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North America has changed frequently and drastically since sheet metal workers first began organizing more than 135 years ago. Technology, domestic politics, international trade, pandemics and industrial fluctuation have impacted our union, our industry and our two nations. But one thing remains constant: Whatever is taking place in government, politics or business, SMART members win when we organize.

Local 280 Business Manager Steve Davis detailed that fact in spring 2024, when a multi-year organizing campaign led to the workers at Evergreen Sheet Metal joining our union and growing SMART’s market share in British Columbia.

“After signing the company, there was some resentment and hard feelings, but they are now operating at more than 60 employees,” he said. “The company has embraced joining the union and is an active member of SMACNA British Columbia.”

Davis, who was elected business manager in 2024, began working as a Local 280 organizer in March 2020 — the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide. But the groundwork for the organizing campaign was set two years prior, when one of the largest nonunion plumbing companies in the area — Pitt Meadows Plumbing — purchased Evergreen, until then a small, family-owned contractor.

“Pitt Meadows had primary subbed all its sheet metal work to Local 280 signatory companies, and from 2018 to 2020, they were working with one of our union companies, All Valley Metals, at the Abbotsford Law Courts jobsite,” Davis recalled. But then, “Pitt Meadows Plumbing went on a stripping effort, recruiting about 15 of our members to quit the union to join Evergreen.”

The attack on Local 280 took place as Davis was starting his work as an organizer. Throughout 2020, he recruited 96 new members to Local 280 — and spent much of his remaining time communicating with the former members who had left the local for Evergreen.

“I constantly shared our benefits and wage increases with the Evergreen employees to ensure they were at the same levels as us,” he said. “I stripped several workers per year, with 10 leaving at the end of 2023. That is when everything started coming together. I was working with a few of their foremen who I had built trust and respect with, and we planned an organizing drive in December of 2023.”

Local 280 hit the ground running in early 2024 — and quickly ran up against a fierce union-busting campaign. After organizers visited a jobsite with union certification cards early one morning, where about 25 Evergreen workers were on site, the company caught wind — only two workers showed up at a second jobsite, where Davis had planned to get more cards signed from the 20 workers who were supposed to be present.

“Things were not looking good, as we just didn’t have the numbers,” he said.

That’s when a site supervisor from the second jobsite, an acquaintance and former Local 280 worker, contacted Davis and asked to meet for lunch. Davis asked him to set up a meeting with the Evergreen owners, initiating a two-pronged organizing approach. Davis scheduled a sit-down with Evergreen management, Local 280 and SMACNA B.C., hoping to sign the contractor more amicably. In the meantime, as the meeting approached, he kept in touch with Evergreen workers — signing seven more members to give union supporters the majority.

Evergreen rejected Local 280’s attempt at a friendly agreement, and at workers’ urging, Davis filed with the Canadian Labour Relations Board for card check certification. The company ramped up its anti-union efforts, with a foreman on site trying to convince Evergreen employees to revoke their signed cards. On January 29, 2024, Local 280 filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the company. Two days later, the Labour Relations Board granted Local 280 certification, with 64% approval. Through the workers’ strength and resilience, their union was won.

At that point, Davis said, there was the unpleasant possibility of entering arbitration for up to one year. But Local 280 met with ownership throughout February, and the two parties ended up signing a collective bargaining agreement in March 2024.

“This was the largest victory I had as an organizer,” Davis said.

Thanks to Local 280’s focus on organizing and the collective determination of Evergreen employees, a hostile, nonunion employer became a friendly signatory, bringing 60 new members into our union and reminding SMART members everywhere: Organizing is how we win.

Tags Local 28-, Members Journal, Spring 2025

SMART-TD kicked off 2025 with a bang, organizing two Genesee & Wyoming-owned railroad properties in the span of two weeks.

The first victory, at Wilmington Terminal Railroad, was won with a unanimous vote from railroaders who spent years dealing with a variety of anti-worker attacks.

Wilmington Terminal workers, who already live in the so-called “right-to-work” state of North Carolina, came under G & W ownership in 2005 — and found themselves facing anti-union intimidation from the get-go.

