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On February 1, 2014, Local 293 Financial Secretary-Treasurer and Business Manager Arthur Tolentino and Local 73 President and Business Manager Rocco Terranova were sworn in as SMART’s Tenth and Eleventh General Vice Presidents, respectively.
A graduate of Ohio State University, Brother Arthur Tolentino commenced his career in the sheet metal industry as an apprentice with Au’s Plumbing in 1986. From 1992 through 1997, he served as an instructor for the Hawaii Joint Apprenticeship Committee for the Sheet Metal Industry. He was appointed shop steward in 1994 and served through 2002, when he became a Local 293 organizer.He served as a Labor Representative on the Hawaii Joint Apprenticeship Committee beginning in March 2000 and became Local 293 Business Representative/President in January 2003, along with becoming a Labor Trustee for the Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers’ Trust Fund. Currently, he presides as the Fund Chairman.A member of the Hawaii Building & Construction Trades Council since his election as Local 293 Business Manager in 2007, Tolentino became Building and Construction Trades Treasurer in 2009. In 2010 he began serving as a commissioner on the city and county of Honolulu’s Planning Commission.Prior to his appointment as SMART’s Tenth General Vice President, he served as a Trustee on the National Energy Management Institute Committee (NEMIC) since January 2013.
Besides his involvement in numerous community outreach programs, Brother Tolentino involves himself with fishing, hunting, cooking, off-road driving, coin and stamp collecting.
A member of Sheet Metal Local 73 for 36 years, Brother Rocco Terranova started his career in sheet metal as an apprentice from 1978 to 1982 with Dessent Sheet Metal. His working experience in the trade spans many roles, having worked as journeyman, foreman, and superintendent. Prior to being elected as President and Business Manager of his home local, he was elected Union Trustee from 1997 to 2000 and served as an organizer from 2000 through 2004, and as a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor. Then in July 2004 he was elected Business Agent and served through July 2009, when he was elected Local 73 President and Business Manager.
Terranova currently serves on the Executive Boards of the Chicago Building Trades, Chicago Federation of Labor, and Italian American Labor Council. Rocco is also Chairman of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 73 Executive Board, Chairman of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 73 Retiree’s Committee, Veteran’s Committee, Joint Arbitration Board, and Legislative PAC Committee. He Co-Chairs the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 73 Pension & Welfare Board and the Annuity Board. Rocco is also a Trustee to the Sign & Production Council, a committee member of the Amalgamated Bank Labor Council, and the Vice President of Greater Chicago and Vicinity Board Council Maritime Trades Dept., AFL-CIO. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees for The National Energy Management Institute Committee (NEMIC) since 2009.
Having been a Patrol Officer, Youth Commissioner, and Schaumburg Township Democratic Committeeman, Brother Terranova understands the meaning of public service and the needs of the working middle class. He values these positions and the experiences they have brought to him.
Married to his wife Sue for 38 years, he has three children and five grandchildren. Taking their devotion to public service from their father, his children serve in the military (Marines and Green Berets), work in law enforcement, and serve the public through social work.

