“I committed early on that I would call balls and strikes with this administration. Not everything this administration has done, or will do moving forward, is going to be harmful to our members. But this is CLEARLY a ball.”
On August 28, 2025, United States Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus was removed after his position as a member of the board was “terminated.” SMART General President Michael Coleman responded:
“Our SMART-TD railroaders work long, hard hours, day in and day out, to keep our country moving. And they count on public servants like Robert Primus and the Surface Transportation Board to hold the carriers accountable, and to make certain that headcounts are kept adequate and that customers are provided reasonable service. During his time on the board, Mr. Primus has done exactly that. And that’s why his removal from the STB makes absolutely no sense.
“As our SMART-TD leaders pointed out earlier today, Mr. Primus has been a solid supporter of service over efficiencies, challenging Precision Scheduled Railroading and taking on Class I CEOs for unjustifiable job cuts. He was the only board member to oppose the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroad merger, and he was a champion for our members during the recent STB hearings. Now, he has been kicked off the STB — the board in charge of either approving or denying the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger. That is something we can’t just ignore. And, to be quite honest, it is a five-alarm fire for anyone who believes corporations shouldn’t just get their way because they say so.
“Let me be 100% clear: SMART will always stand up for our rail members. That’s why we stand with Robert Primus. We call for him to be restored to his position so he can continue to serve railroads, shippers, SMART-TD members and the American people, as he has done so well.”
In 2022, after President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Congress set aside funds created by the law for a grants program at the Department of Energy that would help public schools perform energy efficiency improvements.
Thanks to the strong labor standards included in the infrastructure law, that program — titled Renew America’s Schools — helped put SMART members to work across the country, taking on energy efficiency jobs in places like Alabama and Oregon.
And by law, the grant funding and resulting job opportunities for SMART members are supposed to continue through the end of the 2026 fiscal year. Each year since fiscal year 2022, Congress appropriated funding to the Department of Energy to carry out the Renew America’s Schools program. Just like other years, the DOE announced a third round of funding opportunity in fiscal year 2025. Submissions from school districts were due on April 3, 2025.
Watch the first episode of SMART News for coverage of IAQ work in Washington schools.
However, following President Trump’s January executive orders regarding funds from the infrastructure law, the DOE delayed funding awards to conduct a review for alignment with the new administration’s policies. So far, it is unclear whether the Department of Energy has resumed committing FY 2025 funds for the program.
So, what does that all mean?
It means that as of January 2025, schools aren’t getting the funds they need to improve their facilities, and SMART sheet metal members are losing out on potential work.
“For the last few years, sheet metal workers have done energy efficiency work at public schools across our country, thanks in large part to this program,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “The Renew America’s Schools program is just common sense. It makes schools better, it benefits kids and teachers, and it helps SMART members support themselves and their families.”
“It doesn’t matter who you voted for — I can’t think of anyone who wanted this program, which already has money set aside for it, to be paused,” he added.
Governmental Accountability Office finds DOE violated federal law
The United States Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) is a nonpartisan institution that, according to its website, “provides Congress, the heads of executive agencies, and the public with timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government and save taxpayers billions of dollars.” Part of that role includes protecting Congress’s “power of the purse,” a phrase that refers to the Constitution laying out that Congress has authority over government spending.
Unless Congress has passed a law that changes how funding is distributed, the GAO noted in its report, executive branch officials and agencies like the Department of Energy need to follow through on awarding appropriated funds when funding is made available. That’s what “power of the purse” means in practice.
“The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) allows the President to withhold funds from obligation, but only under strictly limited circumstances and only in a manner consistent with that Act. The ICA was enacted to ensure that legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President is faithfully executed,” the GAO wrote.
“We find that DOE violated the ICA,” the office added. “Considering that the funds were withheld for policy reasons and the uncertainty of whether DOE has or will resume obligating FY 2025 funds for the Schools Program, we conclude DOE violated the ICA when it delayed the obligation of FY 2025 Schools Program funds.”
In other words, it’s not just the fact that funding for the Renew America’s Schools program is in no man’s land, taking potential SMART jobs with it. According to the GAO, the Department of Energy is actually violating federal law by delaying those funds.