But new SMART-TD member Parker Greenough grew tired of G & W’s threats to shut down the terminal and switch the cars elsewhere if organizing talk became a reality.

“I always figured that [securing union representation] would be difficult and that it would take a long time, but we were finally ready,” Greenough said. “Enough is enough.”

“SMART has negotiated some great agreements on G & W properties,” McCray said. “These guys see that and what they’re missing out on and what a union can do for you.”

After having important conversations with coworkers, Greenough and his colleagues decided that they were ready to stand up to G & W’s endless stream of scare tactics and join a union.

There was just one problem: He didn’t know exactly where to start.

A Friday night Google search led him to SMART-TD, and he immediately made a call to the organizing department. By Monday morning, he was on the phone with General Committee 433 Vice Chair Andy Goeckner, who asked Greenough what he and his brothers needed. Authorization cards were in the mail to them that same day.

Crucial support also came from TD Local 1105 (Wilmington, N.C.) President Mike Stafford. He was present during an initial town hall on SMART-TD membership and provided invaluable help as the vote approached.

“I was shocked at how easy SMART-TD and Andy made this process,” Greenough noted. “We could tell that he was excited to be in this fight with us, and that made us even more motivated to organize.”

G & W predictably and blatantly engaged in further union busting, attempting to swing the vote against SMART-TD supporters. Management was rebuffed with a unanimous vote in favor of unionization.

Vice Chair Goeckner then walked the new members through the process of filing the correct documentation with the Department of Labor and other federal organizations.

Fellow North Carolinian Todd McCray, who hails from the CSX general committee, helped Wilmington Terminal navigate the process at the state level, a responsibility that he wasn’t required to assume.

“Todd’s not an organizer,” Goeckner pointed out. “Being from the same state and having the knowledge to make it happen, he just wanted to help his brothers secure the protection and respect that they deserve. He went above and beyond his job description to bring these guys into our SMART-TD family.”

McCray believes that the vote is a true reflection of the union difference.

“SMART has negotiated some great agreements on G & W properties,” McCray said. “These guys see that and what they’re missing out on and what a union can do for you.”

Connecticut Southern workers organize for change

Just days after their union siblings at the Wilmington Terminal Railroad, workers at Connecticut Southern Railroad — another Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary — joined SMART-TD in a nearly unanimous vote.

Connecticut Southern workers were previously under an umbrella agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLET), which benefits some (but not necessarily all) properties that it covers.

With only 15 members in train and engine service, the Connecticut Southern members often felt like they were left in the dark and didn’t have their needs fully addressed.

“Looking at our own situation, we had to say, ‘Hey, are we getting our bang for our buck?’” said Garrett Desjardins, who was the local chairperson while they were represented by the BLET.

Tired of feeling like they weren’t being heard, our new brothers reached out to SMART-TD.

GCA 687 Associate Chairperson Nick Greficz assisted with the organizing efforts.

“[Joining SMART-TD] wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction,” Greficz emphasized. “There was some apprehensiveness about the contracts in place, the longevity of the contracts, and there was some misinformation that was being spread.”

Discussions with Local Chair Matt Pietrzak from Local 352 (West Springfield, Mass.) eased many of the workers’ worries. Pietrzak knew most of TD’s new members before the switch.

“We worked side-by-side with those guys,” he said.

“I see [Pietrzak] almost every day when I’m at work,” Desjardins added. “We just met each other through doing the job, and you meet good people along the way. So it almost seemed like a no-brainer for us because our representation is right there.”

Connecticut Southern workers made a strong impression on Greficz throughout the organizing process — their professionalism and solidarity as a unit helped achieve the overwhelming victory. He specifically conveyed how proud he is of Pietrzak, who is now preparing to become an official organizer, for his leadership throughout the campaign.

“It’s a true story of organizing from the rocks, because he wasn’t an organizer,” Greficz explained. “It doesn’t matter what your title is … everybody is an organizer at the end of the day.”

