SMART Local 20’s Youth-to-Youth program paid dividends in Indianapolis, Ind., in early December 2024, where members and officers worked to highlight alleged anti-union behavior and win hundreds of thousands in backpay from Performance Mechanical Contracting, Inc (PMC). After the local filed four unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB secured a settlement agreement with the contractor that saw PMC pay $459,758 to fired Local 20 workers.
The campaign began when PMC started hiring sheet metal workers. As part of Local 20’s organizing efforts, Local 20 Business Manager Trent Todd explained, eight members in the local’s Youth-to-Youth program applied to work at the company — and declared their union affiliation ahead of time. Those workers were not hired by the company. However, Todd added, two members that did not announce their Local 20 membership were hired. After starting at PMC, the members stated their union affiliation, and they were fired.
Local 20 acted swiftly, filing a complaint that, according to the NLRB, “alleged that the employer unlawfully refused to hire or consider for hire eight applicants and fired two employees because they engaged in union activities, interrogated employees and promulgated an unlawful rule.”
And in December, the NLRB announced the settlement. Along with backpay, PMC agreed to cease and desist from unlawful conduct and to post, read and email a notice of employee rights to its workers.
“Every worker in this country has the right to organize a union, and we at Local 20 will always fight to defend that right,” Todd said. “I am proud of the work our organizing department performed on this campaign. PMC illegally refused to hire qualified applicants because of their union affiliation. This settlement is evidence that rank-and-file organizing has a direct impact on our industry.”
“It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire applicants — or fire workers — because of their support for a union,” said [NLRB] Region 25 Regional Director Patricia Nachand in the NLRB’s press release. “I’m proud of Region 25 staff for securing this strong settlement that makes whole the victims of the unfair labor practices.”
After retiring in 2024, Tom Killeen, a longtime member and officer at SMART Local 100 (Washington, DC area), embarked on a trip to Ireland and Scotland. The primary purpose of the expedition was to see family — however, Killeen’s itinerary also included a stunning monument to the industry and craftsmanship that define not just our union, but sheet metal workers worldwide.
Clacncy, Killeen, McKenna“The Ship Builders of Glasgow”
Since the 1990s, McKenna has forged an acclaimed career as a public artist, known for large-scale sculptures at Wimbledon, the Celtic F.C. soccer stadium, a statue of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott and various tributes to working people, including a 40-foot-tall statue of a coal miner in England.
“I always go back to people at work — it’s what I’ve made my career out of,” McKenna said. “I feel I’m making work for the public to enjoy.”
Killeen, McKenna and another cousin, Fergus Clancy, visited one of McKenna’s more recent homages to working people: “The Ship Builders of Glasgow,” a pair of 40-plus-foot figures constructed from 316 marine grade stainless steel, depicting ship builders at work.
It was important to McKenna that the sculpture — intended to honor the Port Glasgow ship building industry and overwhelmingly selected by local voters following a public proposal competition — show collective labor instead of just one worker: “two men, breaking their backs, putting hard, hot work into these ships.”
“I made these colossal figures in my studio workshop in Ayrshire,” McKenna wrote on his website. “[It] took almost eight years to create these titans to the former glorious industry of Port Glasgow, where numerous shipyards built thousands of ships which were sent all around the world. Those shipyards, now long gone, were testament to the industry of the people of the Clyde. This sculpture was my way of recognising those long gone folk who made ships that sailed to every corner of the earth.”
McKenna built the two figures, which weigh a combined total of nearly 45 tons, in sections, removing the roof of his barn-turned-studio in order to transport them to the site of the former Port Glasgow. He painstakingly designed the two figures in CAD, spending sleepless nights planning for every minute detail in the design, construction and assembly process — where the figures’ joints would hinge, spacing the two figures correctly to avoid collisions during construction, sizing the segments of each figure for transportation, creating openings for hooks to hoist pieces during assembly, etc.
