On June 9, 2022, 3M Fall Protection announced a stop use/recall of specific 3M™ DBI-SALA® ShockWave™2 Arc Flash Shock Absorbing Lanyards. 3M determined that, for a limited number of devices, a potential manufacturing issue could result in the lanyard not performing properly in the event of a fall, which could result in severe injury or death. There have been no reports of injuries, accidents or complaints associated with this issue.
At this time, users/owners of affected lanyards can choose to receive either a free new replacement unit (when available) or a cash option. Visit the recall website to read the detailed recall notice, view a list of affected part numbers and file a claim for any affected lanyards you own.
First-, second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-year apprentices participated in the fifth Northwest Regional Apprentice Contest on April 26-28 in Pasco, Washington. This year, the contest welcomed a combined 32 apprentices from Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 (Portland and Eugene, Oregon); Local 23 (Anchorage, Alaska); Local 55 (Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington); Local 66 (DuPont and Everett, Washington); and Local 103 (Pocatello, Idaho).
Apprentices competed in four categories: architectural sheet metal, HVAC sheet metal, industrial sheet metal/welding and HVAC service.
In the architectural sheet metal category, Joe Kim, Local 23, took first place; Josh Clute, Local 55 (Spokane) took second place; and Diana Loveall, Local 16, took third.
In the HVAC sheet metal category, Nolan Milojevich, Local 16, took first place, with Cody Parrish, Local 55 (Boise), in second place and Kim MacArthur, Local 23, in third place.
Among the industrial sheet metal/welding apprentices, Christian Irving, Local 55 (Boise), took the top spot, with Tanner McFarren, Local 23, in second place and Jared Robeson, Local 16, in third place.
In the HVAC service category, top finishers included Alfred Fleener, Local 23, in first place; Jalen Brooks, Local 16, in second place; and Austin Dragt, Local 66 (DuPont), in third place.
On the morning of Thursday, June 9, over 120 SMART members joined the Association for the Rights of Citizens with Handicaps (ARCh) to prepare the Menomonee Park lodge for ARCh Camp Pow Wow, ensuring area adults and children with disabilities can attend the annual summer camp. Additionally, SMART pitched in with a fundraising effort that brought in $33,000 for ARCh and Camp Pow Wow, including a $5,000 donation from Milwaukee Tool Co.
“This is what we’re all about: building better communities,” said SMART Local 565 Business Manager & Financial Secretary Treasurer Jesse Buell. “Building better wages and benefits, and raising local standards. We are proud to take part in this effort to support our community.”
“SMART takes great pride in being able to assist ARCh Camp Pow Wow with their reopening,” added SMART Local 18 Business Manager/President Mike Mooney. “Camp Pow Wow has been a staple with serving the needs of the community for many years, and SMART is honored to be able to assist them.”
ARCh Camp Pow Wow has been providing outdoor recreational activities for adults and children with disabilities since 1959 with options for swimming, fishing, gardening, fitness, arts and crafts, music and more. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Camp Pow Wow hasn’t taken place in person since 2019, and the site had fallen into disrepair. As a small non-profit, ARCh did not have the resources to ready the site for return to camp, so the SMART Army answered the call.
“We are thrilled and honored to benefit from the enthusiasm and expertise of the SMART Army,” said Kristen Lindahl, Assistant Director of Operations at ARCh. “This project shows how much good can be accomplished through a dynamic partnership of organized labor, county government and the non-profit community. It takes this great ‘village’ to raise a camp!”
Members of SMART Local 18 (Wisconsin) and Local 565 (Madison, Wis.) – along with SMART delegates attending the SMART Sign and Production Council in Milwaukee – arrived at Menomonee Park lodge early on Thursday morning.
Members removed all the contents of the lodge, cleaned and sanitized the entire building – rooms, kitchen, common areas and more – and cleaned and sanitized every piece of equipment in the lodge before reinstalling all furnishings. Others took care of basic landscaping, repair and maintenance needs for the lodge picnic area, music pavilion, tent boxes and swing sets: fixing picnic tables and accessible wooden walkways, setting up heavy-duty tents for campers to use, spreading woodchips, sanitizing toys and recreational materials, and more. To finish off the effort, SMART members presented a $33,000 to ARCh Camp Pow Wow: a demonstration of the union’s commitment to supporting local communities across the United States and Canada.