Tags Local 20, Members Journal, organizing, Spring 2025

SMART Local 20’s Youth-to-Youth program paid dividends in Indianapolis, Ind., in early December 2024, where members and officers worked to highlight alleged anti-union behavior and win hundreds of thousands in backpay from Performance Mechanical Contracting, Inc (PMC). After the local filed four unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB secured a settlement agreement with the contractor that saw PMC pay $459,758 to fired Local 20 workers.

The campaign began when PMC started hiring sheet metal workers. As part of Local 20’s organizing efforts, Local 20 Business Manager Trent Todd explained, eight members in the local’s Youth-to-Youth program applied to work at the company — and declared their union affiliation ahead of time. Those workers were not hired by the company. However, Todd added, two members that did not announce their Local 20 membership were hired. After starting at PMC, the members stated their union affiliation, and they were fired.

Local 20 acted swiftly, filing a complaint that, according to the NLRB, “alleged that the employer unlawfully refused to hire or consider for hire eight applicants and fired two employees because they engaged in union activities, interrogated employees and promulgated an unlawful rule.”

And in December, the NLRB announced the settlement. Along with backpay, PMC agreed to cease and desist from unlawful conduct and to post, read and email a notice of employee rights to its workers.

“Every worker in this country has the right to organize a union, and we at Local 20 will always fight to defend that right,” Todd said. “I am proud of the work our organizing department performed on this campaign. PMC illegally refused to hire qualified applicants because of their union affiliation. This settlement is evidence that rank-and-file organizing has a direct impact on our industry.”

“It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire applicants — or fire workers — because of their support for a union,” said [NLRB] Region 25 Regional Director Patricia Nachand in the NLRB’s press release. “I’m proud of Region 25 staff for securing this strong settlement that makes whole the victims of the unfair labor practices.”

Tags Local 20, Members Journal, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, organizing, Spring 2025

After retiring in 2024, Tom Killeen, a longtime member and officer at SMART Local 100 (Washington, DC area), embarked on a trip to Ireland and Scotland. The primary purpose of the expedition was to see family — however, Killeen’s itinerary also included a stunning monument to the industry and craftsmanship that define not just our union, but sheet metal workers worldwide.

Killeen’s cousin, renowned sculptor John McKenna, is taking the tools of our trade to a colossal level.

Since the 1990s, McKenna has forged an acclaimed career as a public artist, known for large-scale sculptures at Wimbledon, the Celtic F.C. soccer stadium, a statue of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott and various tributes to working people, including a 40-foot-tall statue of a coal miner in England.

“I always go back to people at work — it’s what I’ve made my career out of,” McKenna said. “I feel I’m making work for the public to enjoy.”

Killeen, McKenna and another cousin, Fergus Clancy, visited one of McKenna’s more recent homages to working people: “The Ship Builders of Glasgow,” a pair of 40-plus-foot figures constructed from 316 marine grade stainless steel, depicting ship builders at work.

It was important to McKenna that the sculpture — intended to honor the Port Glasgow ship building industry and overwhelmingly selected by local voters following a public proposal competition — show collective labor instead of just one worker: “two men, breaking their backs, putting hard, hot work into these ships.”

“I made these colossal figures in my studio workshop in Ayrshire,” McKenna wrote on his website. “[It] took almost eight years to create these titans to the former glorious industry of Port Glasgow, where numerous shipyards built thousands of ships which were sent all around the world. Those shipyards, now long gone, were testament to the industry of the people of the Clyde. This sculpture was my way of recognising those long gone folk who made ships that sailed to every corner of the earth.”

McKenna built the two figures, which weigh a combined total of nearly 45 tons, in sections, removing the roof of his barn-turned-studio in order to transport them to the site of the former Port Glasgow. He painstakingly designed the two figures in CAD, spending sleepless nights planning for every minute detail in the design, construction and assembly process — where the figures’ joints would hinge, spacing the two figures correctly to avoid collisions during construction, sizing the segments of each figure for transportation, creating openings for hooks to hoist pieces during assembly, etc.