“There’s really no good reason for this funding to be delayed,” General President Coleman concluded. “It’s bad for our schools, our kids and our educators, and it’s bad for our members. We hope President Trump will stand up for SMART members and make sure his Department of Energy awards funding through the Renew America’s Schools program.”
Sheet metal and transportation workers exercised collective power to win laws and federal appointees who act in our interests
After extraordinary mobilization in recent years, union votes are translating directly to union jobs.
In 2020, SMART members voted to elect politicians to the United States House, Senate and the White House who pledged to prioritize union members and working-class families. In the years since, those politicians passed three job-creating laws — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — and President Joe Biden named a variety of pro-union appointees to federal positions in the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Transportation and beyond — making sure money from federal laws creates jobs for SMART members, both now and into the future
This is not the result of politicians rewarding SMART members for getting them elected. It is the consequence of members applying their collective power: first by voting in their interests, then by pushing legislators to make sure they kept their promises.
“It can’t be emphasized enough what a difference it makes when the people implementing funding and writing policy know that SMART workers are engaged in the political process,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “We have pro-union allies in federal offices that are making sure that new laws create jobs for our members.”
Funding from recently passed laws, coupled with federal appointees, leads directly to union sheet metal jobs
Some projects funded by federal legislation have already started bringing SMART members onto the jobsite. In Arizona, for example, SM Local 359 members are on the job building semiconductor manufacturing facilities for Intel — a project made possible in part by funding from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Other projects will break ground in the near future. The CHIPS Act is set to put East Coast SMART members to work for years to come: Thanks to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Department of Commerce and semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries that includes approximately $1.5 billion in direct funding, Local 83 sheet metal workers will soon arrive on a new, PLA-covered chip plant in Malta, New York. And in Burlington, Vermont, retrofit work on an existing GlobalFoundries chip plant is expected to exceed $35 million in federal funding, making the job a PLA-covered one and bringing Local 17 members on site.
Pro-union laws are one thing, but the people implementing those laws play a vital role after legislation is passed — and the federal appointees who make key funding and policy decisions are benefiting SMART members and their families across the country. The most high-profile figures work within the DOL. Since their appointments, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and DOL Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman have successfully enacted rulemaking that expands job opportunities and puts money in SMART members’ pockets.
The primary example: Su, Looman and fellow pro-worker officials finally updated the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, strengthening prevailing wage regulations and raising pay standards for SMART members and building trades workers across America. The updated regulations restore the DOL’s definition of prevailing wage — making it equivalent to the wage paid to at least 30% of workers in local communities (rather than the weakened 50%) — strengthen enforcement and modernize DOL’s definition of “site of the work” to account for current industry practices.
This rule update is particularly crucial at a time when publicly funded projects are breaking ground at an unprecedented rate, explained Coleman.
“By updating Davis-Bacon prevailing wage regulations for the first time in more than 40 years, the Department of Labor is working to ensure that construction workers employed on public works projects are paid what they deserve, helping lift more workers into the middle class and boosting the economies in cities, towns and neighborhoods from coast to coast,” he said. “This is especially vital as projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act continue breaking ground — putting thousands of SMART members to work.”
Pro-union FRA notches slew of victories for SMART-TD members
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) of 2016–2020 made its name through anti-worker actions, most notably its attempt to pre-empt existing state laws that mandated two-person crews on freight trains. The post-2020 FRA, led by Administrator Amit Bose, has consistently prioritized the wellbeing of SMART-TD members — the workers who actually keep the trains moving, not the corporate CEOs who cast safety to the side in pursuit of shareholder profit.
In striking contrast to the previous administration, the current FRA announced a federal two-person crew rule in 2024, finally acting in the name of common sense, worker safety and SMART-TD railroad jobs. Following a public comment period that was extended multiple times, ultimately concluding in late 2022, the final ruling arrived in April 2024.
In late 2023, in the wake of high-profile rail safety incidents and two tragic trainee deaths, the FRA awarded SMART-TD more than $600,000 to develop and implement its own training program — providing union railroaders with education and programming designed with their safety in mind, not just efficiency and exorbitant profit-making.
Weeks later, the FRA again sided with railroaders over the carriers in its ruling on Union Pacific’s request for a variance to allow non-FRA-certified crews to run trains coming from Mexico to Port Laredo, Texas. FRA ruled that trains running from the border to Port Laredo must be operated by qualified and certified Union Pacific engineers and conductors, providing SMART-TD railroaders with the work they rightfully deserve.
