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Over the next two episodes of Talking SMART – the official podcast of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation workers – hosts Paul Pimentel and Ben Nagy talk with SMART members who have successfully run for local or state public office, discussing their sheet metal and transportation careers, what motivated them to run for elected office, specific steps they took to build and run successful campaigns and key issues they focused on once in office.

The featured guest for episode 20: Joe de la Cruz, a 25-year sheet metal worker with SMART Local 40 and vice president of Hillery Company, a signatory metal fabricator located in Groton, Conn. Episode 20 is out now; look for episode 21 in the near future.

Since 2016, Brother de la Cruz has served as a state representative, proudly serving the communities of Groton and New London in the Connecticut General Assembly. But his career as an elected official started at a much more local level, when he ran for and won a seat on Groton’s Town Council and Representative Town Meeting years earlier.

“What I think inspires people to get involved is when they start actually participating, and you don’t have to be elected to do that,” de la Cruz told Talking SMART. “All the meetings are open – just go to your council meeting. And when you hear how other people think and how vastly different it is sometimes from your opinion, that’s when the fire can get lit.”

“I know [running for office is] hard and I know it’s tough to do because we’re sheet metal workers, and when we go home we’re dirty and tired, but if you want to have things go your way – and it doesn’t really matter what the issue is – you have to be sitting at the table.”

– Joe de la Cruz, Local 40 member and Conn. state rep

Throughout the podcast discussion, Brother de la Cruz underscored the importance of being engaged and involved with your local community if you want to have a say in what happens, whether it’s with local sports leagues – which is what initially inspired de la Cruz to run for office – or on multi-million-dollar decisions about Project Labor Agreements or transportation funding. If members aren’t involved, he warned, there’s a strong possibility that the elected officials making decisions with enormous ramifications for SMART members will be people who have no idea what blue-collar life is like for working families.

“I know [running for office is] hard and I know it’s tough to do because we’re sheet metal workers, and when we go home we’re dirty and tired, but if you want to have things go your way – and it doesn’t really matter what the issue is – you have to be sitting at the table,” he explained.

In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, de la Cruz also kickstarted a national campaign to bring metal nose strips to thousands of volunteer face mask makers across the United States and Canada, at a time when masks were in critically short supply. Starting at Local 40, the effort quickly spread to SMART locals across North America, eventually resulting in over 17 million nose strips being produced and shipped to more than 27,000 people who requested them. For his leadership on this effort, Joe was honored in 2022 with the Joseph J. Nigro SMART Army Service Award.

Listen to episode 20 of Talking SMART – as well as all previous episodes – here.

Recently, SMART SM Local 33 members helped the Miracle League of Northwest Ohio (MLNWO) begin development of a much-needed and fully accessible building at its ballpark built for young ballplayers with special needs. Families and players will be served and their experience at the ballpark enhanced by the addition of a facility providing a concessions area and handicapped-accessible restrooms. It will also serve the organization by providing a place for fundraising events and storage.

The design provided for a full concessions area with a covered picnic space to allow players and families more opportunities to congregate and connect with others. Handicap-accessible restrooms will provide ease of use, comfort and privacy to players and families. Electricity and running water will aid MLNWO in expanding its fundraising efforts. And equipment and other assets can now be securely stored on-site.

Local 33 third-year apprentices installed heating and ventilation ductwork during the winter of 2020–2021. Apprentices also installed all bathroom partitions, mirrors, handrails, feminine and toilet paper dispensers, and wall-mounted garbage receptacles. Air Control, a Local 33 signatory, supplied equipment and registers for free, and the JATC supplied the rest of the materials and labor.

SM Local 38 President/Business Manager Michael Colombo, VP/FST Eric Hofbauer, Business Agents John Malaspina, James Nester and Tom Picheco, and Organizer Gene Barbieri presented Brother James Tenaglia with his 70-year Continuous Service Award. Brother Tenaglia is 94 years old and joined SMART in June 1948.

On Saturday, May 14, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will hold its traditional Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive – its 30th and the first in-person since 2019 (due to the pandemic, NALC conducted online donor drives the last two years). Participation is simple: On May 14, pitch in by leaving a bag of nonperishable food items near your mailbox before mail collection. Your NALC labor movement sibling will handle the rest, making sure your donation is delivered to local food banks in need.

As NALC President Fredric Rolando explains in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive announcement video: “Much of life paused or changed during the pandemic, but one thing that remained was the growing need for food assistance across the nation. Today, over 45 million Americans, including 15 million children, experience food insecurity, and they rely on food donations.”

“Together,” he adds, “we can stamp out hunger in America.”

Learn more at nalc.org/food-drive.

