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Local 16 meets with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek

From Delaware to Oregon, sheet metal local unions are winning state legislative victories, helping put SMART members to work and improving the well-being of their communities.

On July 26, members of SMART Local 19 (Philadelphia, Pa.) joined Delaware Governor John Carney at the state capitol, where Carney signed into law a regulation that expands prevailing wage to include custom fabrication. Local 19 had pushed for this legislation for years, said Local 19 Political Director Todd Farally.

“This ensures that every worker that performs custom offsite fabrication, including ductwork and commercial signage, is paid the proper family-sustaining wage,” he explained. “Local 19 and the other mechanical trades, along with our sponsors, worked diligently to get this law passed.”

In the past, bad-faith developers had used custom offsite fabrication as a loophole to pay workers less and undermine area contractors, even when fabrication was taking place on materials for prevailing wage projects. By helping build a coalition to bring custom offsite fabrication under prevailing wage — a coalition that included state Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, House Labor Committee Chair Ed Osieski, Representative Kim Williams, Senator Jack Wagner, contractor SSM Industries and others — Local 19 and other area unions will protect Delaware workers and contractors alike.

Local 19 with Delaware Gov. John Carney

“This is exactly why it is vital for our members and all workers to be engaged in the political process,” Farally added. “When we fight, we win!”

In Oregon, meanwhile, SMART Local 16 built a powerful group of allies, including the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI), to help pass House Bill 3031, which relates to indoor air quality in schools. If school districts receive funding to improve indoor air quality, the law would require indoor air quality assessments of K–12 school facilities every five years and the use of carbon dioxide monitors in all K-12 buildings to help confirm that all school ventilation systems are operating correctly, and that staff is notified right away of any deficiency or issue. It also mandates the review of an independent third-party mechanical engineer to ensure the proper corrections are made for the best results. Importantly for SMART members, labor standards contained in the bill will require that skilled, trained and certified workers perform the work — creating good, family-sustaining jobs.

The process began all the way back in November 2021, according to Local 16 Regional Representative/ Political Coordinator Russ Benton. That’s when Local 16 began meeting with politicians and candidates on both sides of the aisle.

“Over the next 12 months, [Local 16 Business Manager] Brian Noble and I met with every legislator that would meet with us regardless of political affiliation,” Benton explained. “This turned out to be incredibly important at the end of session due to the Senate Republican walkout.”

A crucial part of the successful campaign was developing a partnership with the state Department of Education. Local 16 worked with pro-labor Lane County Commissioner Joe Berney to start bringing federal funds to Lane County. The local also began cultivating relationships with key players in the education sector, such as the president of the Oregon School Board Association and the executive director of the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), as well as political allies like state Senator James Manning. Finally, Local 16 made the strategic decision to hire a grant writing contractor to help Oregon school districts and local educational agencies secure federal infrastructure bill funding to improve school buildings. Crucially, the grant writer would only write applications for projects under a PLA.

All those steps helped build a strong coalition to push for the passage of indoor air quality legislation, Benton explained. Local 16’s strong relationship with ODE led to the state publicizing SMART’s services on its website, promoting union sheet metal workers as the skilled technicians ready to perform indoor air quality work. ODE also sent a communication to school superintendents seeking initial school districts to participate in the grant-writing and application process.

The results have been immediate, Benton said.

“Within two days of the first communication from ODE, we had 22 school districts apply. Within two weeks, we had 33 school districts. Within three weeks, we had 40 school districts willing to sign project labor agreements.”

And on June 23, 2023, the local’s political relationships proved successful, ensuring the passage of HB 3031.

“Connecting with leadership on both sides of the aisle was incredibly important and made all the difference,” Benton concluded. “In the most hostile political environment in our state’s history, we passed a bipartisan IAQ bill.”

Two assistant state legislative directors were elevated to lead their respective states’ legislative boards after a pair of retirements at the end of 2018.

Glenn Carey, SMART TD’s new state legislative director in Oregon, poses for a photo with his 10-year-old granddaughter, Shealeigh.

In Oregon, Glenn Carey, a member of Local 1841 and the state’s assistant SLD since March 2016, took over with the Jan. 1 retirement of Randy Russ.
Russ, of Local 1574, joined the union in 1999 and served just short of seven years as Oregon’s SLD.
“When Randy talked, people listened,” Carey said. “That’s Randy…not a lot of banter, but when he talked, we hung on every word. We listened. Most staunch union man I’d ever seen and (he) was a big brother to me.
“I am hoping to do a good job for SMART TD and keep the level of professionalism just like Randy did.”
Carey says two-person crew legislation similar to what was passed in California will be a priority in Oregon.
“We will get it,” he said. “The timing is right.”
In Wisconsin, William “Andy” Hauck succeeds Craig Peachy, who also retired effective Jan. 1. Hauck began as assistant SLD in April 2016 and is a member of Local 583.
Hauck said he’s taking over the state legislative board at a good time.
William “Andy” Hauck is Wisconsin’s new state legislative director.

“We have a new governor in Wisconsin — we’re ‘Scott free’,” he quipped, referring to the anti-union former Gov. Scott Walker, who enacted right-to-work-for-less and other anti-union initiatives during his terms.
Wisconsin is among four states that have passed state two-person crew legislation, so Hauck’s focus will be on bringing legislation forward on issues including taxi-cab legislation covering rail worker transportation; rail inspection reforms through the state Commissioner of Railroads Office; legislation covering safety lighting in rail yards and ensuring that full Positive Train Control (PTC) interface access is available to conductors.
“The regulation states that ALL crew members will be trained and have the capability to interact with the safety overlay system of PTC,” Hauck said.
Hauck’s predecessor, Peachy, hired out with the Soo Line railroad in 1974 and had his rail career disrupted a number of times because of layoffs. He returned for good in 1990 with the Wisconsin Central Ltd., a subsidiary of Canadian National that was successfully organized by the United Transportation Union in 1997.
Peachy, of Local 583 (Fond du Lac, Wis.), got involved as a local legislative representative, eventually being elected state legislative director in 2012 and then re-elected in 2016.
“It has been an honor and privilege to have leaders like Brothers John Risch and James Stem, who were always there to guide and direct me to be the best state legislative director that I could be,” Peachy said in a letter announcing his retirement. “The SMART TD Legislative Department is second to none due to our past and present elected leadership.”
SMART TD wishes Peachy and Russ the best in their retirements and Carey and Hauck success in their work to serve our brothers and sisters.

No RTWThe sponsor of a proposed ballot measure aimed at making union dues voluntary for public employees may well drop the initiative after receiving a politically unpalatable ballot title.

Portland attorney Jill Gibson said she is leaning toward abandoning the proposal after the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a ballot description that will make the measure harder to sell to voters.

The measure, which is being closely watched by the state’s unions, would end the state law requiring public employees represented by union contracts to pay dues regardless of whether they join. Instead, dues would be voluntary for non-members.

Read more from The Oregonian. 

The state of Oregon’s House and Senate have been working to pass bills that are labor-friendly.

Most recently, H.B. 3342 passed through the House and has made its way into the Senate. If passed, the bill would outlaw public sector union-busting. Public employers will no longer be able to use public funds or use public property to hold meetings whose purpose is to deter or assist union organizing.

Two other bills that have passed the House and are awaiting Senate approval are H.B. 2950 and H.B. 2646. These bills would allow workers to take up to two weeks of unpaid leave to deal with the death of a family member and would require prevailing wages on all construction projects on public university lands, even if donor-funded.

Another pro-worker bill in the House is H.B. 3390, which seeks to mandate that employers with six or more employees provide employees with seven days of paid sick leave per year.