SMART 100 Spring 2023 Newsletter

SMART 100

SPRING 2023 UPDATES

A WORD F ROM YOUR BUSINESS MANAGER

UNION FAMILY,

Welcome to the Spring 2023 issue of the SMART Local 100 newsletter. Nothing makes me think of new beginnings quite like the beautiful spring weather in our part of the country. So with that in mind, I want to share with you our union’s vision for a more constructive and member-driven future.

The key to that bright future for Local 100 is a culture of respect. Like everything else we’ve built together in the labor movement, a culture of respect isn’t just something that’s imposed from the top down. It’s built by members and member leaders – and whether we’re talking about mutual respect between members or respect between members and elected leaders, it’s everyone’s responsibility.

In the labor movement, respect is the glue that holds us together, and it comes in many forms. Often, it’s about listening, like giving your fellow members the time and room to voice their opinions in a membership meeting. Or taking a moment to consider what you’ve just heard from an elected official in our union before responding.

Listening to our fellow members and our elected officials is key not only to making your fellow members feel heard, but increasing the quality of interactions between all of us here at Local 100. We all want to feel heard. That means when it’s another member’s turn to speak, it’s our turn to listen.

Not listening to one another is disrespectful in and of itself, and it makes things worse for us all. When we don’t listen, we miss valuable opportunities to learn from one another – and we cause unnecessary

tensions that can prevent us from working together effectively.

Respect also means being proactive in our support for one another. It may sound like more work, but it really isn’t. Believe it or not, showing up for our union family members can be a pretty easy thing to do.

The simple act of checking in with a fellow union member can make them feel supported. Let’s be honest, the past several years have been chaotic for everyone, and we all can benefit from feeling supported by our union family. Taking a few seconds to ask a union family member how they’re doing can make them feel that their fellow union members are in their corner and have their back. In the short term, they’ll know they’re not alone, and in the longer term, they’ll be more inclined to support you when you need it. Another important but often overlooked way we can show respect to one another is by simply giving each other the benefit of the doubt. We’ve all learned rumors or heard someone gossiping about someone who isn’t there to defend themselves. Interrupting the spread of gossip and rumors is absolutely essential to building a culture of respect. Fortunately, that doesn’t take much. While you may confront that sort of behavior head on, you can also disrupt it by simply not joining in. You can make it a personal practice to not speak of fellow members when they aren’t around.

Or, if you hear a rumor about a fellow member, you can simply ignore it and not share it with anyone else. Small steps like these can make our local feel like the sort of healthy and supportive environment it always should be. Finally, respect can come in the form of common courtesy, which, as its name suggests, is easy to do and doesn’t cost a thing. It can mean showing restraint when a fellow member or an elected leader says something we may disagree with, even if the first thought to cross your mind is to yell something out. It can also mean taking the time to speak to a union family member in private if there is tension or if you previously had an interaction that left a bad taste in your mouth. Taking this approach may take a bit of maturity, but it’s far more effective than starting a conflict.

Listening to each other, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, and showing some common courtesy: that’s how we can build a culture of respect in our union. Changes like these, though small, can have a great impact on how we, as a local, work with each other. In the end, we all deserve respect from one another. It’s what we owe each other as a union family. We are all part of a movement for worker’s rights, for better

pay, for a secure and dignified retirement, and just as importantly, respect in the workplace.

We all know what it feels like when things change in the shop or on the job site, when we go from feeling taken for granted to finally feeling respected at work. As members of the same union family, we owe ourselves and each other no less. Let’s go forward with the deliberate intention of treating each other with the same respect we would demand for ourselves. I promise you it will be worth it.

MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR SHEET METAL WORKERS

MAY IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH. AS UNION SHEET METAL WORKERS, WE HAVE THE MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES WE NEED.