Today, an overwhelming majority of employees at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to join the worker-led Amazon Labor Union – becoming the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the United States. In response, SMART released the following statement:

“We at SMART enthusiastically congratulate the Amazon workers at JFK8, who have pulled off an inspiring victory by choosing to form a union. Over the course of the campaign, workers across the country witnessed as Amazon used countless, bad-faith union-busting tactics to mislead its employees. What Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island proved today is that captive audience meetings and multi-million-dollar anti-union campaigns are no match for the power of workers who stand together for a better future. Again, congratulations to the Amazon workers in Staten Island.”

Since opening its doors in 2018, Headless Mumby Brewing Company has defined itself by defying expectations. For one, Headless Mumby exclusively brews lager-style beers – no IPAs, Pilsners or artisanal stouts. Secondly, according to Thurston Talk, those lagers are currently produced by an all-woman brew crew. And perhaps most unique, Headless Mumby is the only brewery to be part of SMART, as well as one of the few independent union breweries in North America.

For co-owner and cofounder Alex Maffeo, a service tech and proud member of SMART Local 66 (Seattle, Wa.) since 2005, signing with SMART was an easy decision.

“We believe that workers’ rights are an essential part of creating a better society not only for the present day but also into the future,” Maffeo said in 2019. “Headless Mumby Brewing Co. is a proud signatory of SMART Local 66 because we want to provide our employees with more than just a paycheck. Access to higher wages, a safe workplace and retirement with dignity are just a few of the benefits that being a member of SMART Local 66 offers, and we know from experience.”

Maffeo and cofounder/owner Keith Ciani originally decided to form Headless Mumby in 2016, purchasing brewing equipment and building out their brewery space – with Maffeo unsurprisingly taking the lead on electrical and HVAC work. Since then, the Headless Mumby crew has cultivated a reputation for quality, craft and community. A recent Thurston Talk article described the brewery as “a cozy local place where families take their kids, bring a take-out pizza and gather for good times,” adding:

“[The brewery] connects with the community through fundraisers, partnerships and collaborations in addition to drawing in the neighborhood families to their taproom. They also take part in cultivating the craft brewing industry by hosting their first intern from the South Puget Sound Community College craft brewing and distilling program.”

Like all SMART signatory contractors, Headless Mumby and its customers bear witness first-hand to the quality that characterizes union labor. All beers are made using top-notch German malt and whole leaf hops procured during the Oregon and Washington harvesting window, and the brewing is performed in-house.

“There are quite a few breweries in town, and Olympia is known for brewing,” Stacey O’Connor, the head brewer at Headless Mumby, told Thurston Talk. “We wanted to feed off of that tradition, but things that differentiate us from other places in town is that we brew only lagers. Because we only do lagers, you’re going to find a bigger selection of them here than you are going to find at any other breweries in town.”    

One of those lagers was created specifically to pay tribute to the power of organized labor: the Local 66 Lager, a light, flavorful, American-style premium lager brewed with pilsner malt and flaked rice. As Maffeo explained in 2019, the Local 66 Lager represents an especially enjoyable way to commemorate all that Headless Mumby and the union have achieved together: namely, stellar working conditions and quality beer.

“Signing up allowed us to easily provide our employees with benefits that would otherwise be unavailable to a business of our size,” Moffeo said at the time. “Now we have the opportunity to celebrate that with an incredibly drinkable lager.”

Washington, D.C. — Today the White House announced its COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. It commits to providing schools and businesses guidance and tools to improve ventilation and air filtration, including a Clean Air in Buildings Checklist that all buildings can use to improve indoor ventilation and air filtration. It also commits to providing schools, businesses, employers and state, local and Tribal governments technical assistance to make ventilation improvements and upgrades using American Rescue Plan funds to help protect workers and building occupants.

SMART issued the following statement in response.

“We commend the Biden administration’s response to prevent, protect against and treat COVID-19 and its prioritization of ventilation and indoor air quality to help move America forward safely. Clean air is critical for our health and well-being, and proper ventilation is an important mitigation measure that can help prevent both COVID-19 and future public health threats. Proper ventilation is not only a key to our recovery, but it will also help cut building emissions, lower energy costs, ensure systems are meeting design intent and make buildings safe for all occupants.

For decades, SMART members and our training programs have set the standard for the work that will be required to improve indoor ventilation and air filtration for all buildings. SMART sheet metal workers are highly skilled, trained and certified to achieve safe indoor air quality and ensure HVAC systems operate properly to improve building energy efficiency and safety. Ensuring buildings hire professionals with proper training and credentials will support and create good union jobs and make sure buildings are safe. We stand ready to support the administration on this effort.”

Washington, D.C. — Following President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1, 2022, SMART released the following statement:

“The first year of the Biden-Harris administration has produced historic results for working people across the United States. By governing with an economic vision focused on growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, President Biden has achieved much-needed victories for working families.

  • Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, the economy has rebounded from a disastrous two years and has achieved its fastest job growth in American history – including the addition of 375,000 manufacturing jobs in just one year.
  • In the last year, companies announced nearly $200 billion in investments for semiconductor, electric vehicle battery, and critical mineral production and manufacturing in the United States.
  • Intel recently announced a new $20 billion factory outside of Columbus, Ohio that will create 7,000 construction jobs and another 3,000 permanent jobs.
  • President Biden is swiftly implementing the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure law (BIL), which will create jobs for SMART members improving indoor air quality in buildings, advance railroad safety and drive demand for the products and services provided by SMART sheet metal workers.

This extraordinary progress is occurring during a long-overdue shift from an outdated and unfair trickle-down approach to one that centers workers, families and small businesses. Now, we call on Congress to support the legislative priorities President Biden outlined during the State of the Union. These include:

  • Building upon the historic economic recovery of the last year by eliminating barriers to good-paying jobs for workers across America. President Biden specifically outlined his support for enacting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act; expanding skills-based hiring and increasing access to registered apprenticeships and training; creating a national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program; and more. Such measures are vital for SMART members and all workers.
  • Strengthening our supply chain, transporting goods faster and cheaper and prioritizing products that are made in America. The last year has already seen exceptional growth in American manufacturing production and employment. President Biden plans to build on the victories already won with the implementation of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding; we call on Congress to supplement those efforts with legislation that encourages competition, innovation and the creation of good, union jobs.
  • Reducing everyday costs for working Americans. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan lowered the cost of health care, expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit and provided hard-earned tax relief for millions of middle-class families through an expanded Child Tax Credit. We echo President Biden’s call for legislation that further lowers everyday expenses for American workers and their families by ensuring that corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
  • Promoting fair competition to lower prices, protect consumers and help small businesses. In his State of the Union address, President Biden announced the Biden-Harris Administration’s intent to lower prices for Americans and businesses by combatting unfair ocean shipping practices – launching a new Federal Maritime Commission and Department of Justice initiative to promote competition in the ocean freight transportation system, increasing federal oversight of global ocean shipping and more.

Finally, SMART commends the president for pledging to address the ongoing health emergencies facing the American people. By committing to improving the safety of nursing homes and protecting residents and health care workers from bad actors, the Biden-Harris Administration again demonstrates its dedication to safeguarding the lives of our loved ones. And with his stated whole-of-government strategy to take on America’s national mental health crisis – which has had tragic consequences in the building trades – President Biden once again demonstrated his loyalty to SMART members, their families and all American workers.”

Washington, D.C. — Today President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. In response, SMART issued the following statement.

“We commend President Biden’s historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her experience, credentials, dedication to public service and commitment to the rule of law illustrate that she will safeguard the rights and freedoms of working people. While serving as an appeals court judge, Judge Jackson issued a ruling ending a Trump administration policy that restricted collective bargaining rights of public-sector workers. The U.S. Supreme Court should reflect the diversity of the communities that it serves, and this nomination is an important step in helping achieve a fair judicial system. We urge the Senate to swiftly confirm her nomination.”

SMOHIT’s 2022 Safety Champions Conference is all virtual and will take place in your home or office.

This year’s conference theme is “Occupational Wellness” and focuses on the whole person — body, mind and spirit — in alignment with SMOHIT’s continuing mission to build and nurture a culture and climate of safety and health in the sheet metal industry. The conference is an excellent venue for sharing information, ideas and solutions that can be implemented at the local level right away. It creates a forum for dialogue and critical thinking about workplace mental health challenges and promotes help-seeking and help-giving, with an emphasis on suicide prevention.

The conference features interactive workshops facilitated by Phillip Ragain and Kevin Pope of the RAD Group; participation from a diverse group of attendees; skills development; a search for solutions to safety challenges in attendees’ areas; best practices; Safety Champion and Safety Design awards ceremonies; valuable raffle prizes; a gift welcome packet and much more. You must register by April 1, 2022 in order to receive your gift welcome packet.

Kevin Pope will also serve as keynote for the conference, speaking on the subject of lessons learned from leading high-performance teams. Pope is a retired 25-year Navy SEAL Master Chief with 11 international deployments, including eight combat tours. Throughout his career, he has managed the operational requirements for 8,600 personnel, including SEAL, SWCC, support technicians and civilian government employees deployed to 78 countries daily.

The conference is open to all SMART and SMACNA members in good standing.

For additional information and to register, visit https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItcOuvqDkuGN3rwTx3p4HEX0_0KCcHYitE.

Presented by SMART, SMACNA and SMOHIT