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SMART partners with SMACNA, ITI to highlight skilled trades as gateway to prosperous, in-demand careers

To raise awareness for the abundance and evolution of trade careers, building trades unions and skilled trade associations, including SMART, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) and International Training Institute (ITI), have come together to launch the first national Careers In Trades Week, April 7-11, 2025. Activities throughout the week will increase awareness about the benefits of choosing careers in the skilled trades among job seekers and the American public, with the goal of filling thousands of positions that are essential to the country’s economic growth.

Learn more about careers in trades week

“Union apprenticeships aren’t just a career path — they’re a gateway to a stable, rewarding future,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “By investing in the next generation of trade workers, we’re building a skilled workforce that will power our industries and communities for decades to come.”

“Skilled professions play critical roles in building the world in which we live, work, and play — vital to the construction of chip plants, stadiums, healthcare facilities, factories, and data centers. It’s time that we provide a fresh look at how trade careers have evolved technologically and financially,” added SMACNA CEO Aaron Hilger. “With approximately 35,000 sheet metal workers due to retire, the time to raise awareness of the opportunities and benefits among young workers is now.”

Stellar pay. In-demand work. No college debt.

Gen Z has been called the “toolbelt generation” due to their growing interest in joining the trades. It’s understandable considering the trades pay well, eliminate college debt and meaningfully contribute to society. According to a recent survey that was published in Higher Ed Dive, about 9 in 10 Gen Z graduates said learning a skilled trade can be a better route to economic security than college (Thumbtack survey).

It’s worth it. BLS occupational outlook predicts about 663,000 construction job openings each year. The same statistics showed a median annual wage of $55,000 in 2023, higher than that of all occupations. Furthermore, the Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Program provides training and education for hundreds of thousands of workers in fields ranging from construction to manufacturing to public administration. Within the sheet metal industry, training and working with union contractors can offer even greater rewards, with apprentices earning up to $87,500 in their first year and as much as $120,000 to $200,000 in wages and benefits within four to five years of completing an apprenticeship program.

Plus: High school students opting for a technical education career track can avoid college debt, which currently averages $34,000 for a four-year bachelor’s degree. Instead, students can get paid for apprenticeships and enter the workforce with money in the bank and no college debt. 

“A 23-year-old on track to make six figures this year says he’s living proof that college isn’t necessary”

Read Fortune‘s profile of Local 265 sheet metal worker Tyler Zitzka

The work is rewarding, too. Working alongside other trades, union sheet metal workers are responsible for constructing, maintaining and repairing homes, schools, hospitals, buildings and other vital structures we use every day, ensuring the quality of the air we breathe. The skilled trade professions work together to construct the buildings that are essential to fueling the economy, including chip factories, data centers, state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and nuclear power plants.

Interested in joining the unionized sheet metal trade? Find a training center near you.

Parents see the difference: Backed by strong bipartisan support, career and technical education programs are flourishing, and careers in the trades are projected to experience faster-than-average job growth from 2023 to 2033. They also offer earning potential that exceeds the median wage across all occupations, according to the BLS.

These reasons — along with the job market, economy, and college debt — may be why 89% of parents with children currently enrolled in high school or college think it’s smart for young adults to consider pursuing a career in the trades, according to new research conducted independently by Wakefield Research. The same research revealed that 48% of kids have mentioned wanting to go into a trade, and 86% of those parents would be open to or encourage it.

The International Training Institute (ITI) recently received a $3.4 million grant to build two testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) labs at training centers for SMART Local 85 in Atlanta and Local 88 in Las Vegas.

Funded by the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), this grant establishes the ITI as a new Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC). With funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the ITAC program supports educational institutions to provide energy efficiency, clean energy, and health and safety job training to participants, simultaneously helping improve industrial sector efficiency and productivity.

A large portion of the grant will be spent the first year, building the two labs. The last two years of the grant will allow the ITI to conduct training in TAB, ventilation verification and indoor air quality, heat pump technology, and other courses that involve energy efficiency and the installation of those systems and equipment. There will be 12 classes hosted by the ITI in each location over each of the two years, said Mike Harris, ITI administrator.

“Ultimately, the goal for us was to build these two labs to expand our workforce in these areas and utilize these facilities to do training for members — one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast,” he said. The grant began April 1 and gives the ITI one year to build the labs, which Harris doesn’t expect to take that long. “If we complete them early, we may be able to move into the next part of the grant, the training, early.”

Local 85 in Atlanta recently purchased a new building for its training center, essentially providing a blank slate to create an 8,000-square-foot lab. Local 88 in Las Vegas is currently undergoing a renovation and expansion project to their facility and will finally get a dedicated TAB lab after years hosting the training across the parking lot in the back of the union hall building, Harris said.

“I think they’ll be two unique labs that will both be excellent sites to host our training,” he added. “While they will be a little different depending on what each needs to make the lab fit the space and the contractors in that area, we will be able to facilitate the same top-rate training classes at both.”

Both labs will feature the newest technology and equipment, and they will allow instructors to create real-life scenarios for students to problem solve. At Local 85, a clean room will be set up to allow fume hood, HEPA filter and dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) training as well as fire/smoke damper and stairwell pressurization.

