Author: paul

As you probably already know, SMART reached an agreement with the Ontario Sheet Metal Contractors’ Association to renew the Sheet Metal ICI Collective Agreement this past week.
All Ontario Local Unions involved ratified the agreement after the strike ended on June 29.
On behalf of the Ontario negotiating team, and every sheet metal worker across Ontario, I would like to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to every one of our brothers and sisters across SMART.  Your comments via email and social media stiffened our resolve through the long eight weeks we spent on the picket line.  We cannot name every member and local from across the sheet metal and transportation industries who stood with us, but those who traveled from Philadelphia to walk the picket line with us in Niagara Falls help personify the strength and unity of this Union. Many locals from across the United States and Canada contributed financially as well – and we are eternally grateful for your tremendous solidarity.
The word solidarity has a special meaning to us after what we experienced over the past two months.
Once again, we are thankful for each and every one of our brothers and sisters across the US and Canada who stood with us and be assured that we will be there for you when and if the day comes.
 
In solidarity,
 
James Jackson
SMART Director of Canadian Affairs
 

On May 9^th and 10^th the Canadian Council of Sheet Metal Workers and Roofers sponsored its 44^th Annual Sheet Metal Apprentice Contest in conjunction with their Annual Convention.  This year’s contest attracted some of the top 4^th year Sheet Metal Apprentices from across Canada who competed in the 2-day event held in Toronto Ontario. On day one of the contest, competitors did a four-hour written exam followed by a four-hour and drafting exam, each exam made up 1/3^rd of their total marks for the contest, with the practical portion making up the remaining 3rd. Day two of the contest saw the competitors working on the practical portion of the contest which was held outside under tents in front of Toronto City. This year’s project, designed by Scott Wood, Training Coordinator for the Ontario Conference, was a challenging copper and brass project, fittingly designed to mimic Toronto City hall itself. The competitors had eight hours to complete the project which included double seams, riveting, soldering, pocket locks, a wired edge, some turning and a little bit of electrical. The venue allowed members of the public to wander by and see the skills of our future generation of sheet metal workers and to learn a little about apprenticeships and our union.
On Saturday evening the Canadian Council hosted the Apprentice banquet to honour all the apprentices who competed and to recognize those who stood above the rest with awards and cash prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th place along with a special presentation for congeniality for the apprentice found to be most friendly and helpful by his/her fellow competitors. The Canadian Council of Sheet Metal Workers and Roofers wishes to congratulate all the competitors and thanks those help to contribute to making this year one of the best apprentice contest held.
1^st Place – John Hannigan award & $750.00 – Greg Holland, Local 30, Toronto, Ontario
2^nd place –Ron S Taylor Award & $500.00 –  Danielle Fleming, Local 30, Toronto Ontario
3^rd place – James Fletcher Award & $250.00 – Dale Mitchell- Local 296, Regina Saskatchewan
4^th Place –  Bob Brown Award & $250.00 Johnathon Duchesne – Local 397, Thunder Bay Ontario
Congeniality Award – Matthew Squires – Local 512, St John’s Newfoundland
 

To celebrate her late father’s birthday and to say thanks for the work that members of SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 perform, Angie Sonnenschein (wearing her dad’s Local 36 jacket) visited with Local 36 members.
Brother Sonnenschein joined Local 36 in December 1979 and retired from Industrial Sheet Metal, where he worked for 23 years, in 2011. He passed away Dec. 14 after a battle with brain cancer. He would have turned 64 on Valentine’s Day. According to the St Louis Labor Tribune, she called Local 36 the day before his birthday and scheduled a visit with Local 36 Financial Secretary-Treasurer Jeremy Snyder.
Snyder said that “instead of mourning, she wanted to celebrate his birthday by taking coffee and donuts to some of his fellow sheet metal workers.”  Snyder and Local 36 Business Representative Chris Brunnert arranged for a visit, and she met with members at the Harris House Inpatient Treatment Center jobsite in St. Charles, Missouri, and at Wiegmann Associates Mechanical Contractors and Engineers in St. Charles.
 