In solidarity,

Richard LaBille III Business Manager

SMART 100 Washington, D.C. • Baltimore • Cumberland • Roanoke • Norfolk • Richmond

Every year in the United States since 1949, May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month. The month is dedicated to erasing the stigma of mental illnesses of all kinds, showing support for one another, and encouraging anyone who feels like they may need help to seek the support they need. Nationally, SMART is working to ensure members always feel supported both during this important month and throughout the year. That’s why our union has the Member Assistance Program (SMART MAP).

SMART MAP is both an education awareness program and membership action program for any SMART members confronting mental health challenges and any associated issues. SMART MAP’s mission is focused on substance use disorder and suicide prevention, two public health crises that disproportionately impact members of the building trades.

SMART MAP confronts those challenges facing Sheet Metal Workers by educating members on substance use disorder and suicide prevention, as well as on employee assistance programs, ethics, confidentiality and selfcare practices. Members who complete SMART MAP’s training then become mentors, charged with providing compassionate and empathetic support to their fellow members who are returning to work after facing a mental health challenge.

Tragically, workers in the construction industry are 3.5 times more likely than the national average to take their own lives. They’re also six times more likely to die of an

opioid overdose. It’s clear that mental health resources are vital for workers in the trades. Though, as SMART MAP Coordinator Chris Carlough explained in a recent interview, “people don’t like to talk about mental health.”

To combat this stigma and encourage SMART members to reach out for help when they need it, Carlough and his team are creating peer support systems, “empowering [members] to go out there and be peer advocates for their members and getting people to be comfortable to have uncomfortable conversations.”

Here at Local 100, our Member Assistance Program meetings usually take place the last Tuesday of every month at Local 100 HQ in Suitland, MD from 3:304:30pm. All members who feel they need support are welcome and encouraged to join. For more information, scan the QR code below.

Members who are interested in learning more about SMART MAP may contact Chris Carlough at ccarlough@smart-union.org

If you or anyone you know needs assistance, SMART members can receive free and confidential assistance through our helpline at (877) 884-6227.

If you are someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis please contact the suicide prevention help line at 988.

100 IN THE NEWS

Richie LaBille: Think unions only benefit workers? Think again

By Richie LaBille • Mar 27, 2023

As union members, we know the value we bring to the table. From building the expansion at Ronald Reagan National Airport to making sure local school kids have backpacks to start the school year, SMART Local 100 members contribute mightily to our economy and our local communities.

Yet while corporations are all too eager to show off their work, we as union members are a little more modest. We do the work, but we never brag about it.

We don’t need to show off, but we do need to take credit for the amazing work we do as skilled tradespeople, as volunteers, and as citizens. Across the country and here in our area, the public is exposed every day to messages from large corporations that claim to be invested in local communities. They’ll tell anyone who will listen that they are benevolent organizations and good corporate citizens.

SMART Local 100, and all of us in labor, need to make sure the whole story is told. It’s been a cliche for decades that unions and their members are “takers” who demand more money and more benefits without contributing. We know that’s always been false. Now, it’s time for the people who live in the communities we serve to learn just how much labor contributes, both

by doing good work as skilled tradespeople, and by giving back as volunteers and good citizens. That’s why we are speaking up and making our voices heard. We’re telling stories of the good work our members are doing every day across the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Just take a look at the article we published recently about the great work our members have been doing both on and off the job.

We will continue to sing our members’ praises, because we’ve earned it – and because decision makers and our fellow citizens need to know just how much we contribute. Fortunately, we’re doing this at a time when approval of labor unions is at an all-time high and when we have the most pro-union president in living memory in office. Let’s ride this pro-union wave, change the conversation around union members, and keep proving just how vital we are to a strong economy and thriving communities.

Have a story about the good work you and your fellow Local 100 members have been doing on or off the job? Tell us about it at Info@Smart100.org

see the work of SMART Local 100 members in some of the largest and most-important projects. Whether it’s a beautiful metal sculpture or the new expansion at Ronald Reagan National Airport, the craftsmanship of union sheet metal workers is on full display across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Unfortunately, many projects are undertaken without a union workforce. But the cost of using non union labor, especially for projects requiring a high level of skill and entail substantial risk, is great. And we all pay for it.

