Jackie Bennet retired from the SMART International Association on February 1, 2023, concluding 36 years of service. A dedicated and passionate employee, Jackie began as a clerk, then supported various departments as a secretary and retired as the assistant office manager. Throughout her career — which began under the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) and continued following the merger of the SMWIA and the United Transportation Union (UTU) that formed SMART — Jackie was a proud union supporter, on and off the job. She plans to spend her retirement at the beach, traveling with her husband, enjoying time with her son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and rooting for the Washington Commanders. SMART thanks Jackie for her many years of service!
Leah Hankins
Tragically, SMART lost another dedicated and loyal staff member on February 26, 2023, when Leah Hankins passed away following a battle with metastatic lung cancer. Like Jackie, Leah joined the union’s staff prior to the merger of the SMWIA and UTU, working as an audit clerk/typist in the Membership Department; an accounting clerk in the Membership Department; and finally, an audit specialist in the Membership Department. Leah worked particularly closely with local railroad unions, going above and beyond to support SMART officers and members through thick and thin. A dedicated and loyal employee, she spoke frequently of her husband, Dave, and her sons, Brent and Nathan. SMART continues to mourn Leah’s untimely passing, and staff and members alike send their condolences to Leah’s family.
SMART and the SMART Women’s Committee celebrated Women In Construction Week from March 5–11, 2023, putting a special focus on the life-changing careers in unionized sheet metal that are available to women across the United States and Canada. Along with two profile videos, SMART’s Women In Construction Week 2023 programming featured a kids art contest, a photo contest and a happy hour hosted by the Women’s Committee and SMART General President Joseph Sellers — including a video by Local 17’s (Boston, Mass.) Shamaiah Turner demonstrating how to make the 2023 happy hour drink, a tribute to trailblazing SMART sister and Director of Special Projects Louise Medina.
Women In Construction Week was founded by the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), a group that started with just 16 women in 1953 and now has more than 115 chapters in 47 states. Launched in 1998, the national campaign for Women In Construction Week is held the first full week of March each year to highlight women’s vital contributions to the construction industry, increase the visibility of the many women serving as role models and educate the public about the opportunities that exist for women in the industry
Those opportunities were on full display in the SMART video profiles of Local 17 (Boston) sheet metal worker Adrian Mobley and fifth-year Local 17 apprentice Kerry Sampson — the first-ever female SMART sheet metal worker in Rhode Island.
Adrian Mobley
Mobley said her life changed when she entered the Building Pathways pre-apprenticeship program and met Shamaiah Turner. Mobley had previously worked as a nonunion nursing assistant, and she never had the financial security to move out of her parents’ house. Even worse, none of those companies provided her with health or dental benefits. That all changed, she noted, when she joined Local 17.
”I got into the union, and I stacked: saved money, saved, saved, and now I have a two-bedroom condo and I’m loving it. So I thank the union for that,” Mobley said.
“If a woman approached me right now wanting to get into sheet metal, I would tell her go for it,” she added. “If you see me doing it, you can do it. I saw another woman doing it, and I convinced myself I could do it.”
Kerry Sampson
Sampson echoed many of Mobley’s points. Before entering the Local 17 apprenticeship, she found a consistent, family-sustaining career hard to come by. Her hair dressing job, she said, didn’t pay very well but had some benefits; as a makeup artist, she made more money but had no benefits. Now, with the strong pay and benefits afforded by her union apprenticeship, she’s able to help her daughter go to nursing school, afford her own place and provide for her loved ones.
“I definitely have better work-life balance now that I’m in the union,” Sampson explained. “I make better Adrian Mobley Kerry Sampson money, I’m more comfortable, I have better benefits, I can do what I want to do with my free time. I love fishing; the first year of my apprenticeship I was able to buy a small aluminum boat, and now I own a 20-foot center console.”
SMART’s Women In Construction Week celebrations concluded with a virtual happy hour on the evening of Friday, March 11, during which the winners of the photo and kids art contests were announced, attendees played online games and trivia, and SMART sisters and allies shared in the camaraderie of union solidarity.
“Women In Construction Week gives us the opportunity to gather with sisters across North America, celebrate the many trailblazers in our industry, and spread awareness about the opportunities in our trade” said SMART Women’s Committee Chair Vanessa Carman. “We had another successful week in 2023, and we can’t wait for next year!”
