North America has changed frequently and drastically since sheet metal workers first began organizing more than 135 years ago. Technology, domestic politics, international trade, pandemics and industrial fluctuation have impacted our union, our industry and our two nations. But one thing remains constant: Whatever is taking place in government, politics or business, SMART members win when we organize.
Local 280 Business Manager Steve Davis detailed that fact in spring 2024, when a multi-year organizing campaign led to the workers at Evergreen Sheet Metal joining our union and growing SMART’s market share in British Columbia.
“After signing the company, there was some resentment and hard feelings, but they are now operating at more than 60 employees,” he said. “The company has embraced joining the union and is an active member of SMACNA British Columbia.”
Davis, who was elected business manager in 2024, began working as a Local 280 organizer in March 2020 — the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide. But the groundwork for the organizing campaign was set two years prior, when one of the largest nonunion plumbing companies in the area — Pitt Meadows Plumbing — purchased Evergreen, until then a small, family-owned contractor.
“Pitt Meadows had primary subbed all its sheet metal work to Local 280 signatory companies, and from 2018 to 2020, they were working with one of our union companies, All Valley Metals, at the Abbotsford Law Courts jobsite,” Davis recalled. But then, “Pitt Meadows Plumbing went on a stripping effort, recruiting about 15 of our members to quit the union to join Evergreen.”
The attack on Local 280 took place as Davis was starting his work as an organizer. Throughout 2020, he recruited 96 new members to Local 280 — and spent much of his remaining time communicating with the former members who had left the local for Evergreen.
“I constantly shared our benefits and wage increases with the Evergreen employees to ensure they were at the same levels as us,” he said. “I stripped several workers per year, with 10 leaving at the end of 2023. That is when everything started coming together. I was working with a few of their foremen who I had built trust and respect with, and we planned an organizing drive in December of 2023.”
Local 280 hit the ground running in early 2024 — and quickly ran up against a fierce union-busting campaign. After organizers visited a jobsite with union certification cards early one morning, where about 25 Evergreen workers were on site, the company caught wind — only two workers showed up at a second jobsite, where Davis had planned to get more cards signed from the 20 workers who were supposed to be present.
“Things were not looking good, as we just didn’t have the numbers,” he said.
That’s when a site supervisor from the second jobsite, an acquaintance and former Local 280 worker, contacted Davis and asked to meet for lunch. Davis asked him to set up a meeting with the Evergreen owners, initiating a two-pronged organizing approach. Davis scheduled a sit-down with Evergreen management, Local 280 and SMACNA B.C., hoping to sign the contractor more amicably. In the meantime, as the meeting approached, he kept in touch with Evergreen workers — signing seven more members to give union supporters the majority.
Evergreen rejected Local 280’s attempt at a friendly agreement, and at workers’ urging, Davis filed with the Canadian Labour Relations Board for card check certification. The company ramped up its anti-union efforts, with a foreman on site trying to convince Evergreen employees to revoke their signed cards. On January 29, 2024, Local 280 filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the company. Two days later, the Labour Relations Board granted Local 280 certification, with 64% approval. Through the workers’ strength and resilience, their union was won.
At that point, Davis said, there was the unpleasant possibility of entering arbitration for up to one year. But Local 280 met with ownership throughout February, and the two parties ended up signing a collective bargaining agreement in March 2024.
“This was the largest victory I had as an organizer,” Davis said.
Thanks to Local 280’s focus on organizing and the collective determination of Evergreen employees, a hostile, nonunion employer became a friendly signatory, bringing 60 new members into our union and reminding SMART members everywhere: Organizing is how we win.