Bose’s administration made another common-sense decision in favor of SMART-TD railroaders with the issuing of a final rule on emergency breathing apparatuses on trains carrying hazardous material. The rule requires railroads to provide emergency escape breathing apparatuses (EEBAs) for train crew members and other employees who could be exposed to an inhalation hazard in the event of a hazardous material, or hazmat, release. Railroads must also ensure that the equipment is maintained and in proper working condition and train their employees in its use.
And in a groundbreaking move that will put SMART-TD railroaders to work for years to come, the FRA awarded billions of dollars in funding — made available by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — to two high-speed rail projects in California and Las Vegas, finally making high-speed rail a reality in the U.S. The crucial provision: The railroad, Brightline West, committed to using an organized workforce. The railroad will be built by union members, including SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering workers, and the highspeed trains will be operated by SMART-TD crews.
“The skills our conductors, engineers and yardmasters possess were not an afterthought when the plans for this rail line came together,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said when the projects were announced. “They are invaluable to this project and woven into the fabric of what will make this high-speed rail project a success.”
Department of Energy’s clean energy industrial policy creates years of work for SMART members
The need for a clean energy transition has been made abundantly clear in recent years, as temperatures increase, seasons disappear, floods destroy city streets and wildfire smoke chokes our children when they try to play outside. Thanks to the industrial policy of the current Department of Energy (DOE), that clean energy transition is creating jobs for SMART sheet metal members — today, tomorrow and well into the future.
Examples are everywhere. SMART Local 177 members have begun working on a Microvast battery plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, while Local 36 members in St. Louis, Missouri, are on the job building an ICL-IP America, Inc., battery materials manufacturing facility. Both projects received DOE funding from $2.8 billion worth of awards from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Meanwhile, the sheet metal workers at Local 7 (Lansing, Michigan), Local 20 (New Carlisle, Indiana) and Local 177 (Spring Hill, Tennessee) are directly benefiting from the Department of Energy’s $2.5 billion loan to Ultium Cells. The loan, facilitated by the DOE’s Loan Programs Office, is helping finance the construction of new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plants in Michigan, Indiana and Tennessee, as well as Ohio — facilities that have Local 7, 20 and 177 members already on site.
The DOE Loan Programs Office also played a crucial role in putting SMART Local 110 and Local 4 members to work in Glendale, Kentucky, and Stanton, Tennessee, respectively. Ford received a $9.2 billion loan that helped kickstart its BlueOval battery facilities in both locations, and the funding has already paid dividends for union sheet metal workers — generating work for current members, bringing new workers into the union, helping both locals grow and keeping retirees’ pensions healthy.
And on the West Coast, the recently announced California Hydrogen Hub — one of seven hydrogen hubs funded by DOE through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — will leverage the state’s existing clean energy technology to produce hydrogen exclusively from renewable energy and biomass. Importantly, the hub has committed to requiring project labor agreements for all related projects, which will create an expected 220,000 jobs — including 130,000 construction jobs.
More than ever, Americans are demanding clean air in public buildings, especially schools. Mitigating and eliminating virus spread, wildfire smoke and other air pollutants while reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential, as data overwhelmingly demonstrates retrofits are critical – not only for overall public health, but for improved student performance in schools as well.
In Oregon, SMART Local 16 and the SMART Northwest Regional Council (NWRC) are leading the way in retrofitting these public buildings, putting an emphasis on public schools in need.
“Thanks to President Biden’s policies embedded in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the NWRC is able to offer assistance to K-12 school districts that have the greatest need,” said Lance Deyette, president of the SMART Northwest Regional Council.
School buildings are plagued by poor ventilation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act include funding to improve energy efficiency, indoor air quality and other necessary improvements in school buildings through the Department of Energy’s Renew America’s Schools grant program.
To help school districts in their region access these federal resources, the SMART Northwest Council developed a “SMART Facilities” pilot program to assist school districts in the application process. To receive funding, school districts must submit a Community Benefits Plan that engages labor unions – a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), for example. Through the program, the SMART Northwest Council will help school districts with the greatest need perform a school building assessment (a requirement of the grant application) and help write the grant application.
