Author: paul

One hundred twenty-five years ago, when this organization was founded, the original members came together for the same reason we are here today, justice in the workplace. The difference is that then there was no well-established organization to advocate on their behalf. They established it and collectively found strength in numbers and in solidarity. Over the years, their efforts created the middle class and the benefits that many of us enjoy today.
Times are now tougher for this union and our members than they’ve been since the Great Depression, and it’s time to remind ourselves what got us here and our responsibility as union members to protect and advance our cause. The leadership of the union, then or now, cannot do it without the membership being actively engaged. As much as we would like to think times are different today, fundamentally they have not changed. Collectively, individuals with a common cause, when organized, can still make a difference.
The one thing we should have learned from the history of organized labor’s plight in this country is that we can never take our success for granted. Over the last four decades, while the middle class and the Labor Movement were lethargic and self-indulged, we’ve seen our good-paying, blue collar, middle class jobs disappear to other countries with less regulation and cheaper labor. The manufacturing jobs that are left here in the U.S. have moved to right-to-work states with low union density and anti-worker politics. The service jobs in the U.S. have felt the downward pressure from the unorganized and from the undocumented workers being exploited by being paid far less than the area standard, not to mention the role technology has played by pitting more people against each other for available jobs in a shrinking market.
This could not have happened with the appropriate laws, policies, and tax codes in place at the federal level. Europe has also suffered economically over the last decade, but with the exception of one or two countries, working families there have not seen the same erosion of earning power as we have in the United States. There is a reason for this.
Over the last 30 to 40 years Corporate America has hijacked our political system and then destroyed laws that had been in place for decades to protect the banking/financial industry, consumer and workers’ rights, U.S. treaties, etc. The hijack was accomplished with the help of elected leaders from both political parties—truly a bipartisan disaster that, if left unchecked, will be the demise of this nation. The political system is broken. It is not serving the American worker, and the middle class suffers and feels helpless.
So what’s the answer? If the problem was designed by people, it can be fixed by people. The solution sounds simple, but it’s not; however, it can be accomplished.
Staying actively engaged in local politics, and staying in touch with our endorsed elected leaders, is imperative for labor and the protection of middle-class jobs for sheet metal workers. Local, state, and federal leaders exercise authority over public construction programs that can create millions of construction hours on public projects. They also approve or deny private construction projects based on a variety of issues; one should be whether they provide area standard wages for local workers. Sheet Metal Local 104, District 1, along with other construction unions, has secured tens of millions of hours for our members by participating in local politics. But with thousands of public entities in Northern California alone, it’s a challenge, and organized labor needs both human and financial resources from every member in order to be successful.
Most politicians from both parties build a political career over years, starting out on planning commissions, school boards, city councils, etc., and then moving up to state and  federal offices. By the time they’ve climbed up the political food chain, they’ve acquired a broad base of supporters, and the prediction of how they vote on issues is pretty consistent with the needs of their supporters and their political party’s philosophy. No news flash here. At the top end of the game, they have to raise millions for their campaigns, and that’s where labor gets dwarfed financially by big business. If we did not support and establish a relationship with these politicians early in their careers, most likely we will have little access or influence in the future. We may not like it, but it’s a fact.
Organized labor in California has done a good job in holding the line for the middle class by helping labor-friendly candidates get elected. However, California also has some of the most conservative elected leaders in the country, and—make no mistake— the opposition is raising the ante, hoping we will not be able to sustain support and will have to fold, as they have seen happen over and over again in other states. A lot of the same bad actors that helped orchestrate and implement the demise of organized labor in other states have set their sights on California and are basically telling organized labor, “Game on.”
Labor leaders are sometimes reluctant to tell members the truth about issues or conditions that could have a negative impact on their future wellbeing, for fear the members might blame them for the condition or the fact that they haven’t addressed it and don’t have a plan to fix it.
Local 104’s administration takes pride in full disclosure of the state of the union and the challenges it faces. Our members can see what is happening around them and to their friends. If we don’t tell it like it is, we will never get their support to do what must be done to fight back. Our members and staff are leading the charge to secure hours and protect middle class values by increasing union density.
In Local 104, the leadership recognized our success was limited due to the shortage of human and financial resources necessary to cover all 46 counties. We went to the membership three years ago and explained the situation and the opportunities that were available if the membership stayed informed and involved in their local communities. Members need to know about proposed construction projects and other issues affecting labor in their towns and counties. They must actively participate in the process, to ensure these projects bring good middle-class union jobs to the community. We explained this was going to take additional PAC contributions, staff, consultants, lawyers, researchers, a regional strategy and members in every community ready and available to make this work.
I’m proud to say that the membership overwhelmingly adopted what we call the Campaign for Jobs (“CFJ”). The CFJ calls for the leadership and members alike to take ownership of their future. We took what the leadership had been doing in the past and improved it tenfold. With the support and participation of the membership, we are performing more like a team, which is reflected in the millions of hours we have successfully secured for the members of Local 104 through binding contracts with private developers and public entities.