Las Vegas’ Local 88 will have an approximately 5,000-square-foot lab, equipped with a pressure independent variable air volume (VAV) system with direct digital and pneumatic controls; a constant-volume, multi-zoned air handler; two types of water piping system training boards; chilled water system; three-circuit hot water system; and digital controls training stations. In addition, a three-compartment room-to-room pressurization structure for fire life safety stair and compartmental pressure setups is planned, along with a hospital critical room pressure setup, commercial kitchen exhaust hood system, laboratory fume hood system and a clean room training structure.

Alan Still, training director at Local 85, has been waiting for a TAB lab his entire 21-year career as head of the apprenticeship program.

“We’ve been teaching TAB for 10 years without a lab. We’ve had a lot of makeshift stuff we’ve had to put together,” he said. “It’s finally a dream come true. Through the partnership with the ITI, we are able to get the best of the best, state-of-the-art lab with everything an apprentice would ever see on a job. It’s a great opportunity. It better equips them to be out in the field. It’ll increase our work hours as far as giving them that real-world experience.”

Currently, the closest certified TAB lab for Local 85 members to test for certification is in Philadelphia, Still said. Not only will the new lab allow members to test and receive certifications in house, it gives them the opportunity to expand to other certifications, such as fire life safety, they could not provide before.

“We will be able to host fire inspectors, fire marshals. We can show them what happens when the fire dampers work and when they don’t work,” Still said. “I could have never dreamed what we were going to have, and it would not have been possible had it not been for this grant.”

Ken Bosket, TAB specialist and full-time instructor at Local 88, echoed that sentiment.

“It’s going to bring us up to par to what is actually out in the field when our technicians go out there to work. We are outdated with our current TAB lab,” he said. “That’s one of the main reasons I’m excited — we’re going to have more equipment to work with, more real-world scenarios to run.”

With new equipment and updated technology, Bosket hopes the TAB lab brings in sheet metal journeypersons who want to expand their skills in addition to current apprentices.

“TAB is not as easy as everyone thinks. We run into potential road blocks in our field all the time. Understanding how equipment and systems operate helps immensely in solving problems,” Bosket said. “We help find solutions and steer the proper functioning of not just merely HVAC equipment, but on a much broader scale. We’re talking water flow, air flow, electrical systems, building automated controls, building environmental or indoor air quality conditions, fire life safety systems. Understanding TAB is a precious asset.”

The locals were chosen based on need in the area, contractor demand and the ability to train not only members from around the country but also the apprentices and journey-persons in those local memberships.

“There’s a big need for it, and it’s going to help them start expanding that workforce or that knowledge to their workforce,” Harris said.

For the first time in its more-than-50-year history, the International Training Institute (ITI) has hired a full-time curriculum writer on staff, Mark Colone.

The Pennsylvania native comes to the ITI after a long history of working with the union training fund on curriculum projects for more than 20 years. Colone was hired by MetaMedia Training International Inc., where he was instrumental in the development of the ITI’s curriculum library, including Core, architectural, welding, indoor air quality technician, fire life safety and testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB). He worked for the company for 16 years, first as an instructional designer and then as a senior instructional designer.

Colone and his team’s work on the Core curriculum was honored with CINE Golden Eagle, Bronze Telly and Grand Telly awards. He also has experience working on curricula and multimedia-based programs for other organizations including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), NASA, the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), among others.

“I’m glad we were able to bring curriculum writing directly in house,” said Mike Harris, ITI administrator. “Mark worked closely with us before, but now, as part of the team, he can really help the ITI update its current curricula as well as help construct the future training materials apprentices will need to become successful sheet metal workers. It’s great to have him officially as part of the ITI staff.”

Across North America, various sheet metal funds including the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI), the International Training Institute (ITI) and the Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) work to expand opportunity and wellbeing in the unionized sheet metal trade. Read about recent appointees below:

New NEMI field representative tapped for Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy

Josh Hunter, former SMART Local 48 (Birmingham, Ala.) Business manager and new NEMI Southeast field representative, was selected earlier this year by the city of Birmingham Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity to serve as a member of the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy: a partnership between the National League of Cities (NLC) and the United States Department of Labor (DOL). The academy was established to develop innovative and scalable solutions to address pressing workforce challenges and is funded by investments from recently passed federal laws: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Birmingham was one of 16 cities chosen to participate in the academy. The group began meeting in May and will continue through July 2024 to develop solutions that focus on upskilling and reskilling workers and preparing underrepresented workers for quality, high-growth, in-demand occupations.

Working with labor leaders, industry partners and government representatives, the members of the Birmingham Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy specifically focus on infrastructure, clean energy and advanced manufacturing jobs, with an emphasis on barrier elimination, particularly as it relates to childcare and the care economy, Hunter said.

“I’m excited about this opportunity,” he added. “The work that we will be doing over the next year falls in line with the mission and goals our union has prioritized. We will look to create real solutions that will help our local recruit and retain members of the community, including those who are often underrepresented.”