The structures required a guarantee that they would last 120 years — not in a sterile, museum-like environment, but at a park near the last operational shipyard in the area, withstanding fierce seaside winds, salty air and blasts of industrial sediment. McKenna worked with a structural welder on the “skeletons” of the two figures, using a shielding gas with a flux and a mig wire to form the figures out of two-foot-diameter steel pipes. He and his team then cladded the base figures with .9-millimeter stainless steel plates, cut and folded using a guillotine shear and an eight-foot box and pan folder (known in the U.S. as a press brake). In all, there were thousands of metal sheets riveted or welded together, with hundreds of thousands of spot welds that gave the sculptures their textured, flowing look.

“When the heat of all the little welds goes in, it buckles all the metal sheets, so instead of being a very mechanical, flat, faceted sculpture, the buckles and ripples all over the surface made it more organic,” McKenna explained, adding that the very material he used to create the two figures was what workers hammered to forge ocean-spanning ships in years past: “That was the whole idea with the spot welding, bringing together the sheet metal components that the ships were built out of.”

During his visit, Killeen gave McKenna a Local 100 shirt — symbolizing simultaneously the international heritage of our union, the solidarity that bonds the world’s working people, and the artistry and craftsmanship of sheet metal workers around the globe.

“‘The Ship Builders of Glasgow’ is an incredible display of the expertise and skill sheet metal workers practice every day, from Local 100 to Scotland,” Killeen said. “I was proud to represent our union overseas, and I hope these statues serve as a reminder to all who see them of the workers who power our world.”

To learn more, visit www.johnmckenna.co.uk.

Tags FRA, Local News, Members Journal, Spring 2025

Members of SMART Local 473 fabricated, welded and built an astounding monument in front of the new Hard Rock Hotel in London, Ontario.

Tags Local 473, Local News, Members Journal, Spring 2025

“The project peaked at over 500 [Local 20] sheet metal workers. It’s still hard to wrap my hands around that.”

That’s Local 20 (Indiana) Business Manager Trent Todd, discussing a Stellantis engine plant megaproject in Kokomo, Ind. — the largest project in the local’s history — in a recent episode of SMART News.

The key to taking on the work? Organizing.

“It was a total team effort, state-wide,” Todd said. “Hats off to the local business rep. in that area; I can’t say enough.”

The Kokomo megaproject began in spring of 2023. Even before the peak of 500 sheet metal workers, Todd and Local 20 knew that immense workforce demands would be placed on their signatory contractors.

So, using a broad range of organizing tactics, the local got to work early.

“We started months ahead of time with our Youth-to-Youth organizers, mapping out nonunion jobsites before we conducted the blitzes that we had,” Todd explained, referring to several union organizing blitzes in the area that the local conducted, in conjunction with the SMART International Organizing Department, to recruit unorganized workers. “We basically blitzed several areas. We were efficient when the International organizers came in, because we had the projects already documented that had nonunion workers on them.”

Organizers used methods both innovative and tried-and-true to get their message to nonunion workers. They handed out cards with QR codes linking to information on the union difference at jobsites and local businesses. The local ran social media advertisements. Officers visited community colleges and adult education centers, handing out cards and spreading the word about fulfilling careers in the sheet metal industry, and continued their practice of visiting job fairs and community outreach.

“[We did] some new stuff as well as some of the traditional, boots-on-the-ground … fighting and combating the nonunion, and monitoring jobsites in the area,” Todd explained.

Local 20’s intentional focus on organizing will serve union sheet metal workers in Indiana for years to come. Even now, in the wake of the Stellantis megaproject, members are at work on a $4 billion hospital project in Indianapolis and will soon take on an upcoming 26-story high rise. Not only that, Todd added: The rigorous organizing conducted by the local is helping union contractors retain their “core work” market share, maintaining the unionized sector’s hold on elements of our industry that stay constant through the fluctuations that define construction.

In other words, whether staffing record-breaking megaprojects or ensuring union members continue taking on the everyday projects that keep communities running, organizing is key.