In May 2012, Local 104 and Local 162 (now Local 104, District 2) merged, and the main reason was that both locals realized the value of our combined resources and regional continuity. Our assumption was correct. With the leadership of Assistant Business Manager Dennis Canevari, along with staff and membership support, Local 104, District 2 has secured several PLAs with total construction costs of approximately $1 billion, creating future work hours for our members.
A few years ago, Local 206 (San Diego) Business Manager Joe Powell recognized the success we were experiencing in Northern California in securing work in the school districts. Brother Powell saw how the CFJ in the Bay Area was approaching school construction, and he partnered with the districts and built long-term beneficial community relationships. Joe was ultimately successful in spearheading the efforts of the San Diego local building trades to secure billions of dollars of work within the school districts and other venues—in a city with a history of not being friendly to organized labor.
It’s hard work and time consuming, but good old fashioned activism still works when we all support and work at it continuously. As long as we have a democracy in this country, our collective voice and our vote is the only equalizer the working class has. It worked in the past, and it will work in the future. The one difference between the Great Depression and the Great Recession is that labor came out of the Great Depression with the New Deal, which improved the conditions for working families for decades. It’s time for labor to make its voice heard once more. Let’s all begin at the local level and work our way up. Remember, the U.S. Senate and House are made up of many small districts throughout the country. We can make changes the same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. It’s time labor across the country works up an appetite.

Last month, delegates from both the SMART transportation and sheet metal divisions stood together united as one on the floor of the AFL-CIO convention. SMART’s message to our brothers and sisters in the labor movement was simple. We demanded that organized labor, as a whole, hold national, state, and local elected leaders accountable for their actions— regardless of their party label and irrespective of any promises they may have made in the past.
The last six years have been difficult for working people. The Great Recession, caused through no fault of our own, was devastating to millions of working families. Making the pill even more bitter and hard to swallow was the fact that when working people asked for a hand up, we were ignored, and our hard-earned tax money was diverted to bail out the same Wall Street banks and CEOs who created the mess in the first place.
For those who work in the private sector, whether in construction or transit, the harm done was further exacerbated when we asked to be treated in the same manner as companies like Wal-Mart, who received a one-year waiver from the rules that will be set for administering the Affordable Care Act.
SMART, as well as the rest of the labor movement, supports the goal of better access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans. However, many union health care funds are multi-employer plans designed to pool the resources of union employers in order to reach the best possible deal on health care benefits for members. Rather than treat these plans in the same way the plans of larger employers like Wal-Mart are treated, our plans were instead pushed out of the exchanges and in effect will be undermined by the government subsidies available through the exchanges. Amazingly, the Affordable Care Act will be undercutting and destroying the health care plans of its staunchest supporters in order to cut the health care costs of America’s largest corporations. That is outrageous and another example of why it is important—regardless of who is in office—to remain vigilant and vote based on issues and not just by party identification or the empty promises a candidate will make.
Let me point to a specific action that illustrates the power of political unity in fighting for workers’ rights. Adren Crawford, the SMART Transportation Division’s Tennessee State Legislative Director, worked with the SMART Sheet Metal Division’s Locals 4, 5, 177, and 555 to fight attacks on workmen’s compensation and prevailing wage laws in that state. SMART’s transportation members now have stronger legislation to protect them when they are being transported from point to point while working, as well as support in securing prevailing wage rates for sheet metal construction workers. We see, in this joint effort, how the legislative experience and connections on the transportation side of our union combine with the sheet metal membership strength to show the benefits of the merger.
The same thing is happening in Illinois, where the SMART Transportation Division’s state legislative council met with Sheet Metal Local 73 to begin planning joint activities in that state. In California, local unions in Southern California have come together and even worked on joint organizing projects, such as at Bombardier Inc., a company that manufactures and services passenger rail equipment and serves as an integral piece of the rail transportation pipeline in North America. Earlier this summer, workers at Bombardier overwhelmingly chose to join SMART, and we anticipate future organizing efforts at other locations will prove just as successful.
When I hear about these joint efforts, it gives me a sense that the level of trust and cooperation has grown through the merger. To some extent, credit has to be given to the transparency of our operations. We have in place a system of checks and balances to ensure that, starting with the General Executive Council, SMART is financially viable. Leaders from both transportation and sheet metal serve on that council, and we share information to make sure our decisions represent the best interests of our members. In this way, we are accountable for our actions and answerable to the membership.
I want you to remember that this is YOUR union. My job is to work for you. I only ask that you become more involved in the “union side” of being a member. Our union is only as strong as we make it, and the stronger it becomes, the more it benefits you and your family. I encourage everyone to take part in their union meetings, campaigns, and events. We need you to join SMART’s Facebook page: you can find us at www.facebook. com/smartunion or by searching for “SMART Transportation” in the Facebook search bar. You can also join the SMART Action Team to stay abreast of action alerts and other news items via www.smartaction.org.
SMART is working for you and building a stronger and brighter future for this organization and for our families.
Fraternally,
Joseph J. Nigro
SMART General President