“Although they have been challenging for everyone, the past two years have caused massive loneliness and frustration among children and adults with disabilities,” said Lindahl. “Thanks to the skill and dedication of the SMART Army, our campers can now safely and joyously return to the summer fun that they have missed so much!”
In the last several years, an increase in HVAC, construction, ventilation verification and other work has led to a growth in continent-wide demand for the skills and expertise provided by SMART members. As the need for sheet metal workers has intensified, so too has the drive to recruit more women into the trade, and the 21st-century workforce looks more diverse than ever before. With this opportunity comes a similar sense of responsibility: the greater and more diverse our union and industry grow, the harder we must work to safeguard the well-being of every member of our union.
Health and safety concerns in construction and the trades affect both women and men, but some problems can have a greater impact on women. Interviews and focus groups of women construction workers conducted by Chicago Women in Trades and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health identified several recurring issues. As in other male-dominated fields, women in construction have reported facing a hostile workplace, sexual harassment, isolation and job insecurity. These stresses can add to the pressure already created by tight deadlines and complicated work.
Physical challenges and job site dynamics unique to women add to this disparity. Women are between two and five times more likely than men to experience upper body sprains and strains at work. Excessive lifting and repetitive motions are all known risk factors for back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders, regardless of gender — and it’s important to remember that many things on a job site, from tools to protective equipment to portable toilets, have historically been designed for men’s bodies.
As we step into a bright future, it’s up to all of us, men and women, to help one another survive and thrive in the sheet metal industry. Among other things, that means:
Making sure all workers have access to tools and personal protective equipment at a jobsite, including respirators, fall protection harnesses, gloves and safety goggles that fit properly and comfortably.
Providing portable bathroom facilities on job sites that are safe and hygienic for any worker to use.
For guidance on navigating stress and work culture as a woman in the sheet metal industry, view the SMART Sister Tips from women working in locals all over the country, a series that kicked off Women in Construction Week earlier this spring.
As always, the SMOHIT Helpline, 877-884-6227, is available 24/7, with a trained counselor ready to take your call if you are experiencing a crisis.
In this Memorial Day video message from SMART General President Sellers, we remember those Americans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and democracy, along with Canadian heroes who are recognized each year on July 1. May God bless their memories, their families who share the burdens of their sacrifices and every active and veteran member of our armed services.
Victoria Day is a day that we not only spend with our loved ones, but also honour the birthday of Queen Victoria, the Mother of Confederation.
While last year’s celebrations were muted due to the pandemic, things have changed considerably, and we are now approaching a new sense of normalcy.
It is also a time to reflect on our achievements, such as the Skilled Trades Workforce Mobility Tax deduction. We still have much work to do to further the progress we have made. But on this special day, let’s celebrate by safely spending some well-deserved time with our friends and loved ones.
During the first week of May, the SMART Department of Education held an in-person basic organizing training session in Portland, Oregon — part of the vital work the department performs in order to keep our union strong and geared towards growth.
Participants from across the region immersed themselves in study and conducted role play exercises to prepare for circumstantial and situational topics that are important for building a basic organizing foundation for local unions.
Topics included, but were not limited to:
Organizing under the National Labor Relations Act in both construction and production settings;
Basic “street law” rules for in-field activity;
Initiating and perpetuating value-based representation communications with nonunion workers;
Initiating and perpetuating value-based, top-down conversations with employers;
Investigating and outlining basic organizing strategies; and more.
Participants were also given a presentation on the SMART indoor air quality (IAQ) initiative. Instructors broke down the complexities of the initiative’s sequences, answered questions and discussed with participants how the IAQ initiative could be utilized as a tool for organizing, growing market share and increasing density within their local unions.
In addition to in-person sessions, participants had the opportunity to engage in the training via remote conferencing with both SMART Director of Organizing Darrell Roberts and SMART Director of National Campaigns James White, both of whom gave presentations about their departments and answered questions.
On Friday, May 6, 105 members of SMART Local 565 working at Trachte Building Systems in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin voted to strike – taking a collective stand for their rights to a fair contract that gives them well-earned time to spend with their families and loved ones.
“There’s been lots of a mandatory overtime put on the workers through the pandemic, [and] the company is looking for additional mandatory overtime language [in the next contract],” Local 565 Business Manager Jesse Buell said in an interview with Labor Radio in Madison. “The people just want more family time.”
