
Following Walsh, NABTU Legislative Conference attendees were joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has overseen a transformative pro-worker shift in the Prairie State – including the passage of the Workers’ Rights Amendment, project labor agreements on more than 1,000 construction projects, a $50 million Illinois Works pre-apprenticeship program and the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a pro-worker clean energy law that covers climate infrastructure projects with project labor agreements.
“Workers’ rights are gaining strength,” Pritzker declared. “Supporting workers’ rights is about investing in Illinois’ most precious resource, our nation’s most precious resource: our people.”
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin speaks at the NABTU Legislative ConferenceNABTU President Sean McGarvey speaks at the NABTU Legislative Conference.
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin has been a steadfast advocate for the union apprenticeship model, recognizing the potential unions have to lift workers of all backgrounds into the middle class. She explained the continued significance of union apprenticeships as policy and technology shift the way the world works, and declared to conference attendees her intent to continue the fight to reauthorize the National Apprenticeship Act.
“There’s one tried and true method that has lasted and stood the test of time, and that’s apprenticeships,” Baldwin said.
The day concluded with a fiery address from President Joe Biden, who took the stage hours after announcing his run for reelection. Throughout his speech, Biden focused on the steps taken by his administration to create an American economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out – and emphasized that “we need to finish the job.”
“I learned a long time ago: There’s labor, and then there’s UNION labor,” he declared.
Biden explained how his administration’s pro-worker agenda has led to the passage of laws including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together these laws helped protect multiemployer pension plans; invested heavily in HVAC, energy efficiency, production, transit, rail infrastructure and other SMART sectors; created more than 800,000 manufacturing jobs; capped insulin copays at $35 per month for those covered by Medicare; and much more. The president also referred to his executive order requiring project labor agreements on federal projects that cost more than $35 million – a policy that amounts to an investment in union labor.
“I’ve said it many times: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the NABTU Legislative ConferencePresident Joe Biden addresses the NABTU Legislative Conference
“For decades, trickle-down economics hollowed out the middle class. America rewarded wealth, not work. … As jobs were lost, something else was lost as well: a sense of pride, a notion of who you are, a sense of self-worth, earning your way,” he added. “My economic plan is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America, and that’s what we’re doing: rebuilding America.”
The April 26th plenary saw remarks from a range of bipartisan speakers, including Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Republican Congressmen Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick, Senator Raphael Warnock, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and others. Once again, the focus was firmly on the future – and how unions like SMART need to ensure we meet the workforce demands of this moment for generations to come. From making sure people of all backgrounds have pathways into union apprenticeships, to passing legislation that helps fund ever-evolving apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, now is the time to secure our future.
“Thank you for building the strongest and most robust country in the world,” Bacon said during his speech. “You deserve fair wages for a hard day’s work, pensions when you retire and safety at work.”
“You are at the center of America,” Warnock added during his remarks. “We need to hear your voices and countless efforts you’ve made to build this country. As you continue beating that drum, I will keep looking for every opportunity I can to stand up and protect our working people.”
Following the speaking agenda, SMART members joined representatives from the rest of the building trades on Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation that benefits our members.
“At the NABTU Legislative Conference, I had a first-hand view of the way that conditions for the working class have changed under the Biden administration and a Congress filled with pro-worker candidates,” SMART General President Joseph Sellers said. “We will continue to push for pro-labor policies that put our members to work and lift working families up.”
Construction on the TSMC chip plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo courtesy of TSMC.
SMART released the latest episode of the Talking SMART podcast on February 23, featuring a discussion with SMART Director of Organizing Darrell Roberts, Local 265 President/Business Manager and SMART 11th General Vice President John Daniel and SASMI Executive Director Ken Colombo about new travel benefits and incentives available to sheet metal members.
A wave of new megaprojects – or projects valued at over $1 billion – is creating unprecedented job opportunities for SMART sheet metal workers across the United States and Canada, as well as driving new changes and growth in the benefitsavailable to SMART members.
To meet the ongoing demand for sheet metal workers, SMART and SASMI are coordinating to expand travel incentives and benefits available to SMART sheet metal workers who are willing to travel for work, and the International is developing resources to help local unions organize to secure more work for SMART members.
Throughout the conversation, Roberts underscored how the large volume of pending work presents huge growth and organizing opportunities for SMART, as well as challenges for locals in terms of staffing these large projects.
“We’re going to have areas where we have megaprojects where the local will be impacted severely,” he explained. “We could see membership growing double to triple what their current membership needs are currently.”
Colombo, meanwhile, detailed the new and increased financial incentives for SMART sheet metal workers willing to travel for work. The SASMI travel benefit has been increased to a maximum of $1,800, up from the previous travel incentive of a maximum of $1,125. In addition, non-SASMI members will now be eligible for traveler incentives, providing they are dispatched to a job that has SASMI in the collective bargaining agreement.
Daniel emphasized how megaprojects and new work stemming from infrastructure legislation are driving SMART to innovate to meet workforce needs across our two nations – both by expanding travel benefits and by working to bring members of all backgrounds into our union.
“Our absolute need to grow, paired with the megaprojects, the infrastructure spending, that’s going to create the opportunity for us to meet the numbers that we need moving forward,” Daniel noted. “And it’s also going to drive us to evolve as an organization.”
At the end of this episode, SMART General President Joseph Sellers joined a SMART Local 24 (northern Ohio) member for a wide-ranging conversation about megaprojects, traveler opportunities and how members can get involved with the union.
