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The National Mall in Washington, DC now prominently features a 12-foot-diameter, stainless steel memorial statue that was fabricated by SMART members and built to honor Native American veterans.

The National Museum of the American Indian dedicated the National Native American Veterans Memorial during a Veterans Day ceremony on November 11, 2022. The statue was built by SMART Local 124 (Okla.) members working at signatory contractor RedLand Sheet Metal, a Native American-owned shop in Oklahoma City.

Prior to the ceremony, on a rainy and windy day in the nation’s capital, more than 1,500 Native veterans and their families participated in a procession around the museum and onto the National Mall.

“We are a stainless steel custom fabrication company,” said Tammy Adams, president of RedLand and a member of the Choctaw Nation, following the dedication ceremony in DC. “We have been a union shop for about five years now. My father was a veteran of the Korean War — he was a Navy veteran. So, this was a passion project for us.”

In addition to being a signatory contractor and a Native-owned company, Adams says one half of RedLand’s employees are Native American.

“I did everything,” said RedLand stainless fabricator and Choctaw Nation member Lamar Lester, who is also a member of SMART Local 124. “I welded and put together the lances, added the rings to the lances. I was in on slip-rolling of the metal, the welding process, the grinding process.”

Watch coverage of the dedication ceremony in episode three of SMART News.

RedLand co-owner Henry Adams, who is a 40-year veteran of the sheet metal industry and married to Tammy, said the circular monument is made out of 3/8” steel plate, and its fabrication was not unlike some standard HVAC projects.

“The design is a lot like ductwork,” he said. “Those two sides that you see, you’re slip-rolling those sides the way you would a round reducer.”

During the memorial dedication ceremony, numerous speakers underscored how Native Americans have long served in the U.S. military at rates far higher than the national average for non-Natives.

“Native people fought for this country, a country, candidly, that occupied their homelands, disrespected their tribal sovereignty and confined their people to reservations,” said Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. “Yet, they fought in every major conflict for the last two centuries.”

Tammy Adams, Henry Adams and Lamar Lester all underscored how meaningful the memorial project was to them personally, both while they were working on it and now that it has been completed and installed.

“You know what this is going to mean to a lot of people,” said Henry. “And it’s going to be around as long as our country is.”

Tammy noted that it was “incredibly moving” to be in DC for the ceremonial procession and dedication. “It is a testament to Native veterans.”

Near the end of the dedication ceremony, just as the sun was setting in Washington, DC, statue designer Harvey Pratt lit the flames at the bottom of the circular statue. Pratt is a renowned Oklahoma-based Native American artist and member of both the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.

“The deeper you get into it, the more the emotional attachment comes to it,” said Lester. “It’s the greatest project I’m ever going to have an opportunity to work on. And the further I get away from it, the more it means to me.”

Members of the SMART Rail, Mechanical and Engineering Department (MD) working for Union Tank Car Company (UTLX) in Valdosta, Georgia rallied for an informational picket on Friday, November 4 — demonstrating their solidarity and showing their willingness to fight for better working conditions. SMART MD is currently negotiating a new contract at UTLX; one that will address jobsite safety, proper training and more.

“The workers took a stand in solidarity and sent a clear message to the company that they will stand in support of each other as we work toward reaching an agreement worthy of ratification,” said Joe Fraley, SMART MD international representative. “Our internal committee has done an exceptional job growing the strength of this unit.”

The primary reason UTLX employees rallied, Fraley explained, was to demand fair treatment. UTLX has refused to reward seniority for common items such as bidding vacation or job openings and has resisted considering seniority when performing workforce reductions. Additionally, employees say, the company cuts corners and bends and breaks safety policies and procedures, putting profit over the well-being of its workers. Training, as well, is a huge issue for UTLX employees: Workers say that the company regularly directs recent hires — who have little to no experience — to train new workers, perpetuating the lack of focus on safety.

“These workers deserve and are ready to demand better,” Fraley said.

They did just that on November 4. Brandishing signs that read “Strike For Safety,” “I’m A Whistleblower,” “Don’t Lie to OSHA,” “Fair Contract Now” and more, the workers gathered at the UTLX gate, sending a strong message to the company and passing drivers.

SMART commends these workers for refusing to back down in the face of unfair treatment, and we will continue to stand with members working at UTLX as they negotiate the contract they have earned!

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the SMART Local 17 union hall in Boston on Wednesday, November 2, emphasizing the work SMART members will perform as part of the Biden administration’s push to lower energy costs. Harris announced a variety of steps the administration will take – part of the Inflation Reduction Act – to help working families stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer; many of which will create union jobs manufacturing, retrofitting and installing energy efficiency equipment.

The vice president was introduced by SM Local 17 member Shamaiah Turner, who proudly represented our union and the many boundary-breaking women and people of color in the union trades.

“The Inflation Reduction Act … pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in terms of providing good jobs and a sustainable way to address the climate crisis,” Turner explained.

