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SMART General President Michael Coleman issued the following statement on recent job cancellations:

“This week, Washington politicians chose political games over working people, cancelling good, high-paying American jobs. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy cut $7.56 billion from 223 clean energy projects, including the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and California’s ARCHES Hub — projects that had bipartisan support and would have created more than 138,000 construction jobs under project labor agreements. These cancellations undermine America’s energy and national security.

Working people should not pay the price for dysfunction in Washington. Our industries and our nation cannot operate under this kind of chaos. I call on both sides to come together and end this shutdown — fulfilling their most basic duty to the American people.”

Following the latest government shutdown, General President Michael Coleman issued the following statement:

“DC politicians are playing politics and risking the livelihood of countless, hard-working American across this country. This newest government shutdown isn’t a game to America’s workers and our families. 

For far too long, the nation has dealt with political chaos and funding cuts.  Political leaders are now turning the chaos up a notch and pushing the country toward a government shutdown to avoid a mounting health care crisis that is on the horizon.

They want to play the blame game, and point fingers on who is causing the chaos, but the reality is that both sides need to work together to address the main issue that led to this latest shutdown. 

It’s very simple: Working people cannot afford the proposed increases to their health care costs. A 114% spike in premiums would hit more than 22 million people just as open enrollment begins on November 1. These cost hikes, combined with earlier cuts to Medicaid, threaten to push millions off coverage while raising expenses for the 179 million Americans who rely on job-based insurance.

If these changes move forward, American families could see their costs rise by as much as $2,000 a year, while hospitals and clinics absorb billions in unpaid care that ultimately drives up premiums for everyone, regardless of how they get their health care coverage. On top of that, letting ACA tax credits expire would wipe out more than 130,000 health care jobs, with total job losses exceeding 600,000 when combined with Medicaid cuts that were passed in this administration’s budget.

At a time when working families are already struggling to pay the bills, we should be working to lower health care costs—not driving them higher.

Both sides need to come together, right now, to stop this dysfunction and get our government operating again for all Americans.” 

Brothers and sisters in Canada,

Today, I want to join you in acknowledging the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. September 30th is a powerful reminder of Canada’s history with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

As we honour the children who never returned home and the survivors of residential schools — who are not only survivors, but Elders, knowledge keepers and leaders of their communities — we are reminded of the strength and resilience of Indigenous Peoples, who continue to heal and share their truths about the lasting impacts of generational trauma.

However, this history is not Canada’s alone; the United States must also confront its own histories of injustice, because values like truth and reconciliation have no borders. We all have an obligation to justice and healing, just like we all have a commitment to solidarity and to one another.

At SMART, we are dedicated to creating safer and more inclusive workplaces. Through our Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) effort and the I Got Your Back Campaign, our union is committed to learning from and amplifying the voices of every one of our members, including our Indigenous brothers and sisters.

As we reflect on this day, I want to reaffirm our commitment to reconciliation. Our future will continue to be based on truth, respect and dignity for all our members, as we put reconciliation into action.

In solidarity,

Michael Coleman

SMART General President

In mid-September, Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona introduced the Tax Cut for Striking Workers Act. This legislation would make it so striking workers no longer get taxed on the small payments they receive from a union strike fund.

“The Tax Cut for Striking Workers Act is just common sense,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “No union member ever takes the decision to go on strike lightly — it’s the last resort. But when we need to go on strike, we have to be able to do so without being double taxed on the small amount of money we depend on to fight for what’s right.”

The ability to go on strike is one of the most powerful tools that union workers have to demand fair treatment at work. Striking is how union members can fight for fair pay, benefits, and safe working conditions. It ensures employers answer for breaking the law.

Going on strike is an extremely difficult decision to make, primarily because it means workers are giving up their regular paychecks in order to win what they deserve. In fact, many workers can only afford to strike because unions like SMART may provide small stipends to help cover lost wages in the form of a strike fund.

Right now, in a sign of how broken labor law is in the United States, the federal government taxes those small strike fund payments. That basically means striking workers get double taxed: They contribute their own federally taxed pay to the strike fund, and then they get taxed on the money from the strike fund as well.

That’s why SMART is supporting the Tax Cut for Striking Workers Act. The United States’ outdated labor law, combined with corporate America’s enormous power, gives bad-faith employers an enormous amount of leverage when it comes to work stoppages. This legislation is a small step towards leveling the playing field and giving working Americans more agency in the workplace.

“All of us at SMART thank Senator Gallego and the cosponsors of this bill, and we urge every pro-worker member of Congress to support its passage into law,” General President Coleman concluded.

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and John Fetterman (D-PA).

Members of SMART SM Local 206 joined fellow union workers from the San Diego Building Trades on September 26 to usher through a historic victory for workers in the area, with La Mesa, Calif., becoming the first city in San Diego County to pass a citywide project labor agreement (PLA).

The PLA, negotiated between the city of La Mesa and the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council, was approved unanimously, and will ensure union pay, benefits and protections for all construction workers on city of La Mesa public works projects.

