Author: lpoling

Home>Articles by: lpoling

A $2 billion megaproject that was set to create more than 3,000 union jobs in Massachusetts is under threat after Congress passed the 2025 tax bill, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025.

The Allston Multimodal Project, which had a project labor agreement in place, would have put workers on the job straightening out the Massachusetts Turnpike throughout Boston’s northwest corner, opened up land for development and invested in public transit. SMART sheet metal workers and other union construction members would have played a key role, including building a new train-and-bus hub.

But on Friday, July 18, the Trump administration’s Department of Transportation confirmed that DOT is terminating $327 million that Massachusetts won in 2023 for the Allston Multimodal Project. Massachusetts will keep just $8 million from the grant.

“Unfortunately, some of the harmful pieces of the spending bill are already starting to impact SMART members and our communities, just weeks after the president signed it into law,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “This project wasn’t only going to create thousands of union jobs, including for SMART sheet metal workers. It was going to invest in local communities and the state’s transportation network. Because funding has been so drastically cut, all of that is in jeopardy.”

The project has been in the works for more than a decade. The Boston Globe reported that it “was Governor Deval Patrick, after all, who first promised this new transit hub, dubbed West Station, alongside the turnpike realignment, 11 years ago.”

But the pieces only came together in March of last year, when the Biden administration awarded the project a $335 million grant through the Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program.

Even with the rescinded funding, Mass. Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that her administration “remain[s] committed to doing everything we can, working with our incredible project partners, to make Allston Multimodal a reality.”

But the fact remains that the pulling of federal grant money directly threatens SMART members’ jobs.

“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is conducting a strategic review of the project to determine a path forward,” SMART Northeast Regional Council President Bob Butler said in an email to Local 17 members. “Local 17 stands with our fellow union partners, as well as our community and government allies in demanding the funding be restored — and in fighting to keep this project alive.”

Production workers in Oregon will soon have a pathway to better training and more job oppor­tunities thanks to Local 16’s new state-registered production apprenticeship program, a long-gestating idea that will help workers in the manufacturing sector for years to come.

The new program will be a two-year apprenticeship, with five weeks of intensive daytime training each year, administered by the Local 16 JATC.

“We saw a need for an apprenticeship for our produc­tion shops,” said Local 16 Regional Manager Brian Noble. “We wanted to get training for members so they could always improve themselves and be more qualified and skilled for signatory contractors.”

Local 16 Regional Representative Darrin Boyce explained that Local 16 had an extraordinarily strong production membership in the 1980s, but thanks in part to the trade policies of President Ronald Reagan, he argued, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) later on, the manufacturing sector was deci­mated, leading to decline. In addition, until a few years ago, Local 16 representation for production workers was siloed off from that of the building trades, with different officers assigned to different shops.

“You don’t have the shared resources, you’re not bouncing ideas off of each other,” Boyce said. “So [Noble] decided to break up [that siloing].”

It didn’t take long for elected officers to realize that many of the issues production workers raised during bargaining could be addressed through formalized training that spoke to members’ needs — in other words, a state-registered program that helped workers achieve guaranteed wage rates, assisted contractors with securing work opportunities and helped SMART members build their skills.

Noble noted that a state-registered program that meets Oregon’s established labor standards is especially impor­tant right now. By going through the apprenticeship program, Local 16 production workers and contractors may be able to secure work in the burgeoning offshore wind industry.

“In Oregon, we have labor standards set up for any of the offshore wind platforms, and the development for offshore wind, [that include] apprenticeship requirements,” he said.

Coming up with a state-registered production appren­ticeship program was one thing. Creating it was another.

“Some of the challenges were getting our contractors on board with adding contributions in their contracts to the JATC,” Noble said. In other words, employers who previously hadn’t provided funding for training needed to see that there would be bang for their buck.

“We ended up bringing the contractors to the table to be like, ‘hey, what kind of training would you guys want?’” said Boyce. “And so really what we’re looking at is having the last year [of the apprenticeship program] being tailored to each shop.”

