Local 19 organizes to secure opportunity for sheet metal workers in New Jersey

When companies use low-road contractors on construction projects and lower local jobsite standards, sheet metal workers, communities and businesses suffer — which is exactly why SMART local unions organize to make sure that doesn’t happen.

For SMART Local 19, a campaign that started with a Chick-fil-A construction site in Glassboro, New Jersey, eventually led to a huge victory for sheet metal workers and communities across the state.

The Glassboro Chick-fil-A was initially using a nonunion contractor to install its sign, menu board and advertising package — meaning sheet metal workers performing that work were not being paid the union-negotiated wages that local community members deserve. In response, Local 19 began bannering the Chick-fil-A construction site; later they brought out an inflatable “Scabby the Rat,” which stood on the jobsite with the banner for three days. Shortly thereafter, Local 19 Organizer Brian Heino received a call from management, informing the local that the work package for that project was re-awarded to a Local 19 signatory contractor.

Another Chick-fil-A location soon broke ground a few miles away — again, using a nonunion contractor. So Local 19 brought back the banners and Scabby in order to raise awareness about why it’s important to use high-road contractors and pay New Jersey sheet metal workers what they deserve. Once again, a Local 19 contractor was re-awarded the work package, securing opportunity for SMART members.

But this time, the work award wasn’t just for the one project — it was for ALL future and current Chick-fil-A locations being built and planned for construction in New Jersey.

When we let people know about the issues happening in their communities, and when companies and contractors realize that those issues aren’t just going to disappear, unions can win real progress for sheet metal workers and local jobsite standards.

For SMART members in New Jersey, the proof lies in every new Chick-fil-A construction site that breaks ground from here on out.

Great work, Local 19!