In the building trades, the relationship between unions and companies with unionized workforces is unique. Our contractors sign on with us, pledging to use union labor and agreeing to share our standards for safety, professionalism, and excellence.

Here at our union, we take responsibility for training workers in all aspects of their careers as sheet metal workers. In our school, apprentices learn everything from safe working practices to welding to state-of-the-art design software — skills they need for a successful career in the industry.

Training as a union sheet metal worker takes years of practice and study. By the time any worker graduates our program, they leave as a highly skilled professional, ready to work in just about any setting the industry has to offer.

Because non-union contractors don’t hire union workers, they can’t guarantee the same level of training. According to a report by the New York Observer, most construction site accidents within that city occur on non-union work sites — a staggering 80%. The reasons cited would be obvious to any union trainer or representative: non-union workers lack the education and safety training of their union counterparts and they don’t report problems at work for fear of retaliation.

The ripple effect of unsafe working conditions and a lack of worker training extend far beyond the worksite. Accidents lead to property damage and personal injury, requiring insurance and workers’ compensation claims, to say nothing of the human toll when a job site accident results in death.

Sparing the workers, their families and overall economy the avoidable expenses of workplace accidents isn’t the only way unions add value to one of the largest industries in the nation. One of the most-pervasive problems in the construction industry is wage theft.

Cities across the country are just now passing measures to help curb wage theft, whether underpayment, nonpayment, misclassification of employees or in other forms. Non-union contractors have been known to steal workers’

compensation in all sorts of ways, even shuttering job sites and closing their business without cutting pay checks.

A report issued by The Labor Center at University of California-Berkeley just this month found that wage theft in various forms in the construction industry cost “Social Security and Medicare between $1.36 and $4.28 billion annually; federal income tax losses of $319 million to $1.26 billion; and state income tax revenue losses of $160 to $552 million.” In other words, wage theft is costing all of us as taxpayers.

As a union, we partner with ethical businesses for jobs for our members, and when there is a dispute about compensation, we sit down and figure it out. Workers getting paid doesn’t just benefit them and their families, but the entire economy, as they are able to shop, pay bills and pay taxes.

Union members don’t pack up and leave when the work is done, either; we use our skills and our income to help others in the community. As a union, Local 100 has donated $14,639 to local children’s hospitals, $3,000 for backpacks for elementary school children in need and $16,300 toward research to find a cure for diabetes.

From offering training and ensuring workplace safety to fighting for workers’ wages and giving back to the community, unions are a force for good. When workers are unionized, we all benefit.

Richie LaBille III is the business manager of SMART Local 100, which represents thousands of sheet metal workers across the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and parts of West Virginia.

THE GOOD WORKS OF SMART LOCAL 100 MEMBERS BENEFIT THE WHOLE COMMUNITY. IT’S TIME WE TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT.

Unions are a force for good. When workers are unionized, we all benefit.

Beyond 100

NEWS AFFECTING OUR UNION AND OUR TRADE SMART PRESIDENT JOSEPH SELLERS RETIRES

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to the newly retired members of SMART Local 100!

Donald W. Dressler

Paul M. Golway

Kenneth P. Hamby

Angelo T. Sykes

Edward T. Whalen

Joseph Sellers Jr., General President of SMART since 2015, retired on May 31, 2023. Sellers has served as a member of SMART since 1980, when he began his apprenticeship in Philadelphia’s Local 19. He carried on a family tradition after his father, who was a member of SMART for 55 years.

During his tenure as President, Sellers led and advocated for recruitment programs to grow and strengthen our membership, as well as overseeing technological advancements in our trade. He championed the BE4ALL Committee and the I Got Your Back campaign, increasing diversity and helping to remove obstacles for underprivileged members.