Since the start of the program, more than 30 school districts in Washington and Oregon have signed Community Benefits Agreements with the SMART Northwest Council and are working to prepare applications for the grant program. Unfortunately, it is very competitive and there isn’t enough funding for all the Northwestern schools that need improvements.
To meet the needs of schools in their region, the Northwest Regional Council applied for Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Communities Investment Accelerator Program through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which proposed $1 billion to fund needed retrofit, energy efficiency and indoor air quality projects of school districts in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. It would create union jobs in underserved communities, improve the health and safety of schools and lower building energy costs.
The Northwest Regional Council is committed to helping schools that have signed a Community Benefits Agreement apply for federal funding to improve their school buildings, and the council is hopeful that EPA will fund its project proposal. Additionally, the Northwest Regional Council will continue to partner with stakeholders to bring federal resources to the region.
“Guaranteeing that public money is carefully invested in good jobs is the best example of good common-sense economics,” said SMART Local 16 Special Projects Counsel Scott Strickland.
On May 23, 2023, the SMART General Executive Council (GEC) voted to endorse United States President Joe Biden for a second term. The GEC is elected by members of SMART local unions.
SMART workers will join fellow union members in Philadelphia on June 17 for an endorsement event, where workers will highlight the impact of the Biden administration’s pro-labor economic policies.
“President Biden’s first term has been a transformative one for SMART members and working people across our nation,” said SMART General President Mike Coleman. “His unapologetically pro-worker agenda led to the passage of laws that protect union members’ retirement security, invest unprecedented dollars in our industries and ensure that SMART members will be on the job for decades to come.”
President Biden meets with SMART Local 49 Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer Isaiah Zemke.
During his first term, President Biden kept his campaign promises to SMART members and working families, putting workers first with the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as an executive order requiring project labor agreements on federal projects that cost more than $35 million and a partnership with SMART on improving air quality in buildings.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, a wave of new megaprojects is employing SMART sheet metal and production members by the thousands, while a pro-labor National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has helped hold bad-faith employers accountable and benefited union organizing and recruiting efforts. The Biden-Harris Federal Railroad Administration has proposed a regulation requiring two-person crews on all freight trains, and federal funding has put SMART sheet metal members to work on critical infrastructure projects that will better the working conditions of SMART Transportation Division members.
The Biden administration pushed for megaprojects to include strong labor standards that put SMART members to work.
“We know that the job isn’t finished,”Coleman said. “Even as the American economy continues to grow from the bottom up and the middle out, anti-labor politicians and their bad-faith benefactors are intent on stifling that growth and returning to an economy ruled from the top down. We have progress to make, from passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to securing real rail safety regulation.”
“With Joe Biden as our president, we are confident that we will continue to make progress for working people,” he added. “SMART is proud to endorse President Biden for the 2024 United States Presidential Election, and we look forward to mobilizing in support of the president and pro-worker candidates down the ballot.”
President Biden with SMART Local 359 member Raymond Calvin.
SMART members from across the United States and Canada gathered in Washington, DC on April 25th and 26th for the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2023 Legislative Conference. Throughout the week, workers and elected union leaders came together to push for legislation that prioritizes union members, as well as hear from elected officials, industry stakeholders and others.
The April 25th plenary session began with a keynote address from NABTU President Sean McGarvey, who introduced and emphasized the 2023 conference theme: “Empowering the Infrastructure Generation.” Unprecedented investment — spurred by pro-worker federal legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and more — is creating tens of thousands of jobs and sparking the renewal of America’s infrastructure. This presents opportunity for the workers of today and tomorrow, McGarvey said, and it’s vital that unions push for legislation like the National Apprenticeship Act to ensure we can train the workforce to meet demand and bring workers of all backgrounds — rural, urban, women, people of color, the formerly incarcerated, veterans and more — into unions like SMART.
“Our model makes sure workers aren’t just trained for a project, but equipped with the highest skillsets for a long and meaningful career,” McGarvey explained. “This is our time to make sure we are building the opportunity pipeline to maximize private investment with public dollars and reach communities large and small.”