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
You don’t need to be told how complex healthcare has become, especially with the changes involving the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This legislation has afforded millions of Americans a chance at securing health insurance that covers pre-existing conditions. Its effect on multi-employer plans such as ours has forced us to anticipate and preemptively adapt to the changing realities it will bring to the health care marketplace and multi-employer plans.
For decades, this union and our employers have provided affordable, high-quality health care coverage for members through our multiemployer health plans. This was accomplished jointly by labor and management through the collective bargaining process, and has enabled us to offer good living wages and benefits to members and their families throughout the United States.
So far, we have recognized the potential harm the ACA will have on the viability of our multi-employer plans through the high employee threshold of the employer mandate, its definition of a qualified health plan, and the reinsurance fee.
The ACA’s high threshold mandate does not penalize small businesses with fewer than 50 employees for failing to offer them health care coverage. This means almost all non-union construction industry employers (93% of whom have fewer than 20 employees), are not required to provide health care coverage for their workforce. The high threshold for coverage gives these employers a cost advantage in bidding for work, and that has the potential to undermine the quality health care, wages, and retirement we have achieved.
As currently worded, the ACA does not include multi-employer health plans in the definition of a qualified health plan. This is because plan participants already have health care coverage, and the intent of the law is to expand access to the uninsured through tax credits, not provide tax credits to those already with insurance coverage. Since many non-union employers employ workers without health care coverage, this allows those employers to have their substandard health care offerings subsidized through government tax credits.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services and individual states will begin charging $63 for each and every individual (member, spouse, dependents) enrolled in a plan outside of the exchanges, starting at the end of this year. For self-insured health plans, which include the majority of multi-employer plans, the administrator is responsible for paying the assessment. In our industry, the plan administrators are the trust funds. This will have the effect of shifting an additional expense onto our participants.
MAPD and SMW+
In order to protect our members from the adverse effects of these changes, we took steps to enhance our health care offerings to provide the best possible benefits to members and retirees. After a careful and extensive process, we first extended our SMW+ offering to members of all local unions. We also studied various Medicare eligible programs, which resulted in an arrangement with Humana, a nationally recognized and respected firm, to offer retirees a Medicare Advantage Plan. Commonly referred to as a MAPD, this plan includes a broad and costeffective prescription drug program. While this same plan is available to individuals through private markets, SMART has been able to negotiate a much lower discounted rate for the same products and services for the benefit of members and their families.
We did this by utilizing our regional healthcare model that capitalizes on larger groups of participants and puts us in better position to negotiate lower rates that would be advantageous for our members. Instead of each fund negotiating separate agreements with providers, we negotiated one agreement with the leverage provided by the sheer number of our members.
Many plans and locals already have MAPDs or offer Medicare supplement plans and Rx coverage through other avenues, like selffunding or some other combination. We want to offer, however, a way to reduce costs through our collective numbers, especially in the face of rising health care expenses which are being realized by health care consumers nationwide.
Retirees are now taking advantage of SMW+ and SMART MAPD plans, and we expect that number to increase throughout the year. We are also looking at ways to improve upon and expand the MAPD in 2015 so we can meet the needs of more members.
Traditionally, we have offered the SMW+ product, and participants are pleased with its results. However, the marketplace has put retired members in a position where they are inundated with offers for products from every avenue of the health care market. That is why it is important to know what is already available from your union without the need to purchase redundant or possibly more costly and substandard coverage from an outside commercial provider.
The Excise Tax
Due to the battery of questions on the Affordable Care Act I have been asked, and the high interest revolving around its effects, I want to mention the excise tax, also known by detractors as the so-called “Cadillac tax.” By the sound of it, you might think these plans cover extravagances such as annual trips to Swiss medical spas, cosmetic surgery, and weekly massages. That is nowhere near reality. While there are CEOs who do enjoy the luxuries of their own expensive health care plans, union members utilize plans that are more expensive due to the hazards associated with their occupations. These plans are not some luxury or perk, they are hard-fought benefits negotiated and fully paid for by you, for you and your family. Remember that the next time you hear an attack on your so-called “Cadillac” health care plan.
This excise tax will apply to health plans where major medical benefits provided to employees are valued at more than $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The amount of the excise tax is 40% of amounts over the threshold, which will be subject to an annual adjustment for health costs, age, gender, and cost-of-living. We are monitoring developments as they pertain to the anticipated rollout of this tax in 2018, and I assure you that we are working to adjust accordingly to minimize the damage it will have on coverage for plan participants and their families.
As the Affordable Care Act continues to roll out, each of us needs to be prepared to face the challenges to our health care coverage and make sure we are fully informed. From time to time, we will distribute news and notices on actions taken to fix the Affordable Care Act so that it does not deteriorate your health care coverage. You can stay up to date on news regarding this important issue by visiting our homepage at smart-union.org and signing up at smartaction.org to assist us in fighting for your rights as a member and consumer.
Joseph Sellers, Jr.
SMART General Secretary-Treasurer

The cost of college tuition rose at an alarming rate over the past three decades causing students, organizations and politicians to speak out against sky-rocketing rates while offering plans to stem the rise in higher education costs.
Cost regulation and debt forgiveness are not all that should be discussed.  In a Pittsburgh suburb, leaders from SMART Local 12, the ironworkers, carpenters, bricklayers, and cement masons fielded questions from parents and students.  With job opportunities in the trades growing in the region, guidance counselors from Bethel Park, PA looked to provide information about traditional college alternatives.
Nationally, the Labor Department predicts more than 218,000 carpentry jobs by 2022, a 24 percent increase above the current estimate of 901,000 jobs. The job projections note the up-and-down nature of the profession, because work peaks and dips with new construction and lulls in the economy.
Major infrastructure projects in the area, and around the country, will all be built by union members in the upcoming years.
 
