Tag: Local 16

Home>News>Local 16

SMART SM Local 23 (Anchorage, Alaska) won a wall-to-wall election at Ketchikan Vigor Shipyard in June 2022, bringing workers at the third-largest employer in Ketchikan into our union. This is a huge triumph for the shipyard workers and Local 23, giving SMART and working families an enormous presence in the community.

In January 2022, Vigor Shipyards in Portland, Oregon, reached out to Local 16 (Portland, Ore.) Business Agent Shawn Eckelberry about the possibility of sending a few SMART members to Ketchikan to work at their nonunion shipyard, which was very busy at the time. Eckelberry, recognizing the opportunity for his members, talked to Business Manager Brian Noble about allowing this to happen.

Once the union workers arrived at the yard, it very quickly became apparent to both union and nonunion workers that both sides were skilled and took pride in their work. SMART members soon started talking to the unrepresented workers, asking why they were not union and what prevented them from joining a union in the past. Our members also described the benefits of being in Local 16 and how the nonunion workers could create a path toward enjoying similar advantages.

In early March, our members called Eckelberry to report their conversations with the Ketchikan workers, adding that the shipyard workers wanted to be represented by SMART Local 16. Eckelberry, noting that those workers belonged to the jurisdiction of Local 23, discussed the situation with Local 16 Business Manager Randy Golding; Golding, recognizing that a campaign this large would compel Local 23 to seek assistance from other locals in the SMART Northwest Regional Council (NWRC), ended up calling the president and vice president of the NWRC, Tim Carter and Lance Deyette, to discuss — along with Noble and Eckelberry — the possibility of organizing the Ketchikan shipyard.

NWRC President Carter and Vice President Deyette decided to move forward using the resources of Local 23, Local 16 and Seattle, Wash. Local 66. (Local 16 and Local 66 already have collective bargaining agreements with Vigor in their areas.) President Carter held a strategy meeting with the three regional managers affected and International Organizer Aaron Bailey, and a campaign plan was developed and implemented.

On Sunday, March 27, the first boots hit the ground in Ketchikan, with Eckelberry and Darrin Boyce from Local 16, Kal Rohde from Local 66 and Jens Schurig from Local 23 meeting with workers before their shifts, during breaks and lunch, and after shifts. The business agents and organizers also put together evening meetings for workers to ask questions without employer monitoring. Perhaps most importantly, SMART helped four workers start a voluntary organizing committee (VOC) – a vital part of the plan that gave ownership of the campaign to the workers. Those four workers voted to elect Danny VanNostrand the leader of their group.

NWRC President Tim Carter handbilled outside the shipyard.

After receiving more than 25 signed union cards in the first three days, SMART organizers knew they had to ramp up their efforts and maintain a constant presence in Ketchikan. In April, the NWRC held its spring meeting in Kennewick, Washington, where SMART General President Sellers, NWRC President Carter and the business managers from Local 16, Local 23 and Local 66 facilitated a strategy session on how to move forward with the campaign. That resulted in more than 15 people – including President Carter, three business managers and various business agents and organizers – rotating in and out of Ketchikan during April and May, passing out handbills and meeting with workers to answer their questions or concerns. The concerted effort paid off: In May, SMART filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which ended up being a mailed ballot vote. On June 29, the vote took place via Zoom, where Local 23 won by a 26 to 19 margin! The Certification of Representation arrived from the NLRB on July 8, 2022.

Since then, information requests have gone out and have been received, and an all-hands meeting was conducted at the end of July for workers to express their opinions and wishes for upcoming contract negotiations. Every SMART leader, organizer and member involved in this momentous campaign looks forward to the day when Local 23 will announce a new collective bargaining agreement in Ketchikan!

Following a successful organizing campaign against union-busting opposition, SMART Local 16 members at Vancouver, Washington-based 360 Sheet Metal are now on strike, protesting unfair labor practices and a refusal to come to the bargaining table by management. Workers have been striking since late July, with Local 16 filing charges that 360 Sheet Metal “retaliated against pro-union workers by giving them isolating work assignments, making unilateral changes without bargaining, surveilling workers, and firing at least one union supporter,” according to Northwest Labor Press.

As reported by Local 16 organizer Matt Haines in the summer issue of the SMART Members’ Journal, 360 Sheet Metal almost exclusively builds custom ductwork and pays workers just above the minimum wage – plus, the company is currently under investigation by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries for repeat violations of state prevailing wage law. After a hard-fought battle to form a union, the workers won their National Labor Relations Board election in April 2022. Since then, however, the company has refused to offer workers a contract – and in mid-August, management grew even more hostile. From Northwest Labor Press:

“Strikers say … they were notified they’re eligible for COBRA health coverage on account of their ‘termination.’ If they were in fact terminated, that too would be a violation of federal law, which protects the right to strike and makes it unlawful to permanently replace workers when they’re on strike to protest unfair labor practices.”

Not only is 360 Sheet Metal violating labor law, the company is undermining workers’ rights to union representation, fair wages, dignity on the job and the ability to support their families. Despite these flagrant attacks, however, Local 16 members are refusing to back down, and the labor movement is standing with them. Every morning, striking SMART members have picketed 360 Sheet Metal from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with members of the Ironworkers, Cement Masons, Insulators, Drywall Finishers and Laborers walking the picket line in solidarity. Teamsters working at UPS have refused to cross the picket line, and C-TRAN bus drivers with ATU Local 757 have honked and displayed messages of strength and unity.

SMART condemns 360 Sheet Metal’s anti-union activity in the strongest possible terms, and we stand in complete, unwavering solidarity with Local 16 members on the picket line.

A Local 16 member holds a piece of metal dedicated to Carrie Barber.

Chelsey Bus recently graduated from her apprenticeship at Local 16 in Portland, Oregon. During her five years of training, she experienced much of the same adversity that other women in the trades face; although SMART has made great strides to recruit and retain women, they remain a minority of the membership. That’s what makes stories of “I Got Your Back” solidarity – including Bus’s – so vital for the growth of our union.

When Bus began her apprenticeship, she said her duties involved menial work, like moving materials. But she began to see a shift in her job responsibilities around the time she was assigned to work at General Sheet Metal in Clackamas, Oregon, on an architectural sheet metal job.

“I didn’t have a lot of experience working on the architectural side,” explained Bus. “So I was kind of surprised when I was given the assignment.”

Nevertheless, Bus thrived. Over the course of her apprenticeship, she worked in residential HVAC, commercial HVAC, TAB, a mechanical shop and an architectural shop.

While working on an architectural project at General Sheet Metal, her friend and project manager, Carrie Barber, passed away unexpectedly.

“During that period, immediately after he passed away, people started telling me that he had gone to bat for me. He stuck his neck out and believed in me and got me placements. I had no idea,” Bus said. “His encouragement and faith in me were really touching. He had my back; I didn’t even know it.”

Bus said Barber’s faith in her was inspiring, and she plans to pay it forward – both on and off the job.

“I plan to make an effort to be that person for others,” she said. “I want everyone to experience that level of support, that same feeling that I’ve got your back.”