McGarvey was followed by various pro-worker officials, including former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. Walsh discussed his time working with the Biden administration and the importance of making our voices heard in the halls of power — and the need to spread the word about how pro-labor elected officials are benefiting working families.
“Who you vote for has consequences,” Walsh said. “This is how we restore and expand access to the middle class in this country: through good, union jobs.”
Following Walsh, NABTU attendees were joined by Governor Pritzker, who has overseen a transformative pro-worker shift in the Prairie State — including the passage of the Workers’ Rights Amendment, project labor agreements on more than 1,000 construction projects, a $50 million Illinois Works pre-apprenticeship program and the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a pro-worker clean energy law that covers climate infrastructure projects with project labor agreements.
“Workers’ rights are gaining strength,” Pritzker declared. “Supporting workers’ rights is about investing in Illinois’ most precious resource, our nation’s most precious resource: our people.”
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin has been a steadfast advocate for the union apprenticeship model, recognizing the potential unions have to lift workers of all backgrounds into the middle class. She explained the continued significance of union apprenticeships as policy and technology shift the way the world works, and declared to NABTU attendees her intent to continue the fight to reauthorize the National Apprenticeship Act.
“There’s one tried and true method that has lasted and stood the test of time, and that’s apprenticeships,” Baldwin said.
The day concluded with a fiery address from President Joe Biden, who took the stage hours after announcing his intent to run for reelection. Throughout his speech, Biden focused on the steps taken by his administration to create an American economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out — and emphasized that “we need to finish the job.”
“I learned a long time ago: There’s labor, and then there’s UNION labor,” he declared.
Biden explained how his administration’s pro-worker agenda has led to the passage of laws including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together these laws helped protect multiemployer pension plans; invested heavily in HVAC, energy efficiency, production, transit, rail infrastructure and other SMART sectors; created more than 800,000 manufacturing jobs; capped insulin copays at $35 per month for those covered by Medicare; and much more. The president also referred to his executive order requiring project labor agreements on federal projects that cost more than $35 million — a policy that amounts to an investment in union labor.
“I’ve said it many times: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said.
“For decades, trickle-down economics hollowed out the middle class. America rewarded wealth, not work. … As jobs were lost, something else was lost as well: a sense of pride, a notion of who you are, a sense of self-worth, earning your way,” he added. “My economic plan is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America, and that’s what we’re doing: rebuilding America.”
The April 26th plenary saw remarks from a range of bipartisan speakers, including Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Republican Congressmen Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick, Senator Raphael Warnock, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and others. Once again, the focus was firmly on the future — and how unions like SMART need to ensure we meet the workforce demands of this moment for generations to come. From making sure people of all backgrounds have pathways into union apprenticeships, to passing legislation that helps fund ever-evolving apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, now is the time to secure our future
“Thank you for building the strongest and most robust country in the world,” Bacon said during his speech. “You deserve fair wages for a hard day’s work; pension when you retire and safety at work.”
“You are at the center of America,” Warnock added during his remarks. “We need to hear your voices and countless efforts you’ve made to build this country. As you continue beating that drum, I will keep looking for every opportunity I can to stand up and protect our working people.”
Following the speaking agenda, SMART members joined representatives from the rest of the building trades on Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation that benefits our members.
“SMART has proudly gathered with our fellow building trades unions at the annual NABTU Legislative Conference for decades, and in recent years we have seen first-hand how conditions for workers have changed under the Biden administration,” SMART General President Michael Coleman said. “We will continue to work with pro-labor allies and push for policies that put our members to work.”
SMART’s relentless political advocacy over recent years has helped foster massive infrastructure investment on both public and private projects. From New York state, to Central Ohio, to Arizona and well beyond, megaprojects are creating tens of thousands of jobs for SMART sheet metal workers — all with a presidential administration that is pushing hard for these projects to include strong labor standards that create union jobs.
“Right now we’re tracking close to 300 megaprojects — we know that there will be about 60 that will break ground, are currently started or will be starting this year,” said SMART Chief International Representative Scott Parks. “It wasn’t that long ago that a $1 million sheet metal job was very exciting; now we have 60 megaprojects in the pipeline. It’s a good time to be a sheet metal worker.”
Much of the public funding for these projects comes from legislation passed by the Biden administration: the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Due to the unprecedented role labor has played in the passage and assembly of those laws, companies hoping to take advantage of funding and tax incentives are being pushed to build with strong labor standards in place, bringing good, union jobs to projects breaking ground from coast to coast.
Importantly, Parks pointed out, these jobs require a consistent sheet metal presence, keeping our members at work as technology advances, during retooling and reorganization, and during outages and shutdowns. And the specific skills and crafts required on such projects cover nearly all the sheet metal positions that SMART represents: from frontline supervisors, to testers and balancers, to welders, to everyone else.
“If you can imagine balancing a project that could require 100 balancers — geographically, you may only have 100 balancers in two states,” he explained. “So we’re going to be challenged to make sure we tool up our members so that they’re prepared to take care of these projects.”
The bounty of work on the horizon has created an unprecedented moment of opportunity. According to Parks, the current number of megaprojects breaking ground means one can almost make a projection 10 years out — a far cry from the post-2008 years, when SMART leadership balked at speculating even two or three years into the future. But with that opportunity comes new responsibility.
“We are not going to be able to apprentice our way into the workforce we need to meet these demands — we are not going to be able to do things the way we have always done it in the past, period,” explained SMART General President Michael Coleman. “We have got to put an exceptional focus on organizing, recruiting and retaining in every community.”
SMART members and local unions know the differences between a union career and a nonunion gig: stability, family-sustaining pay and benefits, solidarity and safety on the job, to name only a few. Now, with hundreds of huge jobs breaking ground from Oregon to Atlanta — on top of SMART local unions’ core work — the time is now to bring members into our union.
“When it comes to organizing and recruiting, we’re organizing shops, we’re organizing projects — folks who want to be union sheet metal workers, we’ll bring them in,” Parks explained. “If they’re in an apprenticeship program that may not be a sheet metal apprenticeship program, we’re bringing them in so they have the best chance of success moving forward. If someone comes in as a nonunion journeyperson, that’s great too — we want everyone.”
Many of these projects may provide SMART members in other locations with the opportunity to travel for work. For more information on traveling to jobsites, contact your local business manager and visit the SMART sheet metal job bank.
SMART released the latest episode of SMART News on Thursday, July 6. Episode 10 features an interview with Local 19 apprentice Elena Farina on the Biden administration; coverage of SMART General President Mike Coleman’s visit to Ford Blue Oval City in Tennessee; an overview of SMART-TD’s recently negotiated railroad agreements, which include paid leave; infrastructure funding and jobs in Boston; and another two-person crew victory for railroaders in Minnesota.
Farina, a second-year apprentice with Local 19, joined her fellow Philadelphia sheet metal workers and members from across organized labor for an event with President Biden in June. During her SMART News interview, she explained the impact of pro-worker policies implemented by the Biden administration, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. She also emphasized the importance of voting for candidates who have materially acted in the interests of the working class.
“Vote with your pocket, you know what I’m saying,” Farina said. “Everyone has their own personal issues, but at the end of the day your livelihood is what’s going to sustain you.”
Longtime sheet metal worker and union leader Mike Coleman assumed the position of SMART general president on June 1st, 2023. He immediately began emphasizing the extraordinary opportunities on the horizon for SMART members, including work at megaprojects like Ford’s Blue Oval City in Stanton, Tennessee.
“There’s just so many things to be excited about, but what I think I’m most excited to do is answer the call for these megaprojects: getting our members on those jobs, and making sure we get every hour out of those projects,” Coleman said.
Following on last year’s national rail negotiations, SMART-TD members have gained paid sick leave benefits for train & engine workers at some of the Big Four U.S.-based carriers. SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity provided an overview of some of the historic agreements — both tentative and ratified — that have been made.
Workers, union leaders and elected officials came together during a May event at the Local 17 training center in Boston to highlight the union jobs created by ongoing infrastructure investments. SMART Northeast Regional Council Business Rep. Shamaiah Turner spoke with SMART News about how infrastructure funding is creating unprecedented opportunity for sheet metal workers in New England.
“The future for sheet metal workers in Boston is very bright,” she explained. “Right now we have a LOT of work … we’re out there every day, talking to people who work at open shops, we’re organizing new shops every day, and we’re organizing new journeypeople every day.”
