“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.”
“If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’re going to get.”
SMART General President Michael Coleman spoke those words to elected delegates at the SMART General Convention in Las Vegas, Nev., in August 2024. Nearly a year has passed since then, and a lot has happened in the United States and Canada: Both countries have new political leadership, for example, and daily life has changed for many SMART members and families in each of our nations.
But one thing hasn’t changed: From the shop floor to the bargaining table, from the bus to the rail yard, from state and provincial governments to Ottawa and Washington, DC, SMART is fighting for what matters: members and working families.
There have been some high-profile fights in recent months. The U.S. Department of Energy canceled funding awards for a variety of clean energy projects that created jobs for SMART members and working families, taking construction work away from hardworking Americans. In Canada, the costs of tariffs have made themselves felt viscerally, and Ontario SMART members’ jobs are in limbo after the pausing of a Honda megaproject. Federal funding cuts took future work away from sheet metal members in San Diego, New Mexico and beyond; uncertainty around policies and global trade continues to impact both the construction and transportation industries, and some local unions now have out-of-work lists for the first time in years.
But as General President Coleman has repeated, fighting for members is what we do as trade unionists. And from the International to the local union level, that fight doesn’t stop.
Fighting in DC, Ottawa and beyond
For better and for worse, federal lawmaking has a big effect on union workers. In the railroad industry, the actions of Congress impact everything from members’ contract negotiations to new safety regulations. And for sheet metal workers, construction projects that create union jobs are often funded directly and indirectly by provisions in federal laws.
That’s why SMART’s International staff fights 24/7/365 to help educate representatives, senators, members of Parliament and other officials about what they can do to benefit members.
SMART had a constant presence in Washington, DC, throughout negotiations on the 2025 reconciliation bill. Governmental Affairs staff met repeatedly with both representatives and senators, explaining precisely how provisions in the legislation that cut tax credits, infrastructure funding, Medicaid funding and more would negatively impact SMART members’ work opportunities and health care coverage. Unfortunately, Congress passed a bill, signed into law by President Trump, that included cuts to programs and tax credits that create jobs for thousands of SMART sheet metal workers, cut Medicaid funding for those who need it most, and more.
“Members will lose work. Costs will go up. And that just doesn’t make sense,” said General President Coleman.
But the fight doesn’t stop. Just like every year, SMART-TD led the charge on Railroad Day on the Hill 2025 in Washington, bringing together a coalition of 13 rail labor unions to meet with representatives, senators and staff to fight for union railroaders. Representatives from every craft of the rail industry — train and engine crews, signal maintainers, dispatchers, car knockers, track department and more — were divided into strategic teams. Each group was armed with a full day’s schedule of back-to-back meetings with lawmakers in the House and Senate.
“In the past two years, railroad day events, SMART-TD’s message and the way we delivered it struck a chord. We knew we had created something powerful with this model,” said former SMART-TD National Legislative Director Greg Hynes. “And this year proved it. We scheduled and executed over 130 meetings on the Hill, our most ever. That kind of momentum builds on itself.”
SMART Canada has pursued the same advocacy, both in Ottawa and in provincial governments across the country. These efforts look set to reward sheet metal workers and roofers: New Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a Federal Major Projects Office intended to cut project approval times and put skilled tradespeople to work, and even before elections took place, SMART Canada had secured funding for training to help members build Canada’s green future.
But sometimes, elected officials have no role to play in major developments that affect SMART members. In those instances, SMART and allies fight for members in whatever venue is available.
When the Department of Defense tried to end the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on large-scale construction projects, it was a direct threat to SMART members’ jobs. North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), which SMART is an affiliate of, did not back down. Together, the building trades stood up for union members and American workers. And ultimately, a federal judge ordered the Department of Defense to go back to using PLAs.
PLA advocacy also extended to the White House, with NABTU and affiliates like SMART communicating just how important project labor agreements are to workers across America. That paid off at least partially in June, when the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo saying the White House “supports the use of PLAs when those agreements are practicable and cost effective” — though the memo did leave plenty of room for exceptions, and does not require PLAs on projects that cost more than $35 million.
“Although it doesn’t contain the same protections as the Biden administration, this is a step in the right direction. Project labor agreements create jobs for SMART members and working people across our country,” General President Coleman said in response. “All of us at SMART appreciate and applaud this guidance from the White House, and we look forward to keeping this conversation going. But we encourage them to go further, for the sake of our members, our families and our neighbors.
“We will continue to do everything we can to keep creating jobs for SMART members and Americans nationwide, and we encourage all agencies to support the use of PLAs on all federally funded projects.”
SMART-TD had the same fighting mentality in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami, Florida, in June, when Associate General Counsel Shawn McKinley stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Federal Railroad Administration in defending the FRA’s rule requiring two-person crews on freight trains. Importantly, that defense was bolstered by the testimony of SMART members. When Association of American Railroads (AAR) attorneys dismissed the more than 13,000 public comments submitted in favor of the two-person crew rule, calling them “anecdotes,” McKinley swiftly countered, reminding the court that these weren’t “random” comments or “anecdotes.” They were firsthand accounts from thousands of trained railroaders — the very people the rule is designed to protect.
Winning what members deserve
While federal governments and national labor events tend to make the loudest headlines, some of the most impactful SMART campaigns take place at the local level. From the bargaining table to the shop floor, sheet metal and Transportation Division locals are winning huge victories for members.
In San Carlos, California, members of SMART-TD Local 1741’s Local Committee of Adjustment for San Carlos Schools ratified a new tentative agreement with 96% approval. Their new contract includes a pay increase that will eventually grant members the highest pay rate in the region for school bus operators; a doubling of the employer’s 401(k) match; union release time; enhanced discipline and grievance procedures that give members a stronger voice on the job; and more.
Meanwhile, railroaders working for the Alabama Port Authority stood strong against management’s efforts to divide and conquer. The employer tried to exploit a wage disparity between pre-2008 and post-2008 employees, proposing incentives to divide the membership. But the members of SMART-TD Local 598 refused to take the bait, instead demanding pay equity across the board. As a result, local officers were able to secure an agreement that ensures major gains in wages, benefits and crew consist protections.
In Kitchener, Ontario, a four-year organizing campaign paid off for the members of Local 562 when the local welcomed 56 new members who made the switch from the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC), strengthening market share in the area.
And in Philadelphia, sheet metal workers united to win a strong agreement with the Sheet Metal Contractors’ Association. This followed prolonged negotiations and preparations for a strike that never materialized: As Local 19 wrote to members, “make no mistake — this fight is about respect. It’s about value. It’s about ensuring that every member of Local 19 is seen, heard and fairly compensated for the skill, