SMART brings nearly 500 sisters and allies to Chicago for Tradeswomen Build Nations

Nearly 500 SMART sisters and allies from across North America traveled to Chicago, Ill., for Tradeswomen Build Nations — the world’s largest gathering of tradeswomen — from September 19-21, 2025. Alongside more than 6,000 fellow union workers, SMART members and leaders put the power of solidarity on full display: building connections across trades, learning in breakout sessions and marching through the streets of Chicago in the annual banner parade.

“I first went to Tradeswomen Build Nations 10 years ago,” said SMART Local 17 Business Development Rep. and International Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner during the annual SMART caucus. “There were 38 people in the SMART caucus.

“Now we’re nearly 500 strong.”

Speakers to tradeswomen: This movement is here to stay

TWBN 2025 featured a series of plenary sessions throughout the weekend, with a number of speakers whose presence and remarks illustrated the work-changing work of union women.

Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, was visibly emotional as he took the stage.

“I never thought at the first conference I went to in Oakland, California … that we’d wind up in a room with 6,000-plus people,” he said. “Today we stand here, thousands strong, and this movement is changing our entire industry.” 

“This year’s theme says it loud and clear: She’s not waiting. She’s leading. That’s a statement of fact,” McGarvey added.

Thanks to the activism and leadership of generations of tradeswomen, building trades unions have made incredible progress across the United States and Canada, McGarvey said. Specifically referencing SMART’s Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) initiative, alongside broader industry progress on correctly fitting PPE, lean-in circles and more, he praised the courage that union tradeswomen have brought to the fight to grow and improve the construction industry.

“Recruiting and retaining women isn’t just a feel-good sentiment. It’s crucial strategy,” he said.

Union tradeswomen, along with working-class families across North America, are facing attacks on the progress we have made. The most notable example is 2025’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” set to negatively impact SMART members’ jobs and health care costs. When politicians delay or cancel projects, threaten project labor agreements and prevailing wages, or pass laws that benefit the ultra-wealthy, McGarvey noted, those laws hurt all of us: women, unions and families. In response, it’s up to all of us to fight back.

“We cannot and we will not back down. Not now, not ever,” McGarvey declared. “Sisters and allies, let’s keep changing lives for the better. Don’t wait for permission.” 

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler spoke about the importance of recognizing the power and influence we all have, and using that influence to change our world for the better. In a world full of influencers — whether on TV, TikTok or behind the scenes in DC or Ottawa — it’s more important than ever for trailblazing union tradeswomen to tell their stories and to influence family members, friends and entire nations.

“I just want to say that everyone in this room is an influencer,” Shuler said. “You have the power to influence each other, those around you and your communities.” 

When one tradeswoman blazes a trail in her local union, her industry or her community, and then tells her story for all to hear, it changes things for the better, Shuler explained. When we spread the word about the life-changing careers that are available in the sheet metal industry, we do more than help people find meaningful, family-sustaining work. We strengthen our union, and we build better communities in the process.

That is especially crucial now, as we see the end of pro-worker funding for infrastructure projects and clean energy jobs, and the beginning of policies that raise costs for working people in order to benefit the richest people in America.

“We’re in the middle of a tough moment right now,” Shuler said. “Forget about politics and who you voted for, I want to talk about common sense.”

It’s not common sense to cut funding for apprenticeship programs when we need more people in the trades, she noted. It’s not common sense to cut programs that benefit working families in order to fund tax breaks for the Jeff Bezoses of the world. It’s up to us, Shuler said, to bring common sense back into the equation. She urged tradeswomen and allies to show up to union meetings, city councils and school boards, to talk to their family at Thanksgiving, to spread the word about the anti-worker actions impacting all of us, and to forge community and solidarity across our two nations.

“Today, more than anyone else … union women are the ones who can rebuild that trust,” Shuler said, adding: “Union women: We are EXACTLY what this country needs. … I’m so proud to be marching alongside you.” 

Sisters and allies also heard from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has defined his time in the statehouse with strong, pro-union policies. Describing Illinois’ rich labor history — from the Haymarket affair, to the Pullman Strike, to the thousands of tradeswomen who converged on Chicago for TWBN — Pritzker explicitly tied that history to the leadership of union sisters: “The women of organized labor have helped drive the progress we’ve made for workers throughout our state’s history. … women have been taking the lead.” 

With the support of union women and organized labor, Pritzker said, his administration has passed laws and programs that specifically benefit union construction workers. Illinois enacted the largest state infrastructure bill in the nation in 2019, with strong labor standards included to put union members to work. But that wasn’t all: Alongside the infrastructure package, the state created the Illinois Works Job Program, designed to support women starting their careers in the trades and to address the obstacles tradeswomen face, such as childcare.

“I’m very proud to tell you that the number of women enrolled in pre-apprenticeships in Illinois has tripled since 2017,” Pritzker declared.

Just recently, in response to threats to project labor agreements and prevailing wages at the federal level, he signed a bill into law stating that when federal construction projects are managed by a state or local government, and the Illinois prevailing wage is higher than the federal rate, workers on that project will get paid the higher state wage. And in 2022, Illinois voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers’ the right to organize and collectively bargain.

“No right-to-work law will ever see the light of day in the state of Illinois!” Pritzker bellowed to thunderous applause.

Union members are facing uncertain times in the United States, he said. That’s why it’s crucial that union tradeswomen refuse to back down.

“You are showing the next generation of young women that they, too, belong on the jobsite and at the bargaining table,” Pritzker concluded.

Sisters and allies gather for SMART caucus

At every TWBN, the SMART caucus brings SMART sisters and allies together to build solidarity, hear from the International Women’s Committee and build a stronger union for our collective future. Tradeswomen Build Nations 2025 was no different, with SMART sisters and allies gathering to learn with and from one another. 

Following a presentation from the Women’s Committee on the various initiatives that committee members are working on, sisters talked about what they wished they knew coming into the trade, how they joined our union, how they felt the first time they came to the jobsite and more. Prompted by the Women’s Committee, members talked about the webinars and events they would like to see, as well as ways the Women’s Committee can support SMART women in the year ahead. They also reflected on one action each woman can do right now to shape the future of her local union: from respecting one another, to showing up to union meetings, to refusing to quit.

SMART General President Michael Coleman couldn’t attend Tradeswomen Build Nations 2025, but Women’s Committee member Lisa Davis paid tribute to his leadership nonetheless. She acknowledged and praised the progress SMART has made on maternity leave, childcare and the fight for SMART members’ due process under his presidency.

“I have never been more proud to be a sheet metal worker than I am under the leadership of General President Michael Coleman,” she declared.  

Sisters and allies also heard from Dr. Calvina Ellerbe, who delivered a presentation titled “Recognizing the Internal Fight: The Path to Peace.” Ellerbe is an award-winning professor, parenting expert and mother of six children who works with Union EAP, an employee assistance program available to SMART members. In an interactive session, she talked with SMART sisters about self-care, work-life balance and the ways we can try to find peace within ourselves — even when peace is difficult to find at work, at home or in the wider world.

Ellerbe started working with Union EAP after learning about the incredible work SMART and other union workers do to serve our communities, laboring tirelessly — and often thanklessly — to keep our two nations moving.

“Even if [people] don’t know, even if they aren’t paying attention … they need you,” she said.

Among other topics, Ellerbe discussed stress, burnout, recognizing when stress becomes burnout, knowing when to step back to take care of yourself, and the interconnectedness of self-care and community. With women frequently expected to shoulder caretaking responsibility in our society, this discussion was especially important. She also overviewed the resources available for SMART members, such as the Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT), SMART Member Assistance Program (MAP) and the SMOHIT Helpline.

“When we come to your area, sign up for the [SMART MAP] peer trainings,” she urged attendees. “Help support each other on the job.”

Education and energy: Breakout sessions and the banner parade

SMART sisters joined fellow tradeswomen at a variety of breakout sessions and panels designed to help attendees develop skills, knowledge and training that they can take back to their locals. Sessions delved into a variety of important topics, including advancing policy that benefits union tradeswomen, understanding pension benefits, mental health, empowering veterans in the industry, how to tell our stories, and much more.

Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner sat on a panel titled “Training for the Future: Apprenticeship Readiness Programs.” Together with other panelists, Turner presented on apprenticeship readiness programs (ARPs) and how such programs help ensure the future of the construction workforce, discussing ARPs across the country and effective strategies for recruiting and supporting women in their paths to registered apprenticeship programs. Turner, a graduate of the ARP Building Pathways, told her story of entering the sheet metal industry and discussed how to best remove barriers to entry as we work to grow the unionized building trades. Building Pathways enabled participants to discover all the building trades, and when she walked into a sheet metal shop, she recalled, “I knew I was home.” 

In the “Beyond the Hardhat: Expanding Career Pathways for Women in the Trades” panel, Rochelle Bonty — Local 36 (St. Louis) member and the founder/owner of signatory contractor RMB Mechanical — joined fellow panelists to talk about careers in construction beyond the tools. Bonty, the first Black woman in the Local 36 apprenticeship program, started her business in 2020 and has since been recognized by organizations such as Missouri Women in the Trades. Alongside other pioneering tradeswomen, Bonty helped provide attendees with practical insights into the strategies and support systems necessary to pursue careers beyond working in the field, including becoming a member-owner.

The breakout and plenary sessions offer valuable perspectives and training for sisters to bring back home. But the number one highlight of Tradeswomen Build Nations is, without question, the annual banner parade. As SMART sisters and allies from across our union took to the streets of Chicago — spanning sheet metal and the Transportation Division, hailing from locals and regional councils across the United States and Canada, brandishing banners and flags, and ringing cowbells — the solidarity that defines our union took on extraordinary energy.

Hundreds of SMART workers taking over the streets of one of America’s great cities, walking in solidarity and having each other’s backs: that’s what union power looks like.

“This is our very first time ever coming to this conference,” Local 27 sister Kathy Fairfield said. “There’s two of us here today, and we’re more than excited to be here. … I’ve been in the local 23 years, and I’ve never, ever had something like this happen. And it’s finally coming true.”