Photo courtesy of Angie Sonnenschein

On June 4^th, SMART General President Joseph Sellers and Assistant to the General President Joseph Powell visited Local 19 members working at the Penn First rack building facility and Wm. J. Donovan’s thermaduct shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both men wanted to witness SMART sheet metal workers doing what they do best—fabricate the highest-quality HVAC products anywhere and hear directly from members about their concerns and ideas regarding the state of the Union.
The first stop was the rack assembly facility that Local 19 signatory contractor Southland has set up in West Philadelphia. GP Sellers and Powell toured the facility along with Local 19 President Gary Masino and Assistant Business Manager Jerry Gontz. The shop is housed in what used to be a massive steel plant with plenty of room for all the trades to work. SSM Industries is on site with 10 members working to assemble the duct components in the racks.
Brother Ed Sparks, the Local 19 steward on site, explained how the installation process worked much like an assembly line to maximize efficiency and quality. The racks in question are mechanical rack systems that range in size from 11 feet by 5 feet to 18 feet by 8 feet. Each trade assembles and places components in the racks in a specific position as per the jobsite prints. The wheeled racks get rolled between the different sections of the shop. The sheet metal workers assemble the duct that is specific to each rack, then the insulator wraps the duct that is then it is placed in the rack. After that, the rack is rolled over to one of two fitting companies on site and the fitter adds their pipe, as does the plumber. After the top is welded on to the rack, it is held in storage until needed in the field.
When the racks are sent out to the field, they are loaded onto trucks with the wheels still attached, then transported to the Penn First Jobsite and craned up to the floor where they are to be installed. When reaching the floor, they are rolled into place, raised into position and hung where all the mechanical components line up with the components in the previous rack within the ceiling space. All that is left is to connect the two racks with a filler piece and the rest of the pieces that tie into the system. After the racks are hung, the wheels are removed and sent back to the shop to restart the process. Brother Farrall MISSING FIRST NAME mentioned that this method of construction has been very beneficial out in the field. Not only does it facilitate a quick install, it also takes much of the staging materials onsite out of the equation. Penn First is the first project in Local 19’s territory to utilize this racking method and it has been very successful so far on the Penn First Project.
Next, the group headed over to Wm. J. Donovan for a short discussion and presentation of how Thermaduct is fabricated and how it will benefit our industry into the future. Shear Facts had a previous article on the new exterior duct product in 2018. Since that article, Wm. J. Donovan has fabricated numerous Thermaduct systems for other signatory contractors and have even installed a few itself. A group of Wm. J. Donovan’s upper management along with shop Foreman Mike DelGiorno and shop Steward Fred Stock met with SMART officials and walked them through the process of fabricating, the many benefits to the product including that the systems (when installed properly) are water tight, will last through all the elements and are a third of the weight compared to traditional exterior double-walled duct systems.
After the brief introduction to the product, the group headed to the fabrication shop across the street. When walking through the door it looks like any other fab shop, with material organized and stacked. But farther into the space, you start to notice this shop isn’t like many others in our trade. Straight duct and fittings are there throughout, but they’re a bit different than what most sheet metal workers are accustomed to with a poly-vinyl coating on the outside and what looks to be foil on the inside. Toward the back wall, you’ll see what looks like a plasma table with a long tube running from the mechanical arm to a canister. Over to the left there seems to be what resembles a brake. So as far as equipment is concerned, this shop doesn’t need much to function.
Local 19 members Brandon Steigerwald and Matt Watkins were on hand to give a tour on how Thermaduct is produced. Directly next to the table where the sheets are cut out there is a stack of Thermaduct sheets. On closer inspection, one can see that the sheets are essentially solid core insulation (similar to roof insulation) with a polyvinyl side while the other side has a foil material. Steigerwald and Watkins take a sheet over to the table, set the coordinates and let the machine do its work. The arm moves around and begins to route lines into the material on the foil side and then proceeds to cut an outline around the entire half section. After the machine finishes the process, Steigerwald takes the piece over to what is known as a thermal brake, which is used for bending the pieces just cut by heating up to anywhere between 325 and 375 degrees (depending on the surrounding temperature) and melting the vinyl coating on the material to where it is pliable enough to bend the piece into place.
After the sections are bended on the thermal brake, they are connected on each end, a flange product is affixed, stiffening rods added (as needed) and all seams are caulked. When installing in the field, an added layer of vinyl is added to surround where the connections are to ensure the product is completely water tight.
There are also added benefits to Thermaduct over traditional exterior systems aside from the weight and waterproof features. Because how it is constructed there is little to no deflection when the system becomes live. This means the duct isn’t moving or shifting as it would with a traditional system. This is a benefit because typically when there is defection, that movement of the duct (in or out) may loosen the insulation on the inside, with a possibility of the insulation finding its way into the airsteam.
The Thermaduct system is self-contained where deflection isn’t an issue, and these systems can withstand pressures of 10 in (plus or minus) water gauge. Wm. J. Donovan is a licensed fabricator of Thermaduct systems, serving Pennsylvania (east of Pittsburgh), South Jersey, parts of North Jersey, Delaware and the tip of Maryland.
The future possibilities for the next generation of sheet metal workers is seemingly endless with constant new technologies emerging every year. Our members will be there at the forefront of every innovation, ready to learn every new method and skill needed to continue to be the most knowledgeable, safe and valuable workers in the construction industry