Finally, SMART-TD Minnesota State Legislative Director Nick Katich called in to SMART News to discuss how Minnesota railroaders were able to finally secure two-person crew and passenger rail funding in the state (as well as a slew of pro-worker bills). Long story short, he explained, the victory had everything to do with putting pro-worker elected officials in office — something union members achieved when they helped the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party take control of the state house, senate and governor’s office.
Image credit: Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons”
Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helped jumpstart two enormous projects on the East Coast in January, creating jobs for SMART sheet metal workers and bettering the working conditions of SMART Transportation Division members. In Baltimore, SMART TD Alt. National Legislative Director Jared Cassity joined Amtrak officials, President Biden and others to kick off the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program. The Civil War-era tunnel will be replaced by the brand-new Frederick Douglass Tunnel, increasing reliability, capacity and speed from 30 mph to a peak of 110 mph. Not only will this save commuters time on the largest rail bottleneck between Washington, DC and New Jersey; thanks to a new project labor agreement (PLA), both SMART sheet metal workers and SMART Transportation Division members working at Amtrak stand to benefit.
“The sorely needed replacement of the B&P Tunnel represents one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region,” SMART General President Joseph Sellers said at the time. “It will improve the lives of Amtrak riders and the SMART TD members who work those trains, and the PLA covering the project will ensure the job is completed by highly skilled workers — lifting local communities up in the process.”
The PLA, negotiated by Amtrak and the Baltimore-DC Building and Construction Trades Council, will cover the replacement of the Warwick Bridge and is the first of its kind under a 2021 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Amtrak and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). The MOU will pertain to Amtrak’s major civil engineering projects moving forward, including the remaining phases of the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program, and will help put SMART sheet metal members to work on critical infrastructure jobs across the country.
The project will also improve working conditions for SMART TD Amtrak employees. The B&P Tunnel is Amtrak’s oldest tunnel on the Northeast Corridor, and it has endured a range of age-related maladies, including excessive water infiltration, structural deterioration and delays that impact more than 10% of trains during the week. Now, thanks to the receipt of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — as well as a $450 million contribution from the state of Maryland, which will combine with Amtrak’s intended commitment of approximately $750 million — the SMART TD members on those trains can look forward to performing their duties with significantly less hassle.
“Our members are ready to take on this work, and we as an organization are ready to bring in new members and elevate the working class throughout this nation.”
Further north, $292 million in infrastructure funding is spurring the completion of the Hudson Tunnel modernization project, which will rehabilitate the old North River Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, build a new tunnel and improve reliability for the 200,000 passengers who traverse the tunnel each weekday. President Biden visited New York City to champion the project on January 31, 2023, where he noted that this phase of the project would create 72,000 jobs.
“Yesterday in Baltimore, I announced that we’re building [the B&P Tunnel project] under the new project labor agreement. And we’re making sure there is [a PLA] here as well,” Biden said.
Funding for the modernization project faltered under the previous president’s administration. But thanks to the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, construction can resume in earnest for this crucial phase. This alone put tens of thousands of union members to work — and once the tunnel has been fully modernized, it will vastly improve working conditions for SMART Transportation Division members working at Amtrak and regional transit systems.
“Since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’ve seen time and again how important critical infrastructure projects are for our members — both the sheet metal members who work on these projects, and the transit workers who keep our country moving every day,” said General President Sellers. “We applaud the pro-labor leadership of Congress and the Biden administration in putting these funds directly towards projects that benefit working people.”
In addition to New York and Baltimore, the AP reports, infrastructure law funding will spur work on the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Kentucky and Ohio; the Calcasieu River Bridge in Louisiana; a commuter rail project in Illinois; the Alligator River Bridge in North Carolina; a transit and highway plan in California; and roadways in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Mississippi.
“Funding from this law — along with renewed investment from private companies — is creating a level of opportunity across our country that is almost unheard of,” SMART Assistant to the General President Darrell Roberts remarked. “Our members are ready to take on this work, and we as an organization are ready to bring in new members and elevate the working class throughout this nation.”
United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona laid out the Department of Education’s priorities for 2023 during a Raising the Bar event in January — including a new focus on helping students achieve careers in the jobs created by the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. SMART attended the event and applauds the Department of Education’s commitment to helping students secure good, union jobs in our industries.