International Representative Bob DiOrio retired on December 31, 2022 — concluding nearly 40 years of service to our union.
Retired International Rep. Bob DiOrio drinks a well-earned cup of coffee.
After starting his apprenticeship at Local 19 in Philadelphia in 1984 and becoming a journeyperson in 1988, DiOrio served on several of his local’s subsidiaries, including on Local 19’s executive board, the Local 19 Political Action League Committee, loan officer of the Local 19 Federal Credit Union and president of Local 19’s Beneficial Association. He helped lead the effort to grow the strength of his local as an organizer from 2000–04, then served his fellow members as a business representative from 2004–08, also leading the Center City Building Trades Committee as chairman. From there he moved onto international leadership, serving as Region 1 International Organizer from 2008–2011 and Region 1 International Representative from 2011–2022, with a stint as regional director of organizing from 2016–19.
DiOrio has been married to his wife, Carol, for 30 years; his daughter, Ashley Low, is an operating room surgical nurse supervisor, while his son, Vince DiOrio, works as a balancer for SMART Local 19. He is the proud grandfather of R.J., Nicholas and Vincenzo.
SMART thanks Bob DiOrio for his many years of dedication, and we wish him well in his retirement!
Like retiring SMART General President Joseph Sellers, Michael Coleman has decades of experience in both the sheet metal trade and union leadership. He began his career as a SMART sheet metal worker in 1985, when he joined what was then Local 65 in Cleveland, Ohio (Local 65 merged with Local 33 soon after).
“I was 18 years old, about to turn 19,” Coleman explained. “I had a job working for a moving company, but there wasn’t much of a future in that. And somebody I knew said, ‘why don’t you try taking the apprenticeship test to become a sheet metal worker?’ And like most people at the time, I said: ‘I don’t even know what a sheet metal worker is.’”
He took the apprenticeship test, honed his craft as a member of Local 33 (northern Ohio) and — despite having never considered union leadership — ended up running for election as a member of the local’s executive board. From there, he became business representative, then Local 33 president and business manager in 2012. Seven years later, the SMART General Executive Council asked him to move to Washington, DC to work as SMART’s director of business and management relations — and shortly after that, General President Sellers asked him to become assistant to the general president. In all, it amounts to more than 20 years of dedicated leadership at the local and international level.
Watch an interview with incoming SMART General President Michael Coleman
“Much like General President Sellers, everything I have is because of this organization,” Coleman said. “I was floundering working for that moving company — becoming a sheet metal worker and a SMART member has provided me everything I have, along with my family. So I’m very dedicated to this organization. I’m driven because I think I owe everything I have to this organization.”
Coleman has seen first-hand the battles and victories of the last several years: from the fight against IRAPs and anti-worker rail policy, to huge wins like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the current megaproject boom. As he prepares for his new role as general president, he says, those challenges and opportunities are top of mind.
“Now is our time,” he said. “These opportunities are once in a generation, and I’m very excited and very thankful to General President Sellers for positioning us as he did.”
When 64-year-old Orchard Park, N.Y. resident Chuckie Sonntag found himself in need of an entry ramp for his home, the SM Local 71 (Buffalo, N.Y.) SMART Army leapt into action — demonstrating the vital role unions play in American communities, on and off the job.
Sonntag, who helped form a local charity that gives economically challenged Buffalo-area kids the chance to attend their first NFL games, is a double amputee who lost his limbs to a bone disease — his arm at age 35, and his legs eight years ago. Until recently, he only had an entry ramp at the front of his home, giving him just one way to enter and exit his house. A former member told Local 71 leadership about Sonntag’s plight, and the membership mobilized immediately.
“Our members find the time to help somebody; our [members] are workers who get satisfaction in helping others,” Local 71 Business Manager Paul Crist told WNYLaborToday.com. “When someone needs help in our community, why not us?”
“It’s important to help people who need,” added Local 71 Membership Development Organizer Andre Mayes. “We got a donated aluminum ramp, disassembled it at one location and then transported it over to Chuckie’s house just before the holidays (and in between two massive snowstorms that hit the Buffalo area, thankfully).”
Local 71 members assemble Sontagg’s rampSontagg uses his brand-new ramp
Mayes, Local 71 Vice President Cary Hinterberger and eight-year member Scott Brodnicki then spent the afternoon reconfiguring and installing the ramp, which had been broken down into eight-foot segments, at the back of the house.