The structures required a guarantee that they would last 120 years — not in a sterile, museum-like environment, but at a park near the last operational shipyard in the area, withstanding fierce seaside winds, salty air and blasts of industrial sediment. McKenna worked with a structural welder on the “skeletons” of the two figures, using a shielding gas with a flux and a mig wire to form the figures out of two-foot-diameter steel pipes. He and his team then cladded the base figures with .9-millimeter stainless steel plates, cut and folded using a guillotine shear and an eight-foot box and pan folder (known in the U.S. as a press brake). In all, there were thousands of metal sheets riveted or welded together, with hundreds of thousands of spot welds that gave the sculptures their textured, flowing look.
“When the heat of all the little welds goes in, it buckles all the metal sheets, so instead of being a very mechanical, flat, faceted sculpture, the buckles and ripples all over the surface made it more organic,” McKenna explained, adding that the very material he used to create the two figures was what workers hammered to forge ocean-spanning ships in years past: “That was the whole idea with the spot welding, bringing together the sheet metal components that the ships were built out of.”
During his visit, Killeen gave McKenna a Local 100 shirt — symbolizing simultaneously the international heritage of our union, the solidarity that bonds the world’s working people, and the artistry and craftsmanship of sheet metal workers around the globe.
“‘The Ship Builders of Glasgow’ is an incredible display of the expertise and skill sheet metal workers practice every day, from Local 100 to Scotland,” Killeen said. “I was proud to represent our union overseas, and I hope these statues serve as a reminder to all who see them of the workers who power our world.”
More than 420 SMART sisters and allies from 47 local unions and regional councils descended on New Orleans, Louisiana, from September 27–29 for the 2024 Tradeswomen Build Nations conference. Joined by approximately 5,000 fellow union sisters and supporters, these trailblazing women put the strength of the labor movement on full display — marching through the streets of New Orleans, spreading the word about good, union jobs and sending a resounding message of unity and solidarity.
“‘Superheroes are men,’ they say,” former Acting United States Labor Secretary Julie Su told attendees during Saturday’s plenary session. “Well, standing here in a room full of tradeswomen, I know women can be anything.”
Louise Medina, Annet Del Rosario, Vanessa Carman, Natasha Scott-Lawson
Plenary speakers highlight progress, commit to further growth
Plenary speakers addressed Tradeswomen Build Nations attendees on Saturday and Sunday morning, overviewing the enormous progress tradeswomen have made in North America — exemplified by the extraordinary growth of the TWBN conference itself — and making clear that union sisters have a crucial role to play in continuing to build our two nations.
North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey discussed NABTU’s commitment to bringing more women into the unionized building trades, and the historic role recent legislation has played in helping turbocharge that effort.
“Let the good jobs roll isn’t just a catchy slogan — sisters and allies, we’re in the business of changing lives,” he said. “Each and every one of you is living, breathing proof of [our] tremendous progress.”
Led by union tradeswomen, McGarvey said, the building trades are focusing on recruiting and retaining more women in our unions. That doesn’t only include efforts to reach out to women workers across North America — it means ensuring our sisters have correctly fitting PPE, pumping stations and cleaning facilities on the jobsite, as well as ongoing efforts to expand access to affordable, quality childcare.
“Sisters, we are meeting these challenges head-on,” he declared.
But we cannot talk about the progress the labor movement has made, McGarvey continued, without talking about the historic pro-union actions taken by the Biden-Harris administration — achievements that will benefit workers well into the second Trump administration. The infrastructure investments creating pathways for women in construction like never before. The clean energy jobs creating workforce demands from coast to coast. The investments in registered apprenticeship programs that make it easier for local unions to bring women into the trades.
Under Biden and Harris, NABTU affiliates collectively doubled their women membership, and the building trades realized the biggest net gain in members since 1952, McGarvey said. Now, we need to protect our gains and start organizing for the next election cycle.
“Our ability to make progress depends on leaders whose policies prioritize women and unions,” said McGarvey.
Former Acting Labor Sec. Julie Su
Former Acting Secretary Su’s tenure made her a historic leader of the U.S. Department of Labor, both as DOL deputy with former Secretary Marty Walsh and as a trailblazing pro-worker administrator herself. For unions in general, Su’s actions — implementing Biden’s executive order requiring project labor agreements on large federal projects, repealing the sham Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs scheme, restoring OSHA capacity and beyond — are still making a difference in the lives of SMART members everywhere.