As temperatures drop during cold and flu season, and Covid infections continue to pose public health challenges, it’s more important than ever to have proper ventilation in schools, offices and other buildings – and SMART sheet metal members are the highly skilled workers with the qualifications and expertise to perform that work. In Washington state, Local 66 members like fourth-year TAB apprentice Kelsy Sturzen are hard at work ensuring the quality of the air breathed by local students.
“I am one of the people that goes through and makes sure that all of the air coming out of the equipment matches what the engineers have designed for that space,” Sturzen said in a recent interview with SMART News. “We make sure that the equipment is working properly, controlling properly, so that we have the proper air changes per hour.”
Learn more about Sturzen’s journey in the trade and her work on air quality in schools.
Sturzen, who works at signatory contractor Holaday-Parks, Inc., spent the eight years prior to her apprenticeship working as the childcare director at the Boys & Girls Club of King County, Washington – a job she entered immediately after graduating from Central Washington College. Eventually, though, she needed a change, and her husband suggested the apprenticeship program at Local 66. Since then, Sturzen has loved life as a tradesperson.
“What I like about the work is that on any given day it can change,” she explained. “There’s always a surprise, there’s always a new problem to overcome. Some days it’s physical, some days it’s not – it’s never the same day.”
Sturzen, the first female technician Holaday-Parks has hired, is currently working on a tenant improvement project at a local elementary school. Indoor air quality has always been vitally important for the health and wellbeing of Americans, especially children, but that area of work has risen in profile since the onset of the pandemic. Now that Americans are fully returning to schools, offices and other public gathering areas, it’s vital that air is circulated in those spaces.
“I would tell a parent whose child was going to an elementary school that I was working on that the importance of the quality of their air realistically goes along with the quality of the education that they want their child to have,” Sturzen told SMART News. “[Poor] quality of air impedes your ability to think clearly, just like [not] getting enough sleep or [not] getting the proper nutrition. Breathing quality air and knowing that you’re in an environment where you can breathe easily and safely is an important fact to know.”
“It gives me a sense of fulfillment knowing that people are breathing a little bit easier because of the job that we’re doing,” she added. “[We’re] making sure that they come into a space where they know that they’re being taken care of.”
Unprecedented infrastructure investment continues to create jobs for SMART sheet metal workers across the country. That includes Connecticut, where a project labor agreement is putting SMART Local 40 sheet metal members to work at Bradley International Airport.
“It’s a fantastic thing. We have a bunch of different people, not only from my local but overall in the Connecticut building trades, doing the background work, talking to the right folks so that we can go in there and make good, living wages” said Local 40 journeyperson Manny Heredia in an interview with SMART News.
Watch Nimmons and Heredia discuss new work for members on SMART News.
The jobs Local 40 members will perform are part of approximately $230 million of work on the airport, which will see a total overhaul of the airport’s baggage handling area. Approximately $20 million of that amount is from federal infrastructure legislation, which included strong hiring incentives that benefit union members.
“We’re going to do energy efficient upgrades to the terminal, HVAC improvements which will include indoor air quality, MERV 13 or better air filters because it is an airport where everyone’s coming in, with all the airborne illnesses we’ve had,” Local 40 Regional Manager John Nimmons told SMART News.
“We are becoming a go-to trade, because people are realizing these buildings do need to have great ventilation systems,” Heredia added.
In the past, Nimmons explained, any renovations on Bradley International Airport would likely have been performed by nonunion workers. However, current Governor Ned Lamont sought the support of the Connecticut Building Trades during both of his election campaigns, and in return, he has acted in support of union workers.
“We now get to reap the benefits of jobs going our way with just the stroke of the governor’s pen,” Nimmons added. “All four years of our apprenticeship classes are full – we’re actively recruiting journeypersons and apprentices. The workload we have under project labor agreements, public and private in the state of Connecticut, looks very good over the next two-and-a-half to three years.”
Local 49 Business Manager Isaiah Zemke (right) with President Biden.
SM Local 49 (Albuquerque, N.M.) Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer Isaiah Zemke took part in a “Communities in Action: Building a Better New Mexico” meeting at the White House on October 7, 2022. The discussion, part of the Biden administration’s “Building a Better America” series, included an overview with leaders from Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, followed by state-specific sessions.
“They had leaders from each state join – from unions, nonprofits, tribal governments and elected politicians – for a group briefing, followed by individual state roundtables to share stories and discuss amplifying them across our communities and states,” Zemke said, noting that he conducted a survey of Local 49 members prior to the meeting in order to convey members’ thoughts to the administration. “I discussed indoor air quality and how we are partnering with school boards, the state of New Mexico and municipalities [to perform that work.]”
In the group meeting, Zemke and other attendees met with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, senior advisor to President Biden; Steve Rochetti, legislative coordinator; Al Zaidi, White House national climate advisor; Jewel Bronaugh, deputy secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture; Susan Rice, director of domestic policy; and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Along with conveying members’ messages to the administration, Zemke participated in a discussion on how recent legislation will impact working families in the region.
“It sounds like the plan is to have all 50 states choose leaders to attend similar action plans,” Zemke added.
Watch Zemke discuss his visit to the White House in episode two of SMART News.
In the New Mexico roundtable, Zemke brought up the amount of work that Indoor Air Quality policies and legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create for SM Local 49 members, including an Intel plant in Rio Rancho, N.M. He also pointed out the need for high schools to receive funding for CTE programs, ensuring that SMART and other building trades have the workforce pipeline that will be needed to complete the infrastructure work of the future.
Ultimately, the discussion once again proved SMART’s new level of access with the current administration – and the importance of taking advantage in order to strengthen our union.