Sheet metal workers at Trachte perform essential labor that has proved especially vital in recent years, producing training centers for fire fighters and first responders, as well as storage units that are used across the country. Unfortunately, Buell explained to Labor Radio, the hard work of the members has not been rewarded by management. Instead, Trachte has maneuvered to keep Local 565 members working as much as possible – at the expense of time spent with their kids, families and neighbors.
“There was a moment where Trachte worked these guys for seven days a week for about nine weeks in a row very strategically, where they didn’t mandate the same person for the 15 days, but they would go back and forth from machines,” he said.
Following what Buell called a “strong” strike vote, Local 565 members have taken to the street – despite attempted union-busting from Trachte, including a letter encouraging workers to quit the union. According to Buell, the company’s hostile tactics have only strengthened the resolve of the workers.
“It’s actually motivated the members to stick together, and it’s really gained solidarity over there,” he said.
That solidarity has extended to the rest of the Wisconsin labor movement. On Monday, May 9, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO released a statement in support of striking SMART members.
“The Wisconsin labor movement proudly stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of SMART Local 565 on strike at Trachte Building Systems in Sun Prairie,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “We send solidarity and strength to SMART members as they hold the line for a fair and just contract that allows workers to spend time with their family.”
SMART commends the bravery of our Local 565 brothers and sisters on strike in Wisconsin, and every member of our union stands with them in unwavering solidarity as they continue to fight for their rights.
Over the next two episodes of Talking SMART – the official podcast of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation workers – hosts Paul Pimentel and Ben Nagy talk with SMART members who have successfully run for local or state public office, discussing their sheet metal and transportation careers, what motivated them to run for elected office, specific steps they took to build and run successful campaigns and key issues they focused on once in office.
The featured guest for episode 20: Joe de la Cruz, a 25-year sheet metal worker with SMART Local 40 and vice president of Hillery Company, a signatory metal fabricator located in Groton, Conn. Episode 20 is out now; look for episode 21 in the near future.
Since 2016, Brother de la Cruz has served as a state representative, proudly serving the communities of Groton and New London in the Connecticut General Assembly. But his career as an elected official started at a much more local level, when he ran for and won a seat on Groton’s Town Council and Representative Town Meeting years earlier.
“What I think inspires people to get involved is when they start actually participating, and you don’t have to be elected to do that,” de la Cruz told Talking SMART. “All the meetings are open – just go to your council meeting. And when you hear how other people think and how vastly different it is sometimes from your opinion, that’s when the fire can get lit.”
“I know [running for office is] hard and I know it’s tough to do because we’re sheet metal workers, and when we go home we’re dirty and tired, but if you want to have things go your way – and it doesn’t really matter what the issue is – you have to be sitting at the table.”
– Joe de la Cruz, Local 40 member and Conn. state rep
Throughout the podcast discussion, Brother de la Cruz underscored the importance of being engaged and involved with your local community if you want to have a say in what happens, whether it’s with local sports leagues – which is what initially inspired de la Cruz to run for office – or on multi-million-dollar decisions about Project Labor Agreements or transportation funding. If members aren’t involved, he warned, there’s a strong possibility that the elected officials making decisions with enormous ramifications for SMART members will be people who have no idea what blue-collar life is like for working families.
“I know [running for office is] hard and I know it’s tough to do because we’re sheet metal workers, and when we go home we’re dirty and tired, but if you want to have things go your way – and it doesn’t really matter what the issue is – you have to be sitting at the table,” he explained.
In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, de la Cruz also kickstarted a national campaign to bring metal nose strips to thousands of volunteer face mask makers across the United States and Canada, at a time when masks were in critically short supply. Starting at Local 40, the effort quickly spread to SMART locals across North America, eventually resulting in over 17 million nose strips being produced and shipped to more than 27,000 people who requested them. For his leadership on this effort, Joe was honored in 2022 with the Joseph J. Nigro SMART Army Service Award.
SMART Army members across the United States held their annual event in honor of fallen service members by joining thousands across the country to lay wreaths at the final resting place of service members at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at over 2,500 sites across the country. The event, through Wreaths Across America, pursues the objective of remembering the fallen, honoring their sacrifices and teaching future generations of Americans about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their freedom.