Union Plus recently awarded $170,000 in scholarships to 108 students representing 34 unions, including two winning family members from SMART. This year’s group of scholarship recipients includes university, college, and trade or technical school students from 31 states plus the District of Columbia. The SMART winners are:

• Anika Daniels-Osaze, Ph.D., of Brooklyn, New York. Daniels-Osaze, whose father, Richard Daniels, is a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 645.  She was awarded a $1,500 scholarship.
• Sofia de Leon of Lakewood, Washington. De Leon, whose mother, Michelle Wilson, is a member of SMART Local 66 in Seattle. She was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

The application is entirely online, allowing students to complete their application over time and save their responses. Over the past 28 years, more than $4.5 million have been awarded to students of over 3,000 union families. Start your application today! Deadline: January 31, 2020 | www.unionplus.org/scholarship

 
As famous Pittsburgh resident Fred Rogers once said, “Anyone who does anything to help a child in this life is a hero to me.”
Local 12 SMART Army members were able to bring memories to last a lifetime to local children who for the first time were treated to their own fishing adventure in Derry, Pennsylvania, in an event held with the Children’s Variety Charity of Westmoreland County.
SMART Local 12 Business Representative Dan Maslo helped organize the event and described it as “a rewarding experience and a whole lot of fun for everyone who got involved.”
“The solidarity we enjoyed and ties we extended to the community pay back in many ways for all of us, and we are proud to have taken part in it.”
Local 12 Business Manager Greg Blose said children who took part received free fishing poles from Pure Fishing Inc., with prizes awarded for those with the biggest catches.
“We are proud to have hosted this event,” Blose said.
The Local 12 SMART Army also helped install a stainless kitchen hood and measured, produced and installed duct for the John Vento Veterans Community Center in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. The center is named after Vento, a local World War II veteran and a champion for veteran causes who worked to raise more than $4 million for the WWII Memorial on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
 
 

Retired SMART TD Local 1823 (St. Louis, Mo.) trainman/brakeman Eugene J. Harmack, who recently turned 99, received the French Legion of Honor medal, along with two other World War II veterans earlier this year. The other two veterans honored were Glenn A. Harrison and Alfred C. Villagran.
France has been giving the medal to veterans for their service in liberating France from German occupation during the war. Harmack, Harrison and Villagran join the ranks of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur and Charles Lindbergh as recipients of this medal.
“Without these three gentlemen here today, the French flag that was flying in St. Louis in the early 19th century would not be flying here today,” said Guillaume Lacroix, consul general of France for the Midwest, at the ceremony, which was attended by more than 200 people. “France was no longer a country under Nazi occupation. … You changed that, forever. And we are indebted to you.”
Harmack served as a communications operator in the 329th Regiment HQ Company, 83rd Infantry Division and fought in France and central Europe. At age 24, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest in Belgium. Harmack received the Bronze Star for securing a vehicle trapped behind enemy lines and re-establishing communications with the Allies. He was awarded a total of five bronze stars, a combat infantryman badge and a good conduct medal for his military service.
“I can’t believe it happened. It’s a beautiful medal, and it’s a great honor. I’m very proud,” Harmack said after the ceremony.
His family and friends, including fellow retiree and Alumni member Norbert Shacklette, also of Local 1823, joined in celebrating Harmack at the ceremony. Harmack has been a member of the UTU/SMART TD since July 1941 and a member of the Alumni Association since 2007.
The Legion of Honor, officially the National Order of the Legion of Honour or the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur in French, was created by Napoleon Bonaparte on May 19, 1802, as a general military and civil medal awarded based on merit or bravery.
The categories of distinction are as follows: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross). Men and women, French citizens and foreigners, civilians and military personnel can be admitted to any of the classes.

To celebrate her late father’s birthday and to say thanks for the work that members of SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 perform, Angie Sonnenschein (wearing her dad’s Local 36 jacket) visited with Local 36 members.
Brother Sonnenschein joined Local 36 in December 1979 and retired from Industrial Sheet Metal, where he worked for 23 years, in 2011. He passed away Dec. 14 after a battle with brain cancer. He would have turned 64 on Valentine’s Day. According to the St Louis Labor Tribune, she called Local 36 the day before his birthday and scheduled a visit with Local 36 Financial Secretary-Treasurer Jeremy Snyder.
Snyder said that “instead of mourning, she wanted to celebrate his birthday by taking coffee and donuts to some of his fellow sheet metal workers.”  Snyder and Local 36 Business Representative Chris Brunnert arranged for a visit, and she met with members at the Harris House Inpatient Treatment Center jobsite in St. Charles, Missouri, and at Wiegmann Associates Mechanical Contractors and Engineers in St. Charles.
 
Photo courtesy of Angie Sonnenschein