SMART 100 Winter 2023 Newsletter

SMART 100

WINTER 2023 UPDATES

ABOUT SMART LOCAL 100

wages and benefits.

We ensure fair wages, job safety, quality health care, pensions, training, and more to support each generation of skilled sheet metal workers.

A WORD F ROM YOUR BUSINESS MANAGER

UNION FAMILY,

First off, happy new year! I wish you and your family peace and prosperity in the year ahead.

Here at your Union, we’ve achieved a lot. Our membership has grown, our financial health remains strong, and our commitment to excellence in the building trades has only expanded our already strong reputation.

With that in mind, I want to encourage you all to join together as we embrace the challenges that lie ahead in this new year. Across the industry, we’re facing stiff competition. New technology and changes in construction practices are shifting the way we work and blurring the lines between the trades on the job site.

The truth is, there are many other Unions who are vying for work that should go to sheet metal workers, the most famous example being the installation of prefabricated panels in new construction. How the trades are organized dates back to the nineteenth century, and sometimes even earlier. Yet as time has progressed, so too have building materials, design, construction techniques, and of course, technology. Where we may have learned to take measurements or located ourselves on a job site using a measuring tape, we now have lasers, to say nothing of global positioning satellites, or GPS.

We can and must always take pride in our history and traditions as sheet metal workers. At the same time, though, we have to embrace the changes in our line of work. Now is not the time to fall into despair, nor is it an occasion to become resentful of other building trades. Instead, we need to compete to show our invaluable skills as sheet metal workers for the jobs of today and the technologies of tomorrow.

Investing in our apprenticeship program and ensuring that we are all paying our dues is an excellent place to start. The reality is that the Unions that are blazing a new trail for their members have the funding to train apprentices on the latest equipment and position them to win some of the most competitive jobs on the market. We should be clear

that this is an investment, not just an expense. When Unions invest in their members and apprentices, it’s not money out the door. It’s money down for an even bigger return in the form of additional jobs, a larger market share, and even more funds coming into Union households.

Investing in ourselves isn’t just about training, either. It’s also about building our capacity to organize and to bargain for greater market share. Our competition as a Union doesn’t just come from members of other trades vying for work that should be done by sheet metal workers. It also comes from non-Union contractors taking jobs away from sheet metal workers who have done the responsible thing, gone through their training, and mastered their craft.

Funding our Union, investing in ourselves, and being engaged with our Union family is how we will grow our market share and claim the jobs that should and must go to Union sheet metal workers. Positivity is how we’ll win the day.

I invite all of you to be positive and to be ambitious in this new year. And above all, be engaged. After all, we are our Union.

In solidarity,

Richard LaBille III Business Manager SMART 100

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

On the Money

WE HAVE A MARKET RECOVERY FUND.

As working people, we know that saving part of our income is a smart and responsible thing to do. That’s why so many individuals and households maintain a separate savings account apart from their regular checking account. Whether it’s to set aside money for an upcoming vacation or to build in a little cushion in case of an emergency, households should be saving a portion of their income. As a Union family, we do the same with what we call our Market Recovery Fund.

Other organizations have different names for this sort of fund, like “industry promotion fund,” but the function is the same. It acts as a shared savings account for those inevitable downturns in the market. While members are working well-paying jobs, a very small portion of dues collected are deposited into the fund. Then, when the market does head for a downturn and jobs dry up, we can use those funds to put our members back to work at good paying Union jobs.

During economic downturns, contractors across the construction industry are competing for contracts with clients the same as they would be during the best of times. But with

fewer construction projects happening, and with tighter budgets for those projects that are still moving ahead during tough economic times, those contractors need to compete even harder. Almost always, that means cutting costs and bidding lower to get a contract.

In these scenarios, non-Union contractors can have an advantage. Because they’re willing to cut corners, risk worker safety, slash wages and even hire untrained workers, they can offer lower bids. Without us having a plan as Union workers, non-Union contractors can win those contracts and give jobs that should be going to skilled sheet metal workers to non-Union labor instead.

With the Market Recovery Fund, we can work with our signatory contractors to lower costs and drive down the cost of Union bids relative to bids from non-Union contractors. This gives us and our partners a better shot at winning bids, and therefore a better chance of getting jobs for our members, even in a bad economy. When a bid is won, money from the fund is pooled with money from the contract to pay wages and benefits to members, keeping them gainfully employed throughout.

Absent the Market Recovery Fund, Union members would be faced with long-term unemployment during recessions or downturns in new construction. What is genius about having such a fund and a plan in place for its use is that it doesn’t just carry members through periods of joblessness, like unemployment insurance would do. It keeps members working and earning.

Because it is operated by your Union, the fund must always be operated under the highest standards of care and with constant oversight.

Our Market Recovery Fund is just another example of us taking care of one another as a Union family. By chipping in together in the best of times, we can stay on our feet in tougher times.

ROLANDO MONTOYA Keeping the American Dream Alive for Sheet Metal Workers

People’s lives take them on all sorts of unpredictable journeys. For journeyman and organizer Rolando Montoya, the journey from his family’s home in El Salvador to SMART Local 100 headquarters in Maryland was anything but guaranteed.

Rolando first visited the United States in 2000, when his dad was working in the country. At the time, there was temporary protected status for Salvadorians, and he was able to gain a work permit. Right away, he got his first job in Sheet Metal. “When I came here, I couldn’t read or speak English,” Rolando explains, “but I could read blueprints.”

He began his career as a Sheet Metal Worker with a nonunion company, but that wouldn’t last. A SMART Local 100 salt embedded in the company told him about the opportunities that would await him as a union apprentice, and got Rolando organized soon thereafter. “Educational opportunities were a huge draw for me to join the union,” he says. “That, and the fact that union contracts are in writing, so you can see what your rights are, and know when you’re going to get a raise.”

Starting off as an apprentice, Rolando was concerned there would be a huge language barrier, but fortunately for him, the visual and hands-on nature of the classes made them approachable even to someone still learning English. “Classes were heavy in math, which I had studied when I began college in El Salvador, and they were

practical,” he explains. “Plus, I was taking English classes at night.”

Now, years after first being introduced to the stability, respect, and camaraderie that come with being a Union member, Rolando is spreading the word about SMART Local 100 to non-Union Sheet Metal Workers as an organizer. “I love to educate people about the benefits of being a Union member,” he says with a smile. “We’re changing people’s lives. Once you get someone on track to have a great career or get them into the apprenticeship program, you’ve given them a brighter future.”

“When you educate workers and tell them about all that they can get as Union members, their typical reaction often is that they just didn’t know about the pension, the healthcare, and the locked-in raises,” Rolando explains. “Union benefits, a good work environment, and opportunities for continuing education – these are all huge draws for nonUnion workers.” Of course, one of the greatest selling points of the Union is having representation in the workplace. “Once you’re in the Union, you know that if you have a problem at work, you can talk to your business rep.”

For this journeyman and organizer, it’s not all about spreading the good word about unionism on the jobsite. As much as he evangelizes for the Union, Rolando also finds himself as an enforcer of labor laws. Because

government agencies don’t actively police work sites to ensure that laws are being followed and that workers are being treated fairly, the job of policing falls to organizers like Rolando.

“We do the hard work of investigating claims on job sites, and it pays off,” Rolando notes with a well-earned sense of pride. “We have a track record of conducting thorough investigations that reveal illegal practices by employers, like underpaying the Sheet Metal Workers they’ve employed,” he explains. “That track record has allowed us to build strong working relationships with the law enforcement agencies where we bring the findings from our investigations: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, and the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office.” Those relationships and that trusted track record of conducting diligent investigations has yielded real results for non-Union Sheet Metal Workers. “They take our claims seriously and they enforce the law based on what we bring to them, and after they complete an enforcement action, they even add dishonest employers to a running list of bad actors.”

Asked about some of the big wins SMART Local 100 has had on behalf of Sheet Metal Workers, Rolando struggles to narrow it down to a handful of examples. To be fair, there is no shortage of victories. “On one campaign, we

distributed handbills at a company’s projects for five months because they were using labor brokers and ductwork from Mexico. During the campaign, workers reached out to us to tell us they were being cheated out of their pay,” he recounts. “We launched an investigation that found 60 workers had not been properly paid and we were able to help them obtain back pay. This case opened a door to finding even more instances where workers, including those in other trades, were not getting properly paid.”

In another case of Sheet Metal Workers being shortchanged by their employers, Rolando recalls a roofing contractor that was paying Sheet Metal Workers as helpers, rather than the full rate they were owed. “We looked into it and found seven Sheet Metal Workers were being underpaid, so we got the U.S. Department of Labor involved and forced the employer to pay $288,000 in stolen wages.”

Asked what gives him the drive to do this important work on behalf of SMART Local 100 members, Rolando is straightforward. “This Union helped me get the great life I have today. Now, I’m just doing the same for my fellow Sheet Metal Workers.”

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to the newly retired members of SMART Local 100

David H. Carrington, Jr.

Jorge A. Lopez

Mario E. Quijano

Trevor W. Smith

NEWS AFFECTING OUR UNION AND OUR TRADE

Beyond 100

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS VISITS SMART LOCAL 17

In November, Union family members at Boston’s Local 17 hosted a special guest: Vice President Kamala Harris. She was introduced by Local 17 member Shamaiah Turner, whom the Vice President thanked for representing “the heart and soul of Local 17” as a woman of color, smashing barriers and doing amazing work for the sheet metal trade. The theme of Harris’s speech was the important role that SMART Unions will play in helping to lower home energy costs as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. As a part of this plan, the Vice President explained, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be providing $4.5 billion to help low-income families make heating and cooling their homes more energy-efficient. Furthermore, the

U.S. Department of Energy will allocate $9 billion to lower energy costs for homes across the country.

Sheet metal workers will play a critical role in these thousands of repairs, especially in the installation of heat pumps, which help to make heating homes more climatefriendly. Vice President Harris emphasized the many jobs that will be created with this funding, including “...jobs for sheet metal workers, who build and install electric heat pumps [and] jobs for Union workers who will be trained right here in this building.”

The Vice President concluded by thanking SMART members for their hard work, leadership, and collaboration.

SMART ASKS MEMBERS TO TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT CONGRESSIONAL WORKERS UNION

In the spring of 2022, U.S. congressional staff workers were able to organize and form the Congressional Workers Union. SMART and other Unions across the nation applauded this effort and gave the CWU their full support. Unfortunately, the new incoming Congress is trying to use the transition period to undermine and even do away with the Congressional Workers Union. Republican leadership is planning to repeal House Resolution 1096, the measure that congressional staff workers fought for and that allowed their Union to form.

In an official statement, SMART leadership emphasized to its members that without congressional workers, unions might not have all of the rights and benefits they enjoy today. These vital workers help make sure their bosses

in Congress hear Union voices when their issues come to the table. The CWU also stood with SMART this year throughout the renegotiation of the rail workers contract.

“Now,” SMART says, “it is our turn to help protect this newly formed union.” SMART asks that each and every member take a moment out of their day to write a brief message to their local congressional representative asking them to support the CWU and resist efforts to repeal HR 1096.

SCAN QR CODE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE AND TAKE ACTION.

AFL-CIO PROVIDES “LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD”

The AFL-CIO has created a tool to show working Americans how their Senate and Congressional representatives have voted, and are currently voting, on Union issues. The new “Legislative Scorecard” webpage emphasizes that these issues include “strengthening Social Security and Medicare, freedom to join a union, improving workplace safety and more.” Users can search by representative name, state, or party to find out how the AFL-CIO scores each rep on their voting record, both in a lifetime and in any given year.

Additionally, the Scorecard provides a running list of recent legislation affecting Unions, such as the Build Back Better Act, along with the AFL-CIO’s official position on each measure. Their voting and legislation archives go back to the year 1980.

SCAN QR CODE TO TRY OUT THE LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD FOR YOURSELF.

Photo Gallery

In each newsletter, we like to show off photos of our members hard at work. These photos were captured at Local 100 HQ.

Did you know we also hold a quarterly photo contest?

Send in your favorite workplace pictures from the shop floor with your name and the names of the people in your photo. Some of the best photos will be featured in upcoming newsletters, blog posts, and on our website, like this season’s winner, Joe Short! Send all submissions to: Info@Smart100.org

Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery

IN MEMORIAM

Reginald J. Chrisp of Louisa, Virginia

Anson P. Derrington of Hyattsville, Maryland

Norman T. Enoch of Unionville, Virginia

David E. Gaines of Vinton, Virginia

Walter L. Hambrick of Spotsylvania, Virginia

Gary L. Jenkins of Millersville, Maryland

Patrick C. Kelliher of Fairfax, Virginia

Richard L. Meeks, Sr. of Pasadena, Maryland

Jerry L. Pritchett of Waldorf, Maryland

Ernest “Ernie” R. Winters of Edgewater, 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!