During its first term, the Trump administration crushed worker organizing, rolled back worker protections and attempted to undermine union apprenticeships. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Su told TWBN, the attitude was very different, and it reflected the DOL’s stance towards anti-worker actions of any kind: “Not on our watch.”
“You can be anything that you want to be,” she concluded. “Superheroes are not just in comic books and the movies.”
Finally, in a conference first, President Joe Biden called in live to speak to sisters and allies about the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to union workers — and the continued progress tradeswomen stand to make with a Harris-Walz White House.
“When unions do well, studies show that ALL Americans do well,” Biden said.
Tradeswomen also heard from Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; LIUNA General President Brent Booker; BlackRock Managing Director Anne Ackerly; Micron Technology Vice President of Procurement (Indirect and Real Estate) Heather Baldwin; Accelerator for America President/ CEO Mary Ellen Wiederwohl; a video address from actress Kerry Washington and others.
Local 105 (Los Angeles, Calif.) Organizer Angie Flores introduced the TWBN emcees on Sunday, September 29.
GP Coleman details International maternity leave program during SMART caucus
SMART General President Michael Coleman, General Secretary-Treasurer John Daniel, the SMART Women’s Committee and others joined SMART sisters for the annual SMART TWBN caucus, where Coleman announced a truly groundbreaking piece of news: SMART’s new International maternity leave benefit, jointly funded by SMACNA.
“I can tell you that we already have our maternity leave program in place, ready to launch,” Coleman said. “We believe this will provide the opportunity to not have people choose between having a career and having children.”
General President Coleman (right) stands next to Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner
Coleman acknowledged the efforts of General President Emeritus Joseph Sellers, General Secretary- Treasurer Daniel and others in making this possible, specifically highlighting members of the Women’s Committee: “The work you do is incredible. You do it all on behalf of this organization and women in this trade.”
In 2019, the Women’s Committee proposed a resolution to double the union’s female membership by 2024. SMART Director of Special Projects Louise Medina reported that we have achieved that goal for journeyperson workers, doubling and retaining those members.
“We have made great progress in bringing more women into this trade,” Coleman said, vowing to continue that progress rather than stay content with what we’ve achieved.
Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner
We have the momentum, he continued, pointing out that SMART was the fourth-most represented trade at TWBN 2024. Now, we need to seize that momentum and grow our ranks, including in our apprenticeship programs. The women at TWBN, and in local unions across North America, are our trade’s best advocates, he said.
“When I hear the stories of where you’ve come from and now where you’re at — even though it’s a struggle, those are stories that can help others.”
He went on: “We’re brothers and sisters. We have to take care of each other like brothers and sisters.”
Coleman ended by fielding questions from attendees during an open mic session, providing attendees with information about women in leadership, his personal story, childcare resources and more.
Earlier in the caucus, Women’s Committee subcommittees reported back to attendees on efforts to increase women in SMART, communicate with sisters in and outside of our union, develop leaders within our union and more. Sisters and allies heard from Tiffany Boiman, then deputy director of the United States Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, who outlined how the Biden-Harris DOL rejuvenated the bureau’s work to protect women and provide them with better access to fulfilling careers. Plus, the caucus gave members and allies the chance to network, bond and share their stories from across North America. Countless sisters shared that TWBN is a life-changing experience that they look forward to every year.
SMART sisters lead breakout sessions
Breakout sessions are an annual highlight of the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference — giving SMART sisters a chance to network, learn and build connections with their fellow tradesworkers. TWBN 2024 was no different in that regard, with SMART members both attending and helping lead a variety of breakouts.
Annet Del Rosario (left)
SMART Director of Special Projects Louise Medina and Local 66 member and International Training Institute (ITI) Recruitment and Retention Specialist Tammy Meyen joined three other sisters on the “Building a SISTERHOOD” breakout, which included a discussion on retention and its importance for bringing women into our trades. Different retention techniques can be used to build mentorship and support systems at the local and International level, and such techniques are crucial for growing union density — whether applied on the jobsite, in the hall or at the training center.