“Shamaiah, you represent the heart and soul of Local 17,” Harris said upon taking the stage. “Thank you for that introduction and all that you have done – and all that you have left to do.”

Local 17 member Shamaiah Turner introduced the vice president.

After thanking Local 17 sheet metal workers for their work building our nation, Harris outlined the Biden administration’s aim to “create millions of good-paying union jobs, to protect workers’ rights, to expand American manufacturing and to lower costs for American families.”

“One of the best ways a family can reduce the energy bill is to make their home more energy efficient. But here’s the challenge,” Harris added. “For many homeowners, energy efficiency upgrades are expensive. … And that is why we are investing $300 million right here in Massachusetts, and $13 billion nationwide, to help families upgrade their homes and to lower their monthly energy bills.”

As part of the White House’s plan to lower energy prices, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is providing $4.5 billion in assistance to help cut heating costs for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), helping families make necessary repairs and upgrades to their homes to increase energy efficiency. Additionally, the Department of Energy will allocate $9 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support up to 1.6 million households nationwide in upgrading their homes to decrease energy bills, including by installing heating pumps – efficient technology that can heat and cool homes and buildings using half or a third of the energy used by traditional heating systems. Importantly, Harris noted, the labor standards included in the funding incentivize the use of skilled, certified workers to perform such upgrades.

“These investments will also create jobs. Jobs for electricians, who do the residential wiring. Jobs for laborers, who install energy efficient windows and doors. Jobs for sheet metal workers, who build and install electric heat pumps. Jobs for union workers who will be trained right here in this building.”

In a fact sheet released ahead of the event, the White House specifically directed stakeholders to BetterAirInBuildings.org – a resource that enables interested parties to find skilled, certified SMART workers and SMACNA contractors for their building needs. The administration also announced its intention to designate funding for workforce development and training, helping local communities and unions like SMART expand access to good, union jobs.

Thanks to multiemployer pension relief included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, approximately 1,600 SMART members in the Sheet Metal Workers Pension Fund based in Massillon, Ohio will have their pension cuts fully restored, including full earned benefit in their monthly checks moving forward.

“This is definitely going to solve our problem,” SMART Local 33 (northern Ohio) Business Rep. Jerry Durieux told local newspaper The Repository. “This is hope for the future, that’s for sure.”

Unions and pro-labor politicians had been pushing for multiemployer pension security – in the form of a special financial assistance fund – for years, with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introducing it in the Butch Lewis Act multiple times since 2017. Only once a pro-worker majority and presidential administration assumed elected office could the Act – named after a legendary Ohio Teamster – be passed into law as part of the American Rescue Plan. Together with other provisions in the legislation, including funding for indoor air quality, the American Rescue Plan is already proving to be one of the most groundbreaking laws ever passed for working Americans.

“After years of advocacy by workers, retirees, and small business owners in Ohio, Democrats in Congress and this Administration finally saved the pensions that union workers in Massillon earned over a lifetime, with no cuts,” said Senator Brown in a press release announcing the pension relief. “This pension fix will help local workers and the small businesses they work with to grow and continue providing living wages and dignified work for Ohioans.”

Funding from the legislation has already saved 550,306 pensions nationwide, with millions more eligible. Furthermore, along with pension restoration for retirees, pension protection funding in the American Rescue Plan will put the Ohio Sheet Metal Workers Pension Fund on the path to solvency going forward – helping to secure the future benefits of active SMART sheet metal workers.

Local 24’s (Columbus, Ohio) Josh Williams knows the meaning of hard work. As a union sheet metal worker and a business representative for his local, he’s spent years waking up before the crack of dawn, toiling under the sun on the jobsite and spending long nights on the road. But in Williams’ case, the willingness to put long hours into a rewarding vocation — and help others reach their full potential — didn’t originate on the job. For nearly two decades, preceding his career in the trade, Williams has fought and coached mixed martial arts (MMA).

“I took my first fight back in 2001, fought from 2001–2003, then I took more into a coaching role, and I’ve been coaching for about the past 20 years,” Williams said. “I’ve been able to bring not only everything I learned in the cage to the union, I’ve brought actual fighters to the union as well.”

Watch Josh Williams talk MMA and sheet metal in episode five of SMART News.

MMA — also referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred and ultimate fighting — is a particularly thrilling combat sport, notable for incorporating techniques from a huge variety of international competitive fighting styles. Combatants can employ moves and methods from Greco-Roman wrestling, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and more; during a given fight, they may punch, kick, grapple and perform hand-to-hand ground fighting in a wide range of combinations. The result: a kinetic, brutal full-contact sport.

Local 24 currently has at least four members fighting MMA. That includes Daniel Spohn, an internationally renowned fighter with stints in the Ultimate Fighter and UFC. Spohn famously achieved one of the fastest knockouts in the history of the Ultimate Fighter with a 10-second win against Tyler King. Now, he’s continued his fighting career while simultaneously enjoying the family-sustaining pay and solidarity of a union sheet metal career. To Williams, that’s unsurprising: Experience in the cage transitions well to working in the sheet metal industry.

