Today, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, codifying legislation that will strengthen America’s ability to build, expand and modernize semiconductor facilities. In response, SMART released the following statement.
“We commend President Biden for taking swift action and signing the CHIPS and Science Act into law. Not only will the CHIPS and Science Act invest billions of dollars into the semiconductor industry – expanding our national capacity to develop chips and incentivizing companies to increase production – it will mandate that manufacturing to happen in America, and it will support good-paying, union construction jobs by requiring Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates for facilities built with CHIPS funding. Companies are already responding to the passage of this legislation by making historic investments in American semiconductor manufacturing. SMART members are uniquely qualified to take on this work, and we look forward to taking on that responsibility.”
SMART General President Joseph Sellers opened the inaugural SMART Leadership Conference on Monday, with local leaders from sheet metal and transportation gathering in San Francisco for four days of hard work on behalf of SMART members across North America. The theme, “Growth Through Unity,” encompassed the focus of the day: in the joint session, sheet metal and Transportation Division sessions, and breakouts, SMART leadership focused on how to secure the future of our union – together.
Leaders emphasize unity in joint session
In his opening remarks, General President Sellers summarized the many events of the last several years for attendees, noting that political developments in both the United States and Canada have created unprecedented opportunity for our union – as well as the labor movement at large.
He began by recounting some of the legislative victories achieved for SMART members across North America: huge investments in the union transportation and sheet metal industries in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, pension protection in the American Rescue Plan, project labor agreements on federal projects above $35 million in the United States; and the achievement of the Labour Mobility Tax Credit and real apprenticeship funding for SMART brothers and sisters in Canada. He also noted the recently proposed rule for two-person crews and the importance of working together, across sheet metal and transportation, to secure that victory for SMART rail workers.
SMART General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Powell
“We must be proactive and seize our opportunities to strengthen and grow our union,” Sellers said. “We must build our capacity and capitalize on union-friendly administrations in both the U.S. and Canada.”
That being said, he pointed out, all those gains will be in danger if anti-labor politicians take back Congress. Elections in battleground states don’t only matter for locals in those states – they will impact the future of our entire union.
“Either we determine the future of our union, or our adversaries will do it for us,” Sellers declared. “So let’s organize, mobilize, recruit and fight like hell to increase our density and our market share across industries.”
General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Powell elaborated on General President Sellers’ speech, noting the need to accelerate our union’s growth while touching on the battles facing the Transportation Division and the ways SMART has used technology to expand member services without increasing expenses. The general secretary-treasurer pointed out that, given the growth in construction jobs, sheet metal locals need to increase their organizing, recruitment and retention.
“We have learned at this point that we can’t predict the future,” he said. “But two things we know for certain. One is that there is an enormous amount of opportunity ahead. The other is that we will need to work hard to make the most of that opportunity. Together, we will do just that.”
SMART TD President Jeremy Ferguson
Jeremy Ferguson, president of the SMART Transportation Division, used his opening remarks to reflect on the massive efforts to bring SMART together in the past – particularly the 2019 General Convention – and vowed to work tirelessly across sheet metal and transportation to make our union stronger than ever. Ferguson also spoke on the furious fight to safeguard and expand working conditions for Transportation Division members against corporate onslaught, particularly the Class 1 freight railroads.
“When things get tough, I know that the one thing we’re not afraid to do in the face of adversity is to show up and step up,” he said. “We’re not fearful of the challenges that we see ahead, after what we’ve been through.”
Ferguson touched on the ways the Transportation Division has dedicated itself to better serving members, from an app that allows workers to report safety violations, to the rolling out of SMART University, to the improvement of the Transportation Newspaper – including a column written by Ferguson titled “What your union is doing for you.” All of these initiatives, he explained, are part of the Transportation Division’s effort to strengthen, to unify, to come together and meet the needs of the membership as a whole.
Through all the difficulties of the last several years, a bright spot has emerged: friendly figures in government and federal agencies. Ferguson noted that, thanks to relationships with FRA Administrator Amit Bose, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and others, SMART members have a voice in the halls of power. And most importantly, he declared, the unity and solidarity of SMART provides a road map to a better future for all members.
“The changes we made in 2020 that we were all a part of have opened the doors to lasting progress for our organization and hope, even as we fight through all that the carriers and their Wall Street oligarchs throw at us to grind us down, such as draconian attendance policies,” Ferguson said.