Affordable, accessible childcare is one of the most persistent barriers to the recruitment and retention of women in the trades. That being said, unions at the local and International level are working hard to develop solutions — from new maternity leave programs, like the one announced by General President Coleman during the SMART caucus, to lactation pods on jobsites, recently pioneered by SMART Local 66 in Seattle, to new childcare pilot programs across the country. SMART Northwest Regional Council member Tiffany Caulfield joined the “Childcare: Challenges and Solutions” breakout as a panelist.
Turner (second from right) participated in a union leadership breakout.
Women’s Committee Chair Shamaiah Turner took part in the “Union Leadership Structure and Why It’s Important” panel, an interactive session detailing leadership structures and opportunities at the local union and International level. And SMART Local 206 (San Diego, Calif.) member Annet Del Rosario, who also serves on the SMART International Women’s Committee, sat on the “LGBTQ in the Workforce” panel, an open workshop that welcomed LGBTQ+ union members and allies for a discussion on LGBTQ+ issues, success stories and how these members strengthen the labor movement. Panelists and attendees spoke frankly about the unconscionable harassment they have faced on jobsites, the importance of having true allies in the union hall, how they overcame obstacles in the trades and much more
“It doesn’t matter what trade we are — the higher [our numbers] are, the more our voices are heard,” Del Rosario declared. “We need to make a change — otherwise change won’t happen.”
As always, the conference was highlighted by Saturday’s TWBN banner parade, when the resounding echoes of marching feet, union chants and thousands upon thousands of tradeswomen joined the usual jazz soundtrack of New Orleans (including a band that marched alongside our sisters).
Last fall, I had the immense privilege of meeting many of you face-to-face for the first time.
In the leadup to Election Day 2024, I traveled to local unions in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where I attended get-out-the-vote events, spoke to you at union meetings and got to hear, firsthand, about what’s important to you and your families.
“As long as we have each other’s back, we will continue our forward march to secure the rights and dignity of every worker in this great nation.”
The focus of many of our conversations was, unsurprisingly, the election. But looking back, I don’t find myself thinking about presidential candidates, legislative districts or policymaking. The theme that emerges stronger than any other is one simple fact: No matter who leads our nation, we remain brothers and sisters in this union.
“As long as we have each other’s back, we will continue our forward march to secure the rights and dignity of every worker in this great nation.”
At this point, it’s been months since Donald Trump won his reelection bid for president of the United States. As all of you know, SMART endorsed his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. These two candidates each had long records detailing the actions they have taken on behalf of SMART members and working families, and they had plans to build on the incredible victories we won under the Biden-Harris administration: securing union pensions, laws that created union jobs, two-person train crews and more.
Countless members across the U.S. — from California and Nevada to Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and beyond — mobilized to elect a bipartisan group of pro-worker champions. They knocked doors, wrote postcards, made calls, sent texts and talked to their fellow members about the importance of voting for those who support us. The stats show us that these efforts worked: Union members supported the Harris-Walz ticket by a double-digit margin. But the American people have spoken, and we need to respect our democratic institutions.
Let me be clear: Regardless of party, SMART will work with any elected leaders to advance the interests of members and their families. That has always been the case, and that won’t stop now.
I also want to make sure every single member always knows this: No matter what happens under a Trump-Vance administration, SMART will continue to fight tirelessly on behalf of every single member and their families. Regardless of where you live, who you voted for, your race, your gender identity, who you love, your religious belief, where you were born or anything else.
These days, elections sow division like never before — and I’m sure many of you experienced the painful aftereffects of that division firsthand. I know I did. But we can never, ever forget the defining principle of our union: solidarity. I have your back, and you have mine. You are my union family, and I am yours. I talked about that frequently in the leadup to this election, and I’ll continue to champion that principle, regardless of who occupies the White House.
Sisters and brothers, I don’t know what the future will bring. But I know that it’s more important than ever for all of us to stand together, united, as one union. As long as we have each other’s back, we will continue our forward march to secure the rights and dignity of every worker in this great nation.
Our union stands on an unbreakable foundation: solidarity. Time and again, we have shown that when we unite around our shared values, there are no limits to what we can achieve.