Local 16 also needed to work with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to ensure the program met all the criteria to be state registered and to structure the apprenticeship in a way that benefited members. Because production workers have different daily schedules and demands compared with building trades members, making evening instruction a more difficult task, Local 16 designed the production apprenticeship to not only meet the high standards set for state-registered apprenticeship programs, but also to allow members to collect unemployment pay while they attend the five-week course. (Oregon law allows apprentices in state-registered programs to do so, Boyce said.)

The apprenticeship program is becoming reality. Now, Noble and Boyce think it could benefit Local 16 members for the long term — whether from offshore wind project work, day-to-day job satisfaction, Local 16’s market share or all of the above.

“The direct benefit for members is a pathway to that higher-wage position in the facilities they work in, with a guaranteed timeline and a direct path that isn’t just at the whim of the contractor,” Noble said. “I also think it’s an opportunity for us to organize more production facilities.”

“We know why union is better, and that is the quality,” added Boyce. “You’re not going to have a high turnover rate. You’re going to have lifelong workers, dedicated, that are going to be making the company a lot of money. And one of the ways to show them that is with a good, state-registered apprenticeship program where we have qualified people and we’re giving them the training that specifically addresses their needs.”

Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturer, reportedly cancelled a $500 million project in Middletown, Ohio, in June 2025 — leading to a loss in work hours for union sheet metal workers in the area.

“This would have been a solid project for Local 24, especially our Dayton-area membership,” said Local 24 Business Manager Jeff Hunley.

Local radio station WYSO 91.3 reported: “The planned switch from a coal-based steel plant to hydrogen was expected to create 1,200 union construction jobs and protect 2,500 existing positions.”

WYSO noted that Cleveland-Cliffs had planned to replace its coal steel-making furnace with a hydrogen-powered system, supported in part by a $500 million grant from the Department of Energy. That grant came from the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law under the Biden administration in 2022.

But Steel Industry News reported that the Trump administration’s shift away from clean energy and its focus on fossil fuels created uncertainty for the company, and rising tariffs on steel imports “forced Cleveland-Cliffs to prioritize short-term profitability.”

Now, at least for the time being, the project has been abandoned.

Changing clean energy policies impact SMART members

Union sheet metal workers play a key role in building and converting clean energy facilities, including hydrogen, nuclear and battery plants. That’s what makes federal grants, tax credits and funding so important to SMART sheet metal workers, and why the strong labor standards included in such policies under the Biden administration were also crucial for members.

“When we work to pass laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re investing in our future,” explained SMART General President Michael Coleman. “The grants and tax credits we got passed in that law are the kinds of policies that create jobs for sheet metal workers five, ten, fifteen years down the line. Unfortunately, when those types of policies are thrown in jeopardy, we see companies become less willing to invest, and projects get paused or cancelled.”

“The Cleveland-Cliffs project cancellation means that the jobs Local 24 was expecting will no longer be available to members in Ohio. With the cuts to clean energy tax credits and programs in the spending bill passed by Congress, we can expect more disappointing stories like this, at least for the next few years,” he added.

As the spending legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” made its way through the United States House and Senate in spring and summer of 2025, SMART had a constant presence in the offices of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. SMART’s Governmental Affairs staff met repeatedly with representatives and senators, explaining how provisions in the legislation that cut tax credits, infrastructure funding, clean energy funding, Medicaid funding and more would negatively impact SMART members’ work opportunities and health care coverage.

“Cutting the waste and fraud, nobody’s against that. But these cuts go way deeper than that,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman in a video message to members explaining the bill. “These cuts are actually going to have an impact on our plans and our members. We’re all for cutting waste in the federal government, but they’re going to have to end up cutting programs that are essential for regular, working people.”

Unfortunately, in a move that says a lot about how politics works in today’s day and age, representatives and senators moved forward with a bill that included those cuts.

While some of the worst elements of the bill — including the most extreme energy tax credit cuts and an AI provision that threatened SMART-TD bus operators — were removed due to the collective work of SMART members nationwide and the labor movement, Congress pushed through cuts to Medicaid that will cause working families to suffer and raise the costs of health care plans for SMART members and families, cuts to tax credits that will lead to canceled projects and lost work hours for sheet metal workers, and more. And on July 4, President Trump signed the bill into law.

“Members will lose work. Costs will go up. And that just doesn’t make sense,” Coleman said in a video on tax credits cut by the bill.

Across the construction sector, the bill threatens millions of jobs and work hours, which translates to billions of dollars in lost annual wages and benefits. Members may not feel the consequences immediately. But in the years to come, construction workers and their families, alongside working people everywhere, will lose out on important jobs.

“Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects,” said North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey in a statement.

The legislation signed by President Trump included a tax exemption on overtime earnings. However, despite advocacy and proposed fixes, the bill does not extend this benefit to employees covered by the Railway Labor Act — AKA, railroaders.

“Our members sacrifice holidays, family time and weekends to keep this country running. Excluding them from a policy aimed at easing the burden on working Americans is more than disheartening,” said SMART-TD National Legislative Director Jared Cassity. “But we’re not walking away from this. We’ll keep pushing until our voices are heard.”

The cuts to Medicaid are simply devastating across the board. They don’t take effect right away, but once they do, they will hurt blue-collar workers and their families.

“The biggest impact will be on families that are fighting to keep their healthcare. Right now, the CBO scores that 16 million people will lose their healthcare coverage, which inevitably is going to lead to preventable deaths in the future,” said Coleman in another video to members. “And for members who don’t think cuts to Medicaid are going to have an impact on them, I can tell you that history has proven that any cuts to Medicaid lead to an increase in the costs of the health plans that we fund and that we fight for every single day.”

SMART will continue to advocate for members and working families, at the federal level and in states and cities across the United States. But make no mistake: The bill signed into law in July will hurt workers for years to come.

Brothers, sisters and friends,

I’d like to wish all of you and your families a very happy Fourth of July. Today is a day to celebrate the birth of our nation and the ideals that define our country — freedom, democracy, solidarity — and I hope every one of you is able to relax and enjoy a well-earned day with loved ones.

For many of us, today is a day for potlucks, barbecues, grilling, fireworks; for others, it may just be a day to relax with friends. For still more of us, especially our brothers and sisters in the Transportation Division, this is a day spent working, and for that, all of us are grateful beyond words.

For me, today is also about history.

July 4 marks the day that a brave group of people decided to break free from tyranny and empire in the name of liberty and democracy.

July 4 marks the beginning of a long journey for our nation, one that would enshrine principles like free speech and freedom of association — priceless for everyone living in this country, but especially for union members.

July 4 set the foundation for the many forward steps that our country has taken since, as together, trailblazing Americans have worked to make a more perfect union. That includes people like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — and also Eugene Debs, the women of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, leaders like Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, our SMART forefathers and so many more.

And, of course, it includes all of you, the hardworking SMART members who continue to build and move our country.

I truly believe that every day, SMART members from coast to coast are making the American dream a reality, doing their part to turn the words written on July 4, 1776, into everyday life. Of course, we do that by building schools and hospitals, transporting passengers and freight, and helping provide clean air and safe communities for our neighbors. But we also do it by fighting for the principles of our union. The principle of solidarity. Of looking out for each other. Of collective power. Of fighting for the working people of America.

Those are our values as SMART members. And they are our American values as well.

So this Independence Day, as you celebrate with friends and family, I hope you take time to reflect on our core values as union members. Those same principles are what make our country the greatest in the world.

I’d like to close by paying tribute to the generations of Americans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Your bravery and selflessness will never be forgotten.

Once again, happy Fourth of July — please stay safe, and enjoy the holiday.

In solidarity,

Michael Coleman

General President

New policies around federal funding are hitting home for sheet metal workers in San Diego, where cuts to funding from the National Institutes of Health led to the pausing of two huge construction projects and dozens of sheet metal workers losing out on pending jobs. With the funding cuts hitting right when other projects were winding down, Local 206 members are experiencing high unemployment numbers for the first time in years.

“It was like a perfect storm. We had some of the biggest jobs we’ve ever had in San Diego: the airport expansion, the Gaylord Pacific Resort down in Chula Vista, at the bay front, and some other really big pharmaceutical jobs,” said Local 206 Business Manager Dave Gauthier. “So a lot of that was trickling down and slowing down, and then with the NIH funding cutting, we lost, on just two jobs alone, over 100,000 work hours.”

Under President Trump, billions of dollars have been terminated in NIH grants nationwide, including at institutions like University of California San Diego. SMART members may not think of themselves as being affected by the NIH, but that funding is often used for construction that requires sheet metal workers, especially in labs and hospitals. A new lab and a hospital expansion project were the jobs that Local 206 members were slated to take on before the NIH funding cuts hit.

Now, after years of 100% employment, 19% of Local 206 members are out of work.

“Over five years, we haven’t had any mass layoffs. We’ve been organizing like crazy — we’ve grown our membership by close to 30% in the last five years. For a lot of our members who have joined in the last five years, they’ve never seen a layoff. They’ve never received that check,” Gauthier said. “I’d say that the Trump administration and all their funding cuts … is affecting our members.”

“I think our members that are now on the out of work list for the first time, or the first time in a long time, are starting to realize the affect that this administration is having even on a construction worker here in San Diego that’s trying to feed his or her family,” he added.

The negative impacts of federal policies show the importance of local politics, according to Local 206 Business Representative Dom Luyo. Over the years, the local has worked tirelessly to secure project labor agreements with cities and school districts throughout San Diego County. This has put union sheet metal workers on an enormous range of jobs, and it offers a road map for Local 206 moving forward. Even as work slows — whether resulting from federal funding freezes, shifting tariff policies that spook some investors and developers, or other factors — Luyo encouraged fellow SMART members unionwide to build relationships with pro-labor candidates at the local level.

“Getting local politicians on your side will help regulate local rules for your membership,” he said. “I think we’ve done a great job doing that collectively, not just the sheet metal workers but with all the other building trades unions together: working to get the right politicians in place to help us secure more work from more labor-friendly candidates.”

Sisters and brothers across Canada,

On behalf of the SMART General Executive Council, I want to wish all our Canadian members and their families a very happy Canada Day!

As you celebrate Canada’s rich history, diverse cultures and the spectacular landscapes that span across coasts, it is also a moment to recognize and celebrate you, the individuals who make Canada the prosperous nation it is today. The hardworking members of SMART across Canada exemplify service, dedication and solidarity, helping to build a stronger, more reliable future for all.

This Canada Day, we also celebrate a future rooted in sustainable growth powered by skilled sheet metal workers and roofers. From the installation of green roofing systems to energy-efficient air systems and sustainable technologies, our members are leading the way in upgrading buildings, improving indoor air quality and constructing better communities. Together, we’re helping to build a cleaner economy and preserve Canada’s great outdoors for future generations.

As we celebrate Canada Day, I hope we are also reminded of the strength we find in our numbers, of the progress we achieve through our solidarity and the bright future we are building together.

Thank you for the work you do every day to uphold our shared values and advance our mission. From all of us at SMART, across Canada and the United States, we stand with you, today and every day.

Happy Canada Day. Enjoy the holiday, and please stay safe!

In solidarity,

Michael Coleman

General President, SMART

In 2024, SMART Local 9 worked tirelessly to push an indoor air quality in public schools bill through the Colorado state legislature and to Governor Jared Polis’s desk — only to see the governor veto the legislation, along with the work hours it would have created for SMART members.

The local could have accepted defeat. But Business Manager Jon Alvino and Political Director/Organizer Chaz Tedesco knew that HVAC work in public schools represented a golden opportunity for Colorado sheet metal workers, not to mention benefiting kids and educators — especially important at a time when continued federal funding for indoor air quality work is being threatened by Congress.

Local 9 members get out the vote for endorsed candidates, including Sheila Lieder, who helped ensure the passage of the HVAC in public schools law.

Their resolve paid off in June 2025, when Gov. Polis signed a new version of the bill that requires school districts to thoroughly assess and upgrade their HVAC systems using certified contractors when spending federal infrastructure or education funds, and to provide for regular maintenance and inspection of HVAC systems following installation. 

“After the governor’s veto of last year’s bill, I had serious reservations about running something similar again,” Alvino said. “But I owe a great deal of thanks to Representatives Sheila Lieder, Eliza Hamrick and Senator Jessie Danielson. Their leadership, encouragement and unwavering support gave this bill and our union the momentum we needed.”

“Representative Lieder has been an incredible champion — not just for this bill, but for sheet metal workers across Colorado,” he added. “Her advocacy, rooted in her experience as a labor leader with CWA, continues to make a real impact.”

The bill directs the governor to use remaining Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to assist school districts in finding certified contractors and writing grants to access federal funding, and instructs the state Department of Labor and Employment to create a list of certified HVAC contractors schools can hire from. 

“There are many qualified HVAC contractors across Colorado, and this legislation ensures that when schools update their heating and cooling systems, they meet high standards for safety, efficiency and quality,” said Colorado State Rep. Lieder in a post-session statement. “This law is good for workers and small businesses because it helps them secure HVAC maintenance contracts while creating safer air to breathe for Colorado students and educators.”

Whether it’s indoor air quality, custom offsite fabrication or other sheet metal work, SMART members and high-road signatory contractors miss out on jobs when bad-faith employers take advantage of loopholes to win bids on work such as HVAC in public schools. For that reason, Alvino explained, the enshrining of SMART HVAC standards into state law is a big win for members.

“The certified contractor list created through this bill guarantees that those who pay prevailing wages and participate in registered apprenticeship programs are eligible. It’s a huge step forward for ensuring quality work and supporting skilled local labor,” Alvino explained.

Plus, when combined with local bond measures, the legislation puts Local 9 in a strong position to partner with school districts, helping them leverage matching funds at both the state and federal level to improve their facilities.

“This legislation wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of our members, the courage of our state leaders and the tireless advocacy from labor and community partners,” Alvino concluded. “Thanks to their efforts, students and educators across Colorado will benefit from cleaner, healthier air, and workers will have more access to good-paying, meaningful jobs that make a real impact.”

In collaboration with the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), members of SMART Local 100 donated their time and labor to build two brand-new pavilions from scratch at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in Whiteford, Md. — helping provide necessary structures for the area outdoor youth center.  

“We really appreciate the partnership with Local 100, in conjunction with USA, for coming out and being part of this project,” said Manuel Fonseca, deputy scout executive & COO, Baltimore Area Council, Scouting America. “Having two additional structures for staff and campers is much needed and much appreciated. Scouting is all about safety — along with utilizing them for social activities, having these two new pavilions will provide another option for shelter.” 

Each year, more than 23,000 youth visit Broad Creek to participate in activities designed to foster youth development, adventure and team building in the great outdoors. Located just over 40 miles from Baltimore, Broad Creek is the fifth-largest block of undeveloped land in the traditional Baltimore metropolitan area, with 1,624 of the reservation’s 1,676 acres permanently protected under a combination of county, state and federal conservation easements. The campsite offers programming to kids across the area — and staff saw the need for an additional two pavilions to provide places for campers and staff to gather, eat, socialize and potentially take shelter during inclement weather. 

That’s where the union volunteers entered the picture. Both USA and Local 100 share the values of solidarity and ensuring young people have access to the great outdoors — for that reason, it was an easy decision for both organizations to come together and build the two pavilions, lifting the burden off Broad Creek’s shoulders.  

The Local 100 volunteers took just four days to build the two pavilions essentially from scratch: Besides raw materials and poured concrete, the sheet metal workers and Broad Creek staff assembled every part of the completed structures.  

The end result? A demonstration not just of union craftsmanship and efficiency, but of SMART’s principles as well.  

“We look forward to many years of future projects with Local 100 and USA,” Fonseca concluded. 

Members who participated: Apprentices Nicholas Ray, Andre Matthews, Erick D. Rosa Pineda, Nigel Mills, Gary Plumley Jr. and Zachary A. Evans, plus Organizers Latauna Bigelow and Lester Larios. 

Yesterday, the White House budget office encouraged federal agencies to use project labor agreements on construction jobs. The guidance includes potential exceptions to avoid the use of PLAs.

“Although it doesn’t contain the same protections as the Biden administration, this is a step in the right direction. Project labor agreements create jobs for SMART members and working people across our country,” SMART General President Michael Coleman said in response. “All of us at SMART appreciate and applaud yesterday’s guidance from the White House, and we look forward to keeping this conversation going. We encourage them to go further, for the sake of our members, our families and our neighbors.

“We will continue to do everything we can to keep creating jobs for SMART members and Americans nationwide, and we encourage all agencies to support the use of PLAs on all federally funded projects.”

Members can read the memo here.