Also speaking during Monday’s joint session were SMART TD California State Legislative Director (SLD) Louie Costa and SMART SM Local 104 (San Francisco) Business Manager Rick Werner. In each of their speeches, Costa and Werner touched on the histories of union transportation and sheet metal in California: the challenges, the battles fought and won, the ongoing struggles and the great potential for growth across all SMART crafts. Notably, both Costa and Werner recounted specific instances where unity – between different locals, and between sheet metal and transportation industries – helped spur the success of SMART.
“It is only together, as one, in all crafts, that we can, and will, solidify the theme of this year’s conference: ‘Growth Through Unity,’” Costa said.
GP Sellers, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, GST Powell
To cap off Monday’s joint session, the SMART Leadership Conference welcomed San Francisco Mayor London Breed and United States Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chair Marty Oberman – both figures who have showed themselves to be allies of working people and SMART. In her speech, Mayor Breed recapped the efforts of the San Francisco government, under her leadership, to bolster the rights of organized labor, including raises for union city employees and the CityBuild program – a pipeline for people from underserved communities to enter the unionized construction trades. She also addressed the city-wide project labor agreement signed into law in 2019.
“Having a strong PLA is important to ensure not only that we get these projects done, but the men and the women who work to push these projects through are supported through good living wages,” Breed said. “I know that’s what you all represent.”
Oberman, meanwhile, discussed the STB’s efforts to investigate the decline of freight rail service in the United States. Pointing to the reckless workforce slashing that has helped spur current freight rail disruptions, Oberman noted that much of the railroads’ difficulties hiring the workers needed to keep America’s supply chain running resulted from current working conditions – no business, he added, could function on the back of a nearly 30% workforce cut.
“It’s quite clear that the main force driving how the railroads are being managed these days are the pressures of stockholders,” he said.
Following Oberman’s speech, General President Sellers closed the joint session – but the day’s work had only begun, as sheet metal and Transportation Division leaders separated for industry-specific breakout sessions. Read more here.
In the SMART Leadership Conference general sheet metal session, General President Sellers delivered an extensive state of the industry for local union leaders, underscoring the fact that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the union sheet metal industry – if SMART takes advantage.
From legislation to manufacturing developments, Sellers observed, an enormous number of projects are incoming; projects that require sheet metal workers. There is a renewed emphasis on indoor air quality and ventilation verification, from government buildings and schools and beyond. The newly passed Chips and Science Act will bring semiconductor manufacturing – a sector SMART members are uniquely qualified for – back to the United States. There are huge mega projects in the burgeoning electric vehicle and battery manufacturing/storage field.
“We need to make sure that across the U.S. and Canada, we are capturing that work,” Sellers said. “Because if we don’t, if we don’t organize more than we ever could imagine, than that’s going to hurt.”
SMART can only acquire that work, he explained, if our union – at the International and local level – greatly expands its ability to grow union membership and market share. That can only be done through innovative organizing, recruiting and retention, with a specific focus on diversity, equity and inclusion: making sure our union is welcoming to all. Sellers pointed out that expanding our membership will require new initiatives, from the BE4ALL effort to a move away from exclusive word-of-mouth recruitment.
“If we keep the same [recruitment] patterns, we’re going to lose. … If we keep doing things the same way, frankly, I think generations will suffer,” he said. Adding that every local needs to ensure women, people of color and LGBTQ+ workers are welcome, he declared: “It doesn’t matter what you want to be called – she/her, he/him, great. We’ve got to represent everyone.”
That emphasis on innovation extends to organizing. General President Sellers explained that the SMART organizing department has worked to constantly develop new techniques, learning from fellow unions – including non-building trades unions like UNITE HERE – as it seeks to build capacity and endurance. And the time to organize like never before, he repeated, is now. We need to strike while the iron is hot; while we have allies in Congress and in the presidency.
In conclusion, General President Sellers referred to a familiar maxim: that many leaders run for union office to leave the local better than how they found it. This is the time to commit to that cause whole-heartedly.
“Everything I have in my life is from the union sheet metal industry, and it deserves our best effort,” he said. “Through our unity, through our solidarity, through our sweat equity and our hard work, we will grow this union. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to say we left it better than when we found it.”
GP Sellers, SMACNA CEO Aaron Hilger, GST Powell
Following the general president’s remarks, sheet metal members heard from Aaron Hilger, CEO of SMACNA, who echoed many of Sellers’ comments from the contractors’ perspective, as well as Helmets to Hardhats Northwest Regional Manager Nick Weathers.
“BE4All is probably the most important thing that we are doing together [with SMART right now,” Hilger explained. “We are never going to build the best workforce unless we make our workplaces welcoming.”
Finally, after the joint session, industry-specific sessions and lunch, attendees separated to attend further breakouts, with topics including Job Actions, BE4All, a GP & GST town hall, Shaping Our Future, Implementing Technology, Mental Health, Arbitration and many more. (Breakout sessions are held each day of the conference.)
Throughout the day, whether in the joint session or in breakouts, every attendee devoted themselves to the work that will build our union’s strength for generations: to Growth Through Unity. That work will continue for the rest of the conference.
Two years of pro-worker progress create jobs; SMART members directly benefit from new work opportunities
On Nov. 15, 2021, after years of political pressure from SMART and fellow unions, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), now known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will invest more than $1 trillion in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. The law promises to create good union jobs and put SMART members into action, improving indoor air quality in schools and commercial and residential buildings.
The International Training Institute (ITI), National Energy Management Institute Committee (NEMIC) and Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) will all benefit from the passage of this legislation, as the law will bolster the need for training more SMART members.
The law promises to create good union jobs and put SMART members into action, improving indoor air quality in schools and commercial and residential buildings.
Specific parts of the legislation will directly impact the SMART workforce. Below are some of the highlights of the law and where growth is anticipated over the next five years:
Energy efficiency in public schools
Under the law, the Department of Energy (DOE) will have $500 million to run a competitive grant program for public schools to make energy efficiency improvements. This program aims to improve indoor air quality and make repairs or renovations that directly reduce energy costs on school grounds.
In addition, states have been allocated funds to enhance energy security, advance energy initiatives and maximize the benefits of energy efficiency. Through additional grant programs, states are encouraged to establish initiatives to conduct commercial or residential energy audits or upgrades and retrofits.
Efficient building envelopes, testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) and indoor air quality will be instrumental in retrofitting school buildings and new construction projects.
TAB technicians and supervisors needed
The Energy Auditor Grant Training Program will provide funding — up to $2 million per state — to train individuals to conduct audits or surveys on commercial and residential buildings. Training centers that do not already offer TAB should look to pair up with their state to apply for these grants or contact the ITI for assistance.
Opportunities to change local building codes
A total of $225 million has been designated for a competitive grant program within the Building Technologies Office to enable sustained, cost-effective implementation of updated building energy codes. This funding is designed to be distributed over five years, averaging $45 million per year.
These grants are available to states and tribal governments — either alone or in partnership with local building code agencies, codes and standards developers, relevant professional organizations, local and utility energy efficiency programs or consumer advocates. The overarching goal is to help understaffed and underfunded local governments upgrade their building codes to the most up-to-date energy efficiency standards.
New markets and emerging technologies
Building information modeling (BIM) will be more important than ever. Experts are predicting that connected construction technologies like BIM will drive the construction industry in the future. A larger integration of modularization and prefabrication in the design and build process is at the forefront.
The law will open new markets for SMART members and present new challenges in the training and deployment of those members. Over the next five years, we will all need to work together to press for funding for our registered apprenticeship programs.
We have a substantial opportunity to change and update building codes at the local, state and national levels. And we have a once-in-a-generation chance to put more members to work.
Safety is paramount
When the initial hiring begins, a labor shortage is anticipated. One of the main concerns with filling a large labor gap is doing so in a safe manner. SMOHIT and the ITI have created training and have the resources needed for work to be completed correctly and safely.
Moody’s Analytics, an economic research company, projects that the law’s peak labor force impact will occur in the fourth quarter of 2025, when there will be 872,000 more jobs as a result of the law. Of those jobs, about 461,000 are expected to be in construction; 227,000 in manufacturing; 75,000 in transportation and distribution; 35,000 in government; and 73,000 in other industries.
Apprenticeships will be more important than ever as the law is implemented. While we have the tools to train the next generation of sheet metal workers, we need the companion Build Back Better legislation to provide more funding for training. If you haven’t done so already, contact your senators and tell them to pass the Build Back Better Act.
It is time to get to work rebuilding America’s infrastructure.
The Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association (SMWIA — now SMART) began organizing roofers in the Toronto area in the early 1950s. It seemed like the perfect marriage, as sheet metal workers were already organized in most of the roofing shops. The roofers worked long days with no benefits, poor working conditions and sub-par wages — $1.20 per hour at the time.
It was Thursday, Nov. 12, 1952 when roofers in Toronto held their historic meeting and reported that union certification had been received at four firms: Cloke Construction, Apex Roofing, Heather & Little and A.E. Furnival. Roofers who worked for R.S.C. Bothwell, the Board of Education and Plewman were also present at the meeting. A motion was made that a committee investigate roofer classifications and draw up a collective agreement to officially bring roofers into the SMWIA.
This was the beginning of 70 years (and counting) of solidarity and craftsmanship in the roofing industry, with union members standing shoulder to shoulder.
On the following evening, Nov. 13, the inaugural meeting was held, and the first SMWIA roofing officers were elected. The new roofer representatives were President Wm Munroe, Vice President Sandy McLeish, Financial Secretary J. Johnson, Recording Secretary R. MacMahon, Warden F. Guerin and Conductor L. Cadieux. This was the beginning of 70 years (and counting) of solidarity and craftmanship in the roofing industry, with union members standing shoulder to shoulder and working diligently to represent the best interests of these skilled workers. Today, almost every local in Canada has roofers in its membership.
The roofing industry has seen many changes over the last seven decades. Coal tar pitch, steep pitch and Trinidad asphalt were used back in the 1950s. Now we have conventional and inverted roofing systems, EPDM and single-ply PVC. Green roofing is now populating the skyline; builders are installing green roofs on their projects not just because they are visually appealing, but to help reduce greenhouse gases and to improve air quality. As the government looks to reduce emissions and retrofit buildings, the roofing sector will continue to thrive. The skills of our members will be increasingly in demand.
The Infrastructure Health & Safety Association’s (IHSA) Roofing Trade Committee has been active in producing safety manuals and public periodicals to help keep roofs safe. The committee’s work includes a health and safety manual, heat stress brochures and advisories on roof openings and skylights. The roofing industry is constantly changing, and SMART and its members are committed to organizing and improving the health and safety of all roofers.
Today our members provide their services for new roof construction, roof repair, restoration, maintenance and roof replacement using the most up-to-date methods and roofing technologies. Every two years a national roofing apprenticeship competition is held, where roofing members from all over Canada come together to compete and showcase their skills. This year’s roofing competition will be held in Newfoundland this August. I want to wish the best of luck to all the competitors.
We’ve come a long way in 70 years. Congratulations on seven decades of solidarity!!
A Local 16 member holds a piece of metal dedicated to Carrie Barber.
Chelsey Bus recently graduated from her apprenticeship at Local 16 in Portland, Oregon. During her five years of training, she experienced much of the same adversity that other women in the trades face; although SMART has made great strides to recruit and retain women, they remain a minority of the membership. That’s what makes stories of “I Got Your Back” solidarity – including Bus’s – so vital for the growth of our union.
When Bus began her apprenticeship, she said her duties involved menial work, like moving materials. But she began to see a shift in her job responsibilities around the time she was assigned to work at General Sheet Metal in Clackamas, Oregon, on an architectural sheet metal job.
“I didn’t have a lot of experience working on the architectural side,” explained Bus. “So I was kind of surprised when I was given the assignment.”
Nevertheless, Bus thrived. Over the course of her apprenticeship, she worked in residential HVAC, commercial HVAC, TAB, a mechanical shop and an architectural shop.
While working on an architectural project at General Sheet Metal, her friend and project manager, Carrie Barber, passed away unexpectedly.
“During that period, immediately after he passed away, people started telling me that he had gone to bat for me. He stuck his neck out and believed in me and got me placements. I had no idea,” Bus said. “His encouragement and faith in me were really touching. He had my back; I didn’t even know it.”
Bus said Barber’s faith in her was inspiring, and she plans to pay it forward – both on and off the job.
“I plan to make an effort to be that person for others,” she said. “I want everyone to experience that level of support, that same feeling that I’ve got your back.”
On August 31, 2021, the Local Union Officer and International Staff Retiree’s Club met in historic St. Charles, Missouri, with 56 attendees gathering for a cocktail reception, luncheon, meeting and a trip to Missouri wine country. As part of the meeting, union woodworker Jim Langsdorf crafted a tinner’s hammer made of solid hickory (pictured) in memory of past Regional Director Mike Krasovec.
Please join the Local Union Officer and International Staff Retiree’s Club for its 2022 meeting at the Isleta Casino and Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 30. Contact Tom Wilkens (618-407-5570/618-473-9384) or Larry Tucker (636-577-4312) for more information.
On April 4, 2022, members from across SMART gathered in Washington, D.C. to hear from SM Local 40 (Hartford, Conn.) Regional Manager John Nimmons about important indoor air quality (IAQ) legislation for sheet metal workers in Connecticut — based on an earlier legislative effort championed by SM Local 25 (Northern N.J.) Business Manager Joe Demark — that demonstrates how vital it is for SMART members to advocate in their local governments.
As of late spring 2022, multiple Connecticut State Senate bills, the most prominent being the Act Improving Indoor Air Quality in Public Schools (SB 423), are making their way through the legislative process with the backing of a labor coalition comprising SMART, the Connecticut Education Association (CEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the United Auto Workers (UAW) and more. Despite a deeply divided political climate, SB 423 garnered overwhelming bipartisan support, with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont allocating $90 million in his proposed budget to IAQ. Importantly, Nimmons noted, “We got the language in [the bills] that we wanted, that will bring the work to us.”
“When we are involved in the legislative process from the start, we can ensure that the most qualified technicians — SMART members — are the people making sure our schools and buildings are up to par in terms of IAQ.”
The legislative journey started in February 2021, when Jeremy Zeedyk from NEMI met with Nimmons to talk about IAQ bills they hoped to pass. After forming a task force containing SMART, SMACNA, the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB), the UAW, various education and health commissioners, the state department of labor and more, Nimmons and several task force partners created a subcommittee, the Coalition for Healthy Air in Schools, which included contractors, teachers, school nurses and others. In weekly meetings, aided by labor lobbyists in Hartford and the state building trades, the worker-powered subcommittee hammered out the details of a bill that would meet the needs of all parties. “These are all the little coalitions that we had going along, and we used each one of them to pull [the bill together],” Nimmons said. “We didn’t get here overnight.”
In some ways, this legislation was years in the making: SMART members supported the candidacy of the retired teacher-turned-state senator who is now championing the bill. Additionally, it took working with a variety of parties — from the state commissioner of labor to the local vocational teachers union — to make sure every detail of the bill met high labor standards: using Connecticut OSHA requirements, providing adequate IAQ reporting procedures and whistleblower protections, and expanding the standards of existing schools to also apply to new construction.
The impact the bills will have on SMART members is tremendous: They will be the workers called upon to retrofit and construct facilities to meet improved IAQ standards. “This will dramatically change the work hours for my local,” Nimmons explained.
General President Joseph Sellers addresses the SMART South East District Council in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in early May, outlining the IAQ work opportunities included in the recently passed infrastructure legislation.
The Connecticut IAQ bills are closely modeled on legislation currently in the pipeline in New Jersey — which, similarly to Connecticut, could never have found forward progress without the efforts of SMART, particularly Local 25 Business Manager Joe Demark and NEMI Director of Training Chris Ruch. Currently, Demark is working to push the bill through the New Jersey Assembly, following prior collaboration with former N.J. Senate President Steve Sweeney. And while the bill has yet to become law, Demark, Ruch and John Hamilton, chief operating officer of TABB, are striving to make sure the legislation includes strong language that will benefit SMART members. As Demark noted, lawmakers — even those with a blue-collar background — don’t always have the knowledge or experience to guarantee that HVAC and IAQ work goes to technicians with the right levels of expertise. It’s crucial that SMART sheet metal workers make their presence felt throughout the legislative process for the benefit of local unions – and the local communities whose lives will be impacted.
“Government officials and communities across North America are beginning to realize how important indoor air quality is for keeping our kids, families, friends and neighbors safe and healthy,” SMART General President Joseph Sellers explained. “When we are involved in the legislative process from the start, we can ensure that the most qualified technicians — SMART members — are the people making sure our schools and buildings are up to par in terms of IAQ.”
“This is going to mean a lot of work hours for our people,” Demark added.