Solidarity goes beyond supporting each other in tough times. It is both a value system and a practice — the principle of having each other’s backs and actively standing together against injustice, from the jobsite to government halls. It embodies our belief that by working together — strategically, boldly and purposefully — we can create new opportunities, amplify our voices and enhance the quality of life for every SMART member and their families.
We are at a critical juncture for our union, our industries and our two nations. While challenges loom, immense opportunities for growth are present. In our industries, we are embracing new technologies and evolving standards. As a workforce, we are fostering unity and resilience to meet the challenges ahead. And as one unified union, SMART, our voice resonates louder and reaches further than ever before.
As General President Coleman often emphasizes, while administrative policies will influence our work, the essence of solidarity remains unwavering. Whether you fabricate HVAC systems, operate transit or work on the rails, whether you reside in Vancouver, Dallas or anywhere in between, our true strength lies in our unity. Together, we are invincible against any challenge.
“Solidarity goes beyond supporting each other in tough times. It is both a value system and a practice — the principle of having each other’s backs and actively standing together against injustice…”
Our future shines brightly because we will navigate it together. Whether it’s tackling workforce challenges, improving workplace safety for our bus operators, advancing rail safety or advocating for fair policies that support working families, we will act with strategy, vigor and resolve to build the future every member deserves. By prioritizing the safety and well-being of all our members and confronting exploitative forces head-on, we will transform our union and the industries and communities we serve.
At the time of writing, we and people across the United States are awaiting the start of President Trump’s second term. While we cannot predict the exact agenda of the new administration, we remain committed to working with any politician, regardless of party affiliation, to advance the interests of SMART members and their families. If past actions related to IRAPs, two-person railroad crews and our pension funds are any indication, we may face significant challenges ahead. That’s when it will be more important than ever to remember our values.
In SMART, an injury to one is an injury to all, and we act to keep all of us safe and secure — from confronting unsafe conditions at work, to taking a strike vote, to donating food to a fellow worker in need.
Today, I call on each of you to join this vital journey. Engage actively in your union, share your ideas and insights, and participate in local meetings, committees and initiatives. Make your voice heard on local politics that affect your job. Together, we will elevate SMART into an even stronger, more influential union; one that leads our industries and our two nations with unwavering resolve.
Let’s seize the opportunities before us and march forward together — as one union, one voice, one community.
As you all know, 2024 was an eventful year for SMART-TD. Upwards of 90% of our freight rail members now have paid sick leave, and two-person crews are now federally protected across the country. 2024 also saw SMART-TD work with rail carriers and other unions party to the National Agreement to bring down the out-of-pocket Health & Welfare costs for our covered members. As of January 2025, all SMART-TD rail members covered by the National H&W Plans will see a reduction of 10.2% in their monthly employee contributions! That puts an extra $31.67 per month back into the pockets of our members without making any concessions in bargaining.
Our Amtrak members recently ratified a monumental agreement. Amtrak workers have achieved historic gains, including the largest general wage increase in the company’s history and full retroactive pay dating back to July 1, 2022, which will also apply to short crew payments. Key highlights include 10 weeks of paid parental leave, the addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday, increased training pay and improved bereavement policies, all while maintaining the healthcare plan for current employees. This agreement not only enhances financial compensation but also improves Amtrak’s dedicated workforce’s overall working conditions.
Thanks to our organizing efforts, including internal organizing and education, we are organizing new properties and welcoming many new members into our union.
2024 was one of the most successful years SMART-TD has experienced with our short-line rail properties. Our Organizing Department has brought many new short-line properties into the SMART-TD family, like the Louisville & Indiana Railroad, among others. We have also dedicated resources to negotiating fair contracts for our members on these smaller properties, such as our Alabama Gulf Coast brothers and sisters, who ratified an agreement with their railroad featuring significantly higher general wage increases and more generous quality-of-life improvements than any agreement they have seen in recent memory. This union is dedicated to fighting just as hard for our members working on a short line with six members as we do for our brothers and sisters working for the Class I railroads, and it shows!
Our bus members have not only ratified agreements from coast to coast with substantial gains in pay, but we also have made significant progress addressing the growing problem of transit violence. In 2024, the Federal Transit Administration embraced our members’ urgency in addressing these issues. We are starting to see tangible steps being made by employers and legislators toward addressing our concerns instead of doing further studies.