 

The Missouri House of Representatives plans to vote on right-to-work legislation today, April 2.
State Legislative Director Ken Menges, asks that all Missourians call their state representatives today and tell them to vote no on right-to-work.
“Tell your Representative that these laws being pushed by out-of-state corporate CEOs are bad for Missouri’s working families: they’ll lower wages and benefits at a time when the middle class is already struggling,” Menges said.
Click here to learn more on how to contact your Missouri legislators.

Samantha Alvelo has thanked God for saving her young life after a train rolled over her three decades ago in Havelock, but she has always wanted to thank Joe.
She finally got that chance on Friday night.
Alvelo completed a decade-long search for the railroad worker she credits with saving her life when she talked with Joe Dunn on the phone on Friday night.
Dunn is a member of local 1129 out of Raleigh, N.C.
Read more from the StarNews Online.

tvaThe Tennessee Valley Authority has provided tens of millions of people with consistently good service for eight decades. Its prices are lower than those of many private corporations.  And it has provided good jobs and career training opportunities for generations of working people, including many of your brothers and sisters in SMART.
The TVA does not receive taxpayer dollars and its debt is not taxpayer funded. Further, it has been a model of efficiency and opportunity.
For some reason, President Obama intends to sell off the TVA to the highest bidder.  Tell the President this is unacceptable.

Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade.
That’s the estimation of Ron Ault, President of the AFL-CIO’S Metal Trades Department (MTD), an umbrella group for unions representing boilermakers, machinists, pipefitters, and other skilled shipbuilding workers from around the country. “There is a boom in Gulf Coast shipyards now,” Ault says, and high demand for skilled workers may give unions a foothold. Gulf shipyards are recruiting workers from all parts of the country, including heavily unionized areas, and the presence of this whole new generation of workers is a real opportunity for labor organizing, according to Ault.  Click here for more of the story from In These Times reporter Bruce Vail.

Pierce Assoc VirginiaDarrell Wade, sheet metal shop foreman at Pierce and Associates in Alexandria, Va., has been selected as a recipient of SMOHIT’s 2013 Safety Award, joining previous 2013 winners Kurt Christiansen of Southeastern Wisconsin, Ed Hoganson of St. Louis, Roger Fewkes of San Diego, Local 33 in Cleveland, RHP Mechanical Systems in Reno, Nev., and C&R Mechanical in St. Louis.
Wade used his knowledge and facility to collaborate with SMOHIT and MetaMedia Training International to create e-learning safety training programs and DVDs. “Four High Hazards,” “Stressors in the Workplace” and “Safety Orientation” were created to give workers more information about how to ensure their safety in the workplace.
“Darrell and the crew at Pierce are always willing to help us with whatever we need to get the right shot, whether it’s safely operating a forklift, welding in a confined space or showing proper hoisting and rigging techniques,” SMOHIT Industrial Hygienist Charles Austin said. “MetaMedia Training International has always felt comfortable when calling on Pierce Associates for safety programs developed for SMOHIT.”
 

In 2012, 50 workers at Greenbrier Rail Services in Tucson, AZ filed for a representational election to join the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association Local Union No. 359, now the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART).  In response, the company allegedly laid off one third of them, threatened to close its facility, threatened, interrogated and spied on employees while at the same time promising benefits to those who would vote to not unionize.
In a rare move, a US District Judge in Arizona ordered the company yesterday to immediately reinstate its terminated employees, recognize and bargain in good faith with SMART as its employees’ collective bargaining representative, and restore operations at its facility to its original level.
This 10(j) injunction, and bargaining order, is a rare a remedy for egregious unfair labor practices by an employer.  These are only used when a Union has shown they had majority support and that the employer has destroyed the will of its employees with conduct so serious that it prevents a fair election from being held, such as a widely broadcast threat to close a plant or mass firings.
According to Local 359 Business Manager Dion Abril, “This is a great day for our local union as we never gave up on the workers and for the workers who never gave up on forming a union. It proves that there is justice and that workers do have the freedom to form a union of their own choosing without intimidation and threats from unscrupulous employers.”
 
Read the court order here.

As a Union member, you already have some of the best health care coverage on the market, however, your friends and family members may not.  The deadline to apply for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act is fast approaching. They have until March 31st to apply for a plan through an exchange. Urge them to visit  Healthcare.gov to sign up to get covered.