“I jumped on board and volunteered. That’s the way I was brought up,” explained Brodnicki. “It always goes back to my [late] father, who was also a SMART member: When someone needs help, you lend a hand – no matter who it is.”
SMART Army projects like the one at Sonntag’s house help spread the word about how all working people benefit from the presence of organized labor; they show clearly that unions are pillars of local communities. More importantly, such projects put labor’s principles into action, demonstrating the real, concrete power of community solidarity.
“I’m so happy — [Local 71] came through for me,” Sonntag told WNYLaborToday.com. “They’re a bunch of really nice guys. [The ramp] works really well, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Local 45, based out of central Iowa, reached the 100-year milestone as a charter under SMART on November 14, 2022. For nearly a year, active and retired members of the local worked with Union Histories to share stories, memories and pictures from the past century. Current and former business managers, representatives, presidents and JATC instructors all had a hand in creating this monumental piece of history. Union Histories, with help from 34 contractors and vendors, put together an amazing keepsake for Local 45 in the form of a commemorative book and slideshow.
These items were showcased at the local’s annual Christmas party on December 3, 2022. As in years past, everyone pitched in to bring food and drinks for over 180 people, including 50 children who had the chance to talk with Santa and give him their Christmas wish list. Music and laughter filled the air while guests enjoyed each other’s conversations and good times in the festive space.
“We were blessed with generous gifts from 14 different friends of the local, which were given away as door prizes along with grand prizes for several lucky winners,” said Local 45 Business Representative Jon Quijano. “We would like to give a special thank you to all who were involved in marking these special occasions as we look forward to the next 100 years!”
Coworkers and union siblings of Local 18 (Wisconsin) member Jason Fellenz have long admired his dedication and artistry as a craftsman; since entering the trade in 2002, Fellenz has steadily climbed the ranks at JF Ahern Company, where he’s now shop foreman. But in 2022, the spotlight on his skill as a sheet metal worker shined brighter than ever when Thorogood, the employee-owned Wisconsin boot company, showcased a replica boot that Fellenz designed and fabricated out of 16-gauge black iron.
“I absolutely have a passion for fabrication and metal work,” Fellenz said in an interview with Thorogood. “I am always interested in bettering my fabrication skills and testing my abilities. … Being a Wisconsin native, home of Thorogood, and wearing their boots for almost 20 years, I had the idea one day to make a boot that I can display; a boot that represents the foundation of the working class.”
Fellenz started his sheet metal career out of high school, working for a small residential HVAC company. “Quickly, I found out that I enjoyed the challenge of measuring up new jobs and going back to the shop to fabricate the metal,” he said — however, he didn’t enjoy the service work. So when his dad read about a large union mechanical contractor (Ahern) looking for sheet metal apprentices, he applied without hesitation. From there, he transitioned from pre-apprentice, to apprentice, to foreman, to shop foreman — sticking with Ahern throughout and developing a passion for mentorship along the way. He was already overseeing 13 colleagues as a fourth-year apprentice, and he became a foreman after only six months in the field.
“Making it fun while teaching and mentoring the future apprentices was always a thing of mine,” he told Thorogood, adding that he moved into the shop foreman role in order to work on more jobs and create a legacy of helping younger workers.
Fellenz’s affinity for teaching makes him a natural fit for the union. A constant advocate for the trade, he believes the enormous variety of crafts and skills in the unionized sheet metal industry make it a great career path for a huge range of young workers — not to mention the training and compensation SMART members gain through collective bargaining.
“Being compensated for the knowledge and training put forth is why I’m able to earn a family-supporting wage package that includes retirement and health benefits,” he explained. “SMART has helped realize those benefits to the employers by offering skilled workers on demand. Being able to learn a craft that I can carry anywhere in the world is beneficial to my family’s growth and change.”
“I’m always interested in bettering my fabrication skills and testing my abilities,” he said in an interview for Ahern’s website. “You start from raw material and construct an object through tons of different processes with your own hands. Whether it’s a piece of art or a bracket of some sort, it took layout and several steps to accomplish.”
Fellenz used AutoCAD to design his replica of the boot, spending six hours in his home studio drafting a model based on his own shoe. After that, he dedicated another two weeks of fabrication and welding, crafting a stunning iron representation of working-class grit. The result, Fellenz told Ahern, is one of his favorite projects yet.