“[MMA] is real-time problem solving. It’s real-time problem solving with dire consequences: If you don’t figure out [the problem] right away, you’ll get punched in the head,” he explained. “If you can problem solve fast, efficiently and remain cool under fire, there’s nothing that [will] rile you up on a jobsite.”

Local 49 Business Manager Isaiah Zemke (right) with President Biden.

SM Local 49 (Albuquerque, N.M.) Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer Isaiah Zemke took part in a “Communities in Action: Building a Better New Mexico” meeting at the White House on October 7, 2022. The discussion, part of the Biden administration’s “Building a Better America” series, included an overview with leaders from Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, followed by state-specific sessions.

“They had leaders from each state join – from unions, nonprofits, tribal governments and elected politicians – for a group briefing, followed by individual state roundtables to share stories and discuss amplifying them across our communities and states,” Zemke said, noting that he conducted a survey of Local 49 members prior to the meeting in order to convey members’ thoughts to the administration. “I discussed indoor air quality and how we are partnering with school boards, the state of New Mexico and municipalities [to perform that work.]”

In the group meeting, Zemke and other attendees met with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, senior advisor to President Biden; Steve Rochetti, legislative coordinator; Al Zaidi, White House national climate advisor; Jewel Bronaugh, deputy secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture; Susan Rice, director of domestic policy; and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Along with conveying members’ messages to the administration, Zemke participated in a discussion on how recent legislation will impact working families in the region.

“It sounds like the plan is to have all 50 states choose leaders to attend similar action plans,” Zemke added.

Watch Zemke discuss his visit to the White House in episode two of SMART News.

In the New Mexico roundtable, Zemke brought up the amount of work that Indoor Air Quality policies and legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create for SM Local 49 members, including an Intel plant in Rio Rancho, N.M. He also pointed out the need for high schools to receive funding for CTE programs, ensuring that SMART and other building trades have the workforce pipeline that will be needed to complete the infrastructure work of the future.

Ultimately, the discussion once again proved SMART’s new level of access with the current administration – and the importance of taking advantage in order to strengthen our union.

SMART Local 18 (Wisconsin) was named a finalist for the 2022 BizTimes Media Nonprofit Excellence Awards, an annual recognition of local organizations dedicated to bettering Wisconsin communities. Local 18 was nominated by the Association for the Rights of Citizens with Handicaps (ARCh) Camp Pow Wow, which the local rehabilitated ahead of the organization’s first in-person camp for kids with disabilities since 2019.

Pictured: ARCh Assistant Director of Operations Kristin Lindahl, Local 18 Director of Organizing Hallie Jennerman and Local 18 President/Business Manager Scott Knocke.

For the last six years, Local 20 (Evansville, Ind.) has hosted a food drive during November, with all the food collected going to the Tri-State Food Bank.

“When we started this fundraiser in 2017, we collected 750 pounds of food,” said Kreg Homoky, Local 20 business representative. “Each year after that, the amount has increased — last year we collected 1,100 pounds.”

The food drive was especially important this year, Homoky explained. Food prices across the country have spiked as a result of high inflation, putting into perspective the challenges faced by working families.

“Hopefully this food drive we do every year will go a long way to help those in need,” Homoky added. “The Evansville area would like to thank all who participated. Your generous contributions will go a long way.”

SMART Local 2 in Kansas City participated in a new recruitment event in summer 2022. Earlier in the year, Business Manager Greg Chastain approached the Local 2 Women’s Committee to discuss how the local could reach a more diverse group when recruiting. The Women’s Committee immediately thought of Pride month.

Every June, Kansas City hosts a LGBTQ+ Pride parade and celebration that draws thousands of people — ideal for reaching every gender, age group and demographic. Local 2 supported the Women’s Committee’s suggestion by reserving two booths at the event.

When Pride month arrived, the Women’s Committee set up monitors with slideshows showing various aspects of the sheet metal trade and highlighting beautiful projects that have been made a staple of the city skyline. The booth also showcased multiple duct fittings and school projects, and the Women’s Committee passed out recruitment materials to visitors, including pamphlets about apprenticeships and benefits. The number one attraction at the booth was the virtual welder: Visitors of all age groups and experience levels were able to show their welding abilities.

All told, the Women’s Committee and Local 2 volunteers handed out swag and union information to more than 2,500 people. Several teachers and school counselors visited the booth, where they voiced that they would like to share information about apprenticeship programs and trades with their students to complement information about the college path.

Since June, Local 2 has seen an uptick in applications stemming from this event, and many applicants have already passed their tests and are awaiting placement. In other words, the LGBTQ+ Pride booths were a massive success.

SMART Local 45 (Des Moines, Iowa) celebrated its 100th anniversary and hosted a holiday party for members, retirees and family on December 3rd, 2022.