Hunter hopes to create new marketing strategies and solutions, and he expects to work closely with the NEMI team to craft ideas that will assist his work group in completing its mission.

“NEMI has always been a resource we have relied on to help us move our local forward,” Hunter said. “I will absolutely rely on their expertise as a sounding board as we brainstorm solutions.”

Partnerships such as the academy are opportunities to get involved in the community, establish tangible relationships and build pipelines to recruit new members and promote the trade. Anything Hunter and Local 48 accomplish in Birmingham can be shared with other locals, too, added Lisa Davis, NEMI administrator.

“Local 48 has an incredible opportunity here, with Josh serving on the academy, to create real solutions that will benefit the entire community of Birmingham,” Davis said. “NEMI is proud to support his efforts in any way we can.”

Pittsburgh native lands leadership role at ITI

The ITI has named Len Liebert as program administrator, a position he accepted in September 2023. In his new role, Liebert oversees ITI classes and programs, working with teams on scheduling, planning and communication, as well as managing administrative staff and budget.

Len Liebert

Liebert has a history of mentoring apprentices and journeypersons. A longtime member of SMART Local 12 in Western Pennsylvania, Liebert joined the apprenticeship to become a second-generation sheet metal worker in 1989, shortly after graduating from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. He then served as field foreman and in-house testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) technician for Ruthrauff Service in Pittsburgh while working as a part-time instructor at his home local.

In 2001, Liebert took on teaching full time, and in 2014 he became the assistant training coordinator at Local 12. After around 20 years in service as a consultant for the ITI on instructor development, lesson packages, classroom management and educational psychology, Liebert was officially hired by the ITI as a field staff representative in 2017. He went on to become a certified Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) master trainer and a subject matter expert in infection control.

“Thirty-three years in this business has taught me to trust the people I have worked closely with,” Liebert said. “We have a great team here at the ITI, and I look forward to continued success with all our coordinators, instructors and members.”

Ed Robison aims to support members nationwide at SMOHIT

Ed Robison began his new job as field representative with SMOHIT — the health and safety arm of the unionized sheet metal industry — last summer, where his top priority is to educate members in their local unions about the resources SMOHIT offers.

Ed Robison

After entering the Local 218 (Springfield, Ill.) Apprenticeship in 1991, Robison completed the five-year program and steadily rose through the ranks to become an organizer and then, in 2014, the business manager. He lives in Springfield and continues to be a member of Local 218, where Carter Robison, the youngest of his three sons, is currently a second-year apprentice.

In his new position, Robison helps union members across the country by connecting them with local resources and familiarizing them with the SMART MAP (Member Assistance Program). Robison noted that it’s especially important to reach out to sheet metal workers who have traveled to work at large projects. These men and women are putting in long hours while living far from home, and those needing mental health support may not know where to turn.

“SMOHIT has increased staff size and vision, and it’s changing a lot,” he said. “I’m really excited for what lies ahead. This is going to be a whole new fund.”

John Wilson takes national role in sheet metal education

Longtime sheet metal worker John Wilson has been chosen as a field representative by the ITI. In this role, he will provide support for training programs and their directors, create and assist in the implementation of curriculum and training, and serve as a resource/liaison between the ITI and training facilities across the country.

John Wilson

Wilson began his career in the sheet metal industry shortly after he graduated high school in 2005. He completed the apprenticeship program with SMART Local 100, working mainly in the Washington, DC, area. From the moment he graduated from the apprenticeship, Wilson set his sights higher — first as a foreperson; then as general funds trustee, executive board member and part-time instructor; and finally, as an assistant training coordinator and recording secretary for Local 100. During his career, he worked for W.E. Bowers and Southland Industries.

Wilson is continuing his education at the Community College of Baltimore County, pursuing a degree in construction craft professionalism, in addition to industry training and certifications. Currently, he maintains multiple certifications in Occupational Safety and Health for the Construction Industry, fire life safety, duct air leakage, building envelope installer, ventilation verification and testing, adjusting and balancing, to name a few. He currently lives in Delta, Pennsylvania, just over the Maryland/Pennsylvania border.

Jeff Bradley named SMOHIT program director

Jeff Bradley, who joined SMOHIT in spring 2023 as a field representative, was promoted to program director in the fall, as his position underwent a “natural evolution:” moving into tasks such as scheduling and planning conferences and programs, reviewing contracts and overseeing the new version of health screenings, among others.

“The shift in responsibilities came organically as I stepped in to help with SMOHIT operations,” Bradley said. “Between revitalizing the health screenings in a different way that will reach even more members to scheduling SMART MAP sessions in Canada, it’s been busy, but I feel like I’m truly bringing benefits to members that could change their lives.”

Bradley entered his sheet metal apprenticeship in 2004 at Local 36 in St. Louis, where he currently resides with his wife and the youngest of his three children. Throughout his career, he has worked as a part- and full-time instructor and welding facility representative, as well as serving Local 36 as an organizer, vice president and director of marketing. He earned his associate degree in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) from Vatterott College, and he holds multiple certifications and training completion certificates.