“All in all — with new SMART members, seasoned SMART members, the help from our International Association — SMART Local 20 delivered [its] largest project to date,” Todd concluded.

Tags Local 20, megaproject, organizing, Youth to Youth

Since mid-March, SMART has continued to fight for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return home and his right to due process. Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal apprentice with SMART Local 100 in Maryland, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador nearly two months ago.

The latest episode of SMART News featured coverage of the ongoing case, including footage of a press conference featuring SMART General President Michael Coleman and Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer; an interview with SMART House Counsel Luke Rebecchi; and General President Coleman’s appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room.

“The principle of due process is one of the fundamental values our nation is founded upon. Every single person in America has the right to due process, the right to face one’s accusers — the guarantee that no one shall be ‘deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law,’” General President Coleman said on April 4. “When Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, he was denied his right to due process, and we at SMART are fighting to ensure he receives the treatment he is granted under law — just like we would, and we always will, fight for the rights of every single SMART member.”

“In the blink of an eye, our three children lost their father, and I lost the love of my life,” Jennifer Vasquez Sura said during the April press conference. “His mother lost a son, his siblings lost their brother. Our entire family is broken by what, in ICE’s words, was an error.”

“We all need to imagine if this were to happen to us,” said General President Coleman during the same press conference. “One of our family members, one of our friends. Taken into custody, illegally deported and not being able to reach out to your loved ones.

“It’s just not enough to admit that you made a mistake — you need to fix it.”

On Thursday, April 10, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that backed a federal judge’s order requiring the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. Members are encouraged to send a letter to their representative and senators demanding action.

Tags Kilmar Abrego Garcia, SMART News, video

As industry, politics and economic landscapes shift, SMART representatives are constantly called upon to adapt accordingly, ensuring union members are represented to the best of their abilities. It’s a daunting task — but thanks to the SMART Education Department, local union officers across our union have access to an always-evolving lineup of courses designed to strengthen their representation.

That includes the department’s New Representatives II course, held in Rosemont, Ill., during the week of April 14th, 2025.

New Representatives II, which was completely redesigned for 2025 and delivered in-person instead of online, focused on improving representational and leadership skills beyond the day-to-day tasks that a representative would face. Participants worked in groups in several role-playing exercises throughout the week that covered topics such as time management, identifying leaders in local union memberships, building strategic relationships, lobbying, pre-jobs and conflict resolution. This class also marked the first time the Education Department implemented its new peer-based scoring system.

“Congratulations to Michael Thomas, Wayne Petty and James May for finishing as the top three participants in the class!” the department wrote.

Tags education, Education Department

On Thursday, April 10, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that backed a federal judge’s order requiring the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States. SMART General President Michael Coleman issued the following statement in response:

“Since last week, our demand has been a simple one — one that echoed the calls of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s family, community and allies: Bring Kilmar home and give him the due process that is his right.

“It’s been weeks since Kilmar, a sheet metal apprentice working hard to pursue the American dream, was mistakenly deported. Over those weeks, in what has been a heartbreaking and terrifying time for Kilmar’s family, we have seen Americans from coast to coast raise their voices against Kilmar’s deportation. And in the midst of that outcry, the United States justice system instructed the government, again and again, to bring Kilmar back to the U.S.

“In court last Friday, U.S. Department of Justice attorney Erez Reuveni admitted that there was nothing in the record to support ICE apprehending and deporting Abrego Garcia. The federal district court judge who heard Kilmar’s case stated she ‘[hadn’t] been given any evidence’ to support the government’s allegation of gang affiliation and ordered the government to bring Kilmar home. On Monday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously denied the government’s request for a stay. And yesterday, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the government’s responsibility to facilitate Kilmar’s return from El Salvador.

“Our call is unchanged, and it is now backed by the Supreme Court: The government must bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia home and grant him due process. We are overjoyed for Kilmar and his family, and we look forward to the Trump administration taking immediate steps to bring him back to the U.S.”

Tags General President Michael Coleman, GP Coleman, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, statement

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