SMART has been instrumental in working to pass IAQ legislation across the country. In Nevada, Assembly Bill 257 requires all public and charter schools in the state to assess and upgrade (if needed) their HVAC and filtration systems once federal money already allocated for this purpose becomes available at the state level. “With fire and life safety, and now with indoor air quality, members will have more opportunities to branch out into other aspects of being a sheet metal worker to increase hours and market share,” SMART Local 88’s (Las Vegas) business manager at the time, Jeff Proffitt, said in June 2021, when the bill passed. In California, meanwhile, AB 841 — signed into law in 2020 — will direct more than $600 million in energy efficiency funding to test, adjust and repair HVAC systems in public schools. The best part for SMART members: The legislation requires the work be performed by a TABB-certified technician to receive funding.
Whether in New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Nevada or beyond, IAQ legislation is emerging as a potentially bipartisan issue with robust benefits for local communities — and stellar work opportunities for SMART members. To begin lobbying for IAQ bills in your state, contact your local union leadership or director of government affairs.
Thanks to the strong support of his SMART pension, retired SM Local 19 (Southeastern Pa.) member Keith Gilmer has been able to spend plenty of time pursuing one of his passions: the outdoors.
“As a member, I was able to retire at the age of 55, and enjoy a few more years of good health than a lot of friends I know,” he explained. “I have been fortunate enough to make several hunting trips, and on my most recent one, I traveled to Newfoundland on a moose hunt.” Gilmer joined Mountaintop Outfitters — including the owner of the company, Art — for a successful trip: “I harvested a nice bull with a 40-and-a-half-inch spread … Previously I harvested, along with other bulls, a woodland caribou that is currently in the Boone and Crockett world record books.”
Because he was able to retire at 55 years old, Gilmer has the opportunity to devote a great number of years to exploring the natural world. It’s not something he takes for granted. “Thanks to groups like the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, along with our local unions, we get to enjoy parts of our ‘golden years’ outdoors,” he added. “Thank you for your past support, as well as the days and years to come.”
SMART TD LEADS PROTEST OUTSIDE OF BNSF SHAREHOLDER MEETING IN OMAHA
On April 30, 2022, while Berkshire Hathaway shareholders sat in comfort and national cable-news networks deified wealth hoarder Warren Buffett and his executive cronies at the company’s live-streamed annual meeting, BNSF railroad workers, as always, were out in the elements doing the hard work — this time, protesting against BNSF’s anti-worker “Hi-Viz” attendance policy. (Buffet is the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, which acquired BNSF in 2009.)
Protesters gathered in the early-morning hours — some as early as 4 a.m., when parking garages opened — and split up evenly to protest in five different areas outside of the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb., where the meeting took place. Doors opened to shareholders at 7 a.m., and the picketers wanted to be outside as the attendees arrived. They were joined by two LED video billboard trucks slamming Buffett, BNSF CEO Katie Farmer and Hi-Viz.
“We want change and won’t be going away or backing down.”
Carrying signs that read “They use us and abuse us,” “Fair wages, fair treatment” and “Railroaders’ lives matter,” members of the SMART Transportation Division, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), their respective auxiliaries and other members of rail labor mobilized in the rain outside CHI Health Center, bringing the voice of working people to the so-called “Woodstock for Capitalists.”
“We had a great turnout despite the weather. We were able to cross paths with I’d say around 90% of the participants that were walking into the building,” SMART TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity said of the approximately 60 protesters present.
“The crowd was fired up — it was divide and conquer. A very lively crowd,” said Vice President Chad Adams, who joined in the two-hour protest.
Also mobilizing our members were General Chairpersons Mike LaPresta (GO 001); Scott Swiatek (GO 009); and Luke Edington (GO 953).
“It was great seeing spouses and family involved in today’s protest, showing their support,” TD Auxiliary President Kathryn Seegmiller said. “We want change and won’t be going away or backing down.”
Cassity echoed this sentiment: “It was great to see labor standing in solidarity, members shoulder-to-shoulder and fighting for what’s right for the membership. We’re taking the fight to the railroads, and we’re not going to back down. The shareholders that were present at the meeting were there discussing the progress that they have made off of the backs of our members, and it’s important that they understand that we won’t back down and we won’t go away until the right thing has been done.”
According to the Informational Protest — Omaha NE 2022 Facebook page, the picketers regrouped later that afternoon and were joined by more supporters who could not make the morning session; another display of continuing solidarity.
Adams said that the April 30th movement is just the beginning.
“The group was talking about getting back together at the UP shareholders meeting next month — one thing builds another, just keep the pressure on and that’s what we can do,” he said.