SMART-TD continues to be the transportation union with the most to offer with our first-class job insurance (DIPP) and short-term disability insurance (VSTD), both of which are owned by you, the members! No other union has its own plans that allow members’ money to work directly for them and their benefits. With our Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) insurance, 2024 saw benefits increase and out-of-pocket costs to members go down! This is all made possible by the members-helping-members approach DIPP is known for.
As members of this union, we should be proud of our accomplishments in 2024, and we owe it to ourselves and to one another to continue our momentum in this new year. As your president, I want all of our sisters and brothers to know that our organization’s success depends heavily on open lines of communication, from the newest trainee to our International office and everyone in between. We must be a united front. If we accomplish this goal, the rest of our challenges become clear-cut, and our collective goals are much more attainable.
In solidarity,
Jeremy R. Ferguson President, Transportation Division
The spring 2024 Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) challenge asked SMART members to tell their union story, prompted by the question: Why are you proud to be a SMART member? For Paul Garner, a longtime Local 55 sheet metal worker out of Boise, Idaho, who won the challenge-entrant raffle, the answer boils down to our union’s tradition of mentorship and solidarity:
“My story begins in May of 1998. As an aimless young man, I applied for a shop clean-up job at a sheet metal shop. But it became an experience in guidance-by-exposure to the materials and parts the shop created. As well as gaining friendships with mentors (both gruff and patient), that guidance encouraged me to pursue this career. It occurred to me then that I admired their knowledge and would seek to be that source of knowledge and mentor the generations that followed me.
Paul Garner, right, with his brand-new BE4ALL champion jacket, presented by Local 55 Regional Manager Kolby Hanson.
“In my four-year apprenticeship, I gained more friendships with classmates of varying ages and backgrounds. But we were brought together in this program, and we bonded over a shared set of struggles. Learning to be good workers, having a good income for ourselves and our families, and gaining knowledge for our careers ahead. Back then, you could tell who would coast through easily, and who would have a harder time doing HVAC work. But the folks who were doing better helped those who weren’t getting the understanding as easily. And we all had different strengths to lend in that experience.
“So, 26 years later, I have mentored and taught. Bought tools, meals and drinks for young workers, shared travel expenses, beat up my body and learned what not to do, to keep myself able to return to work each day. I am sought after by different foremen to help guide their workforce. I am approached as a person that others want to learn from.
“In a decade, I will be able to retire with an income comparable to or better than my weekly income. My parents didn’t have that stability. And I have guided my kids to understand the true benefits of unions and the trades.”
Thank you, Brother Garner, for embodying the best of our union!
Two years ago, SMART Local 18 (Wisconsin) retiree Kevin Turner received the Joseph J. Nigro SMART Army Service Award — honoring his dedication to serving both his union and his community. In 2024, Turner’s deserved recognition reached new heights when Union Plus awarded him first prize in the Unions Power America Contest.
Turner was surprised with a $20,000 prize after being nominated for the award by his daughter, who wanted to celebrate the many impactful roles Turner plays in his community and in his family, including his volunteer efforts.
“I chose to nominate my dad because I feel like not only is he an outstanding dad and grandpa, but he does a lot of things for the community, a lot of things for friends and families and neighbors,” Turner’s daughter, Kristen, said in a Union Plus video honoring her dad.
Turner has been involved with Habitat for Humanity for more than six years, raising $10,000 for the organization and working hands-on to build homes for those in need. His commitment to the organization deepened after he showed up to an initial volunteer shift and noticed that some of the materials weren’t sized correctly by a nonunion sheet metal shop.
“We got involved in it and decided that, you know, we could do this right,” Turner said. “[We] talked to the union, and we got our approval and everything else.
“I worked with a friend of mine that I have known since seventh grade, and between the two of us, we got it going.”
The unexpected loss of his oldest daughter motivated Turner to expand his service work. In addition to Habitat, Turner helps other community groups like the local Elks Club, and he tirelessly organizes blood drives, food pantries and other charitable causes.
“[My friend and I] try to keep nonprofit organizations going by doing trade work so that they don’t have to go out and spend money for something needless when we can help them,” he explained.