In his retirement announcement, Sellers thanked all SMART members, saying, “It will always be the greatest honor to have represented the women and men who embody the highest level of professionalism and expertise in our industries. Their selfless dedication was on display when our countries needed them most: They are the essential workers who carried our nations through the global pandemic. They were on the job every day, working on new construction, retrofitting buildings into pop-up hospitals, redesigning hospital configurations, manufacturing much-needed equipment, ensuring the transportation of people and goods, and keeping our supply chain intact and our buildings and schools safe during a tenuous time in our history.”

Michael Coleman, a SMART member since 1985, succeeds Sellers as General President on June 1st

FOR MORE INFORMATION, SCAN THE QR CODE

TALKING SMART PODCAST: FIGHTING FOR FREIGHT RAIL SAFETY

Talking SMART, the official podcast of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, has devoted its most recent episode to rail safety in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio derailment disaster.

On February 3rd, almost 50 Norfolk Southern train cars derailed, spilling vinyl chloride and other chemicals and forcing widespread evacuations and the declaration of a state of emergency by East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.

In the latest Talking SMART episode, SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity and SMART-TD Government Affairs Representative Daniel Banks discuss what this disaster shows about the importance of hiring Union rail workers, as well as the issues inherent to Precision Scheduled Railroading, a practice which may allow scheduling reliability, but only at the cost of crew fatigue and an increased chance of derailment.

On their efforts to lobby for the passing of rail safety legislation at state and national levels, Cassity said,

it comes to combating the railroads, what I need is membership engagement, membership interest, membership participation…we need the members to win this fight. The Union is the voice of many, but we need the many voices to be speaking as one to be effective here.”

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE EFFORTS AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED, LISTEN TO TALKING SMART HERE:

CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR HONORABLE

MENTION

Rochelle Bonty of SMART Local 36 took a leap that paid off big. In 2020, after being laid off due to the pandemic, she took her sheet metal career into her own hands and started her own business. It’s called RMB Mechanical, and it started out with HVAC duct cleaning. Bonty shrewdly realized that COVID-19 meant that indoor air quality would become more important than ever, and the business took off from there.

Bonty is no stranger to trailblazing, though. She was the first Black woman to enter the Local 36 apprenticeship program. Now, she’s a member of the National Association of Women in Construction, a program mentor with St. Louis Building Union Diversity, and just became the first-ever Black woman to be a board member of SMACNA St. Louis.

Bonty’s efforts are now earning her the honors she deserves. In April, the Missouri Women in Trades gave her an honorable mention in the Contractor of the Year Category. Rochelle Bonty is setting an inspiring example for women and people of color in the trades.

FOR MORE, READ HER INTERVIEW WITH THE LABOR TRIBUNE!

“When

PHOTO CONTEST

Each quarter, Local 100 hosts a photo contest for our members. Have a great shot of you or your Union family on the job? Send it to us at Info@Smart100.org along with your name and the names of anyone in the photo. Your picture could be displayed in the next newsletter! Here’s a gallery of past photos for inspiration:

Photo

IN MEMORIAM

Matthew S. Boothe of Owings, Maryland

Clarence M. Gillott, Jr. of Mechanicsville, Maryland

Douglas A. Grantell of Mechanicsville, Maryland

Earl K. Jarrett of Sykesville, Maryland

Hovhannes Kehyaian of Silver Spring, Maryland

Lawrence J. Lipscomb of Edgewater, Maryland

Philip F. Meyers, Sr. of Annapolis, Maryland

Clarence W. Turner, IV of Washington, D.C.

Joseph N. Whittington Jr. of Crownsville, Maryland

STAY CONNECTED

Did you know that SMART Local 100 has a brand new Twitter and Facebook?

It’s a great way to stay connected with the latest from your union!

Don’t miss a single update. Head to Smart100.org/signup now to update your contact information.

We’re excited to unveil our new website, www.SMART100.org, rebuilt to service our members’ needs. From benefits to reps to apprenticeships and more, find everything you need on your computer or phone at the same old URL!