“Personal politics aside, most of our members know and understand that our local will only endorse and support labor-friendly candidates and legislation,” said Local 206 Business Manager Dave Gauthier. “When we support those that support livable wages and a full family benefit package, our members and our communities do better as a whole.”

“When we support those that support livable wages and a full family benefit package, our members and our communities do better as a whole.”

– SMART Local 206 Business Manager Dave Gauthier

Project labor agreements benefit workers, contractors, project owners and citizens alike by organizing complex construction projects, creating jobs for local community members, providing the necessary skilled trades workforce for complicated jobs. They also help bring projects in on time and under budget – ultimately saving taxpayer money. By providing union-protected wages and benefits for all workers, project labor agreements help lift area residents – including historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities – into the middle class. They also benefit local unions, with many PLAs including union hiring hall requirements.

Local 206 members and other building trades workers showed up to the September 26 La Mesa City Council meeting to speak in favor of the La Mesa PLA – illustrating the difference it makes when SMART members get involved in the political process. Such activism will continue to be crucial as local unions work to take advantage of a union-friendly political climate and funding from federal legislation signed into law by President Biden. Additionally, Gauthier added, pushing for pro-labor legislation like PLAs helps demonstrate the union advantage to working people everywhere.  

“Explaining the benefits of local hire and project labor agreements is actually pretty easy when speaking to working-class people,” he said. “When you tell folks that these agreements benefit their neighbors who wake up early every morning and lace up their work boots, and when they understand that their tax dollars are then being redistributed in the local economy, you can really see the light come on in their eyes. They get it, and then they get what we in labor are all about.”

In this Talking SMART special episode, SMART General President Michael Coleman, SMACNA President Anthony Kocurek and returning guest host Dushaw Hockett discuss the Belonging and Excellence for All initiative, also known as BE4ALL.  

Their conversation, which took place at the end of August 2023 during the SMART Leadership Conference, explores why BE4ALL is so vital for the unionized sheet metal industry as we enter a period of unprecedented opportunity.  

“We have to look at all kinds of different ways to bring in a workforce that’s not the traditional way we did that. And the issue with that is we need to be welcoming when we do this.”

– SMART General President Michael Coleman

“We have some projects where the workforce for that project alone exceeds the amount of members we have in that entire local,” said GP Coleman. “We cannot apprentice our way out of this problem. The numbers don’t line up. So, we have to get outside our comfort zone. And we have to look at all kinds of different ways to bring in a workforce that’s not the traditional way we did that. And the issue with that is we need to be welcoming when we do this.” 

The values of belonging and inclusion are not only a core part of the solidarity that defines our organization and the labor movement – they will be crucial to ensuring that local unions can meet the workforce demands created by megaprojects, federal legislation and a new emphasis on our industry. Only by bringing all workers into our union will we be able to secure the jobs, hours and collective bargaining strength that lie before us.  

Dushaw Hockett is the founder and executive director of Safe Places for the Advancement of Community and Equity (SPACEs), a Washington, DC-based organization that is working with SMART and SMACNA to move forward with the BE4ALL initiative. 

Return to the Talking SMART index page.

Talking SMART is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network — working people’s voices, broadcasting worldwide 24 hours a day.

For this episode of the Talking SMART podcast, we sat down with SMART Local 28 Business Agent Marvin Tavarez to discuss his journey going from working non-union to being organized into SMART. He breaks down some of the myths about organizing into our union versus taking a more traditional full apprenticeship route.

“Some people are like ‘Oh, that’s the backdoor, that’s the backdoor,’ ” says Tavarez. “But at the end of the day, it all comes down to educating the membership. You know, if you’re not organizing members in, you’re gonna be working against them and not with them.”

“If you’re not organizing members in, you’re gonna be working against them and not with them.”

Tavarez also discussed his efforts to help build a rank-and-file building trades movement, including organizing rallies attended by thousands in New York City.

“As soon as I got into the union,” says Tavarez, “I felt like I needed to give back, someway, somehow. I was getting so much from the union… what can I do to contribute? So, I started a rank-and-file movement on Facebook. Started with like five members. Within a year, year and a half, it grew to over 10,000 members on social media.”

At the end of this episode, in his last open mic segment before he retired at the end of May 2023, former SMART General President Joseph Sellers discusses the road ahead for SMART, as we work to train a new generation of members and staff up scores of large “megaprojects” across the United States and Canada.

Return to the Talking SMART index page.

Talking SMART is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network — working people’s voices, broadcasting worldwide 24 hours a day.

Local #1594 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, represents roughly 300 SMART-TD members working for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) in bus service, commuter rail, and trolley service. The size of this local and the diversity in its crafts makes it a unique local with opportunities and challenges that cannot be addressed with cookie-cutter solutions.

Recently, a handful of our brothers and sisters in Local 1594 have reached out to the International with questions that touched on a variety of complicated issues. Without delay, SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson decided to head to Pennsylvania to have an open dialogue with the members of 1594, with the intention of resolving the issues and making sure that our Philly members and the International office are on the same page.

President Ferguson assembled his team of Bus Department Vice President Alvey Hughes, Assistant General Counsel Shawn McKinley, and Senior Assistant to the President Ralph Leichliter. On Tuesday, April 25, this leadership group arrived in Upper Darby, attending two local meetings with Local #1594 in an effort to provide information and hear the facts on the ground.

Both meetings were extremely productive. In total, roughly 40 members attended to participate in the discussions, and both the membership and leadership team came away with a better sense of mutual understanding of how SMART-TD can best move forward in our dealings with SEPTA. Ferguson said for his part in these meetings, “I want to thank Local 1594’s leadership and their General Committee Chair Anthony Petty for hosting my team and facilitating these important discussions. We cannot expect to make progress as a labor organization without open lines of communication. I feel that as far as the International office is concerned, we are happy with the progress made in these two meetings in Upper Darby. We have a clearer understanding of what they need from us as officers, and I’d like to think they now have a better understanding of what needs to be done on their end as well.”

If any members of Local 1594 have follow-up questions about what was discussed at last week’s meetings, SMART-TD would like to encourage them to reach out to our office. Please contact our office at (216) 228-9408 and use extension #1 to reach the President’s Department.

This July, the Trustees of Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) are scheduled to meet to discuss plan design changes aimed at bringing about additional benefits for our members and making the program easier to participate in for members currently enrolled in the Brotherhood’s Relief and Compensation Fund (BRCF) or the Locomotive Engineers & Conductors Mutual Protective Association (LECMPA).

Among the action items the trustees are looking to improve is an assessment reduction for plan participants. As a result of the overwhelming support for this change, the trustees convened and approved yesterday a reduction of 25 cents per $1 of daily benefit coverage. 

SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson, who sits on the Board of Trustees for DIPP, made the announcement yesterday that the “wheels are in motion” to make this change effective as soon as possible.

Effective August 1, 2023, the assessment for DIPP coverage will be reduced by 25 cents per $1 of daily benefit coverage. DIPP is the gold standard of income protection for workers in the railroad industry. Our DIPP program is proud to have a 90% rate of claims approval and with PSR compounding the rate of incidents, this consideration is more important now than ever before. Please see the announcement below that came out on May 3rd for details on the assessment reduction as well as information on where to find information on participating in DIPP.

SMART Transportation Division and the Trustees of the Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) are pleased to announce a reduction in monthly assessments.

Effective Aug. 1, 2023, the monthly assessment for DIPP participants will be reduced from 75 cents to 50 cents per $1 of daily benefit coverage. DIPP coverage ranges from $6 to $250 per day, ensuring that a participant covered by DIPP who is suspended, dismissed, or removed from service by a carrier for an alleged violation of rules or operating procedures will continue to receive income.

Participants in DIPP also have the added flexibility of electing to increase their benefit level or to modify their coverage at any time by submitting the appropriate form to the Transportation Division office.

This announcement is informational, and no action is required on the part of plan participants at this time. The reduction in assessments will be communicated to Local Treasurers so that the necessary changes to current participants’ payroll deductions are made in a timely manner before Aug. 1.

DIPP trustees are SMART General President Joseph Sellers Jr., SMART General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Powell, and SMART-TD President Jeremy R. Ferguson.

For more information on DIPP, visit the SMART website or email DIPP_TD@smart-union.org for further details.

Freight rail safety was the focus of the March 2023 episode of the Talking SMART podcast. SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity and SMART-TD Government Affairs Rep. Daniel Banks joined the podcast to discuss the fight to improve freight rail safety at both the state and federal levels in the weeks following the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. 

The East Palestine derailment and other well-publicized accidents since have made clear what SMART-TD and rail labor have been saying for years: So-called “Precision Scheduled Railroading” is bad for workers, the public and the environment.

“It speaks to the seriousness of the devastation that has been done to the railroad industry since the implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading, and it speaks to the fact that our predictions are now coming into fruition. And it’s both a shame and a frustration, and – to be quite frank – a very anger-filled reaction for us,” Cassity said. “It’s shocking to see all these derailments take place. … All of these things can be brought back to Precision Scheduled Railroading and what it’s done.”

“We need to act in solidarity” on freight rail safety

Both Cassity and Banks emphasized the importance of pushing for freight rail safety regulation across the country. Federal legislation like the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023 has already been introduced, along with bills in states across the country. Now, both guests said, SMART members, families and allies need to get involved and make sure the railroads and elected officials feel the pressure.

“We need the action. Today’s the day, and we need to capture the momentum – we need to act in solidarity,” Banks said, adding that members can get involved by texting “Rail Safety” to 67336 (message and data rates may apply).

Take Action Today to Support Freight Rail Safety!

“When it comes to combatting the railroads, what we need is membership engagement, membership interest, membership participation,” Cassity explained. “We need the members to win this fight … we have got to have the membership speaking, because they’re the constituents, they’re the influencers. The union is the voice of many, but we need the many voices to be speaking as one.”

At the end of this episode, SMART General President Joseph Sellers discussed what SMART is doing to recruit nonunion sheet metal workers and meet the workforce needs presented by megaprojects, infrastructure investment and more. Listen to the full episode here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Return to Talking SMART index page.

Talking SMART is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network — working people’s voices, broadcasting worldwide 24 hours a day.

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