Turner is still an active member in his union: attending meetings, grilling brats for SMART Army events and more. He joined Local 18 more than 40 years ago, when he started working in a sheet metal shop through a friend of his brother. The solidarity he experienced from day one changed his life forever.
“At the [start of my career], I had no idea what I was getting into,” he recalled in the Union Plus video. “I worked my way up into running larger jobs and just had a really incredible career with the help of others, because unions always help their [brothers and sisters]. When you needed something, they were always there for you, and it’s a good camaraderie that I’m still involved in — always will be.”
It’s for that reason that Turner knows union solidarity isn’t only about supporting other SMART members — it’s about standing with and serving fellow working-class people, and doing what you can to help those who need it most.
“It’s not a hand out, it’s a hand up,” he said. “The more we help others, the more they can help others, and kind of pay it forward.”
Since the first days of the United States labor movement, powerful, anti-worker forces have used a wide range of methods to try to divide the American working class. But one of the most devastating is also one of the most enduring myths in the corporate playbook: the lie of the immigrant that wants to steal your job.
In 2024, we saw this lie re-emerge with a vengeance from the Trump-Vance presidential campaign, which falsely accused Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, of eating their neighbors’ pets and used the tragic death of a child to malign an entire population of working-class people. (The young boy’s parents later decried their son’s death being used by Trump, Vance and others for political purposes.) The campaign and its allies rampantly accused “illegals” of flooding the southern border and taking work away from American citizens.
“We are all SMART members; united we bargain, divided we beg.”
Local unions and SMART members know better than anyone that yes, there are nonunion immigrant workers on jobsites in our communities. There are also undocumented people performing construction work, frequently while being blackmailed by their employer threatening to illegally use their immigration status against them.
Are those immigrants stealing our jobs? No.
The bad-faith contractor who would rather exploit people in desperate need of employment than sign a union contract — that’s who is stealing our jobs. The anti-worker employer who uses workers’ lack of familiarity with English to steal their wages and keep SMART members off the jobsite — that’s who is taking away our work hours.
In our union, we have a time-honored slogan: United we bargain, divided we beg. It’s a defining principle of our organization; one that we repeat proudly and that, in practice, has won our members strong contracts, family-sustaining benefits and a life with dignity.
The two key words in that sentence are “united” and “divided.” Make no mistake: The anti-immigrant lies spread joyfully by Trump, Vance and the U.S. corporate class are intended to divide us; to pit worker against worker, and to keep us from using our collective power to win victories in the face of the extraordinarily wealthy. As long as we are preoccupied by our immigrant neighbors, the elite know, we won’t focus on organizing more jobsites or bringing in more members to strengthen our union.
Our union, like many others, was built by members of immigrant communities — Irish, Italian, Portuguese and others. And just like today, those communities — many of whom are our familial ancestors, and on whose shoulders all of us stand — were demonized. They were labelled lazy, “illegal,” slovenly; discriminated against and, yes, categorized as foreigners stealing Americans’ jobs.
But those workers refused to be intimidated. They organized, and they grew the great organization that we proudly represent to this day.
In 2025, our union is made up of members who, either personally or ancestrally, come from all sorts of places: the United States, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Vietnam, China, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Haiti, El Salvador, Somalia and so many more. Every single one of those members, no matter their place of origin or their ancestry, is bonded by the solidarity of our union. We are all SMART members; united we bargain, divided we beg.
The same principle applies to workers who are not yet organized into our union.
If the immigrant worker who is being exploited on a nonunion jobsite is kicked off the job, that won’t fix the problem. That bad-faith contractor will find someone else to take advantage of. What can fix the problem is if we bring that worker into our union. When we bring those workers in, grow our union, expand our market share and force abusive employers to fall in line, we create more work for our members. And when huge projects create workforce demands for local unions — like in the Columbus, Ohio, area — those new members help us make sure those jobs are union built.
Election season may be over. But make no mistake — you will continue to hear about people from other countries coming to steal your job. For the good of your union and your work hours, don’t let that rhetoric win. Instead, let’s stand together and organize against the people who benefit from keeping us divided.