“When all is said and done, the product will outlast a lifetime and create ideas for the future tradesmen,” he declared.
WATCH: “I am very excited about the big jobs that are coming up. We have many opportunities that they offer for those who are willing to work, work hard and learn new skills.”
North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) hosted an event titled “Meeting the Moment” on Thursday, March 30 in Columbus, Ohio. The event, part of NABTU’s Opportunity Pipeline series, featured NABTU President Sean McGarvey, SMART Local 24 (southern Ohio) member McKenzie Quinn, representatives from the Ohio governor’s office, state politicians from both sides of the aisle, local union workers and more, all talking about one thing: $200 billion worth of megaprojects breaking ground in Ohio.
“Join us in rebuilding America and join us in establishing your place in the middle class,” McGarvey said at the event, addressing the union tradespeople of the future. “… We look forward to building this together as a team, as a community for the benefit of all in our country.”
As a result of massive investment and new megaprojects from companies like Intel, Honda and more – spurred in part by federal legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act – the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council estimates that more than 115,000 union workers will work full time from 2023 to 2025. That enormous number of jobs opens a huge window of opportunity for SMART sheet metal workers, both current and future members.
McKenzie Quinn (front row, second from right) with the leadership of Local 24.
“In Columbus right now, we have a lot of exciting upcoming projects,” Local 24 journeyperson Quinn said. “We have chip factories, data centers, electric vehicle battery plants, and this is going to bring hundreds of good-paying jobs in the next few years.”
That not only means family-sustaining jobs for Ohio SMART members – it creates a golden opportunity for local unions to recruit, organize and grow their market share.
“We need to do our best to continue recruiting people from every background,” Quinn noted. “This opportunity is available to everyone.”
Megaprojects, union apprenticeship programs create opportunity for all
Multiple speakers at Thursday’s event testified to the power of a union apprenticeship when it comes to lifting workers up, no matter their background or identity. Year after year, the statistics demonstrate that unions reduce economic disparity for women, people of color and other members of historically marginalized communities. By taking advantage of megaprojects and bringing more workers into the unionized trade, SMART locals can do more than fortify their strength – they can create real opportunity for all.
“Joining a union has given me safety and security in my job and safety from discrimination, not only with wages but also gender-based discrimination,” Quinn said. “This is a great chance for everybody, including women and minorities, to get into the trades and have a great career.”
Left-Right: Former business manager and William’s son, Ken Greiner; Local 12 member William A. Greiner, aged 93; Business Rep. Geoff Foringer; former Business Rep. Dave Zychowski; Business Rep. Kevin Malley; former Business Manager and William’s son, Bob Greiner; William’s son and Local 12 member Bill Greiner; and William’s grandson and Local 12 member Ben Greiner
Longtime Local 12 (western Pa.) member and former Business Representative William Greiner passed away on March 11, 2023, at the age of 103. Greiner not only led a fulfilling life as a sheet metal worker, a unionist and an engaged retiree; he helped forge a deep personal and familial legacy within SMART.
“The Greiner family has a long, rich history embedded in the fabric of Local 12,” said Local 12 Business Rep. Geoff Foringer. “William had three sons, a son-in-law and two grandsons in the trade — two sons, Bob and Ken, were business representatives and went on to be business managers of Local 12.”
Greiner served in the United States Navy as a sub chaser during World War II before entering the sheet metal trade; he would live the rest of his life — 77 years — as a proud member of Local 12, including 18 years as a business rep. He ended up collecting a pension for longer than his years of service, Foringer added, and he was the definition of an active retiree: In addition to Local 12 activities, Greiner was an enthusiastic participant in Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) events, as well as an avid gardener.
Local 12 member William Greiner on his 101st birthdayLocal 12 member William Greiner as business rep.
“Bill loved to dance and was always the life of the party,” Greiner’s Legacy.com obituary reads. “Bill cherished his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.”
In 2015, the SMART Members’ Journal published an article on the legacy of the Greiner family, noting at the time that, collectively, the family had contributed more than 480 years of service to the local. As we honor and remember William Greiner, it is clear that at least several generations — both in the Greiner family and beyond — benefited greatly from the more than seven decades he served as a SMART member.
“He lived a full and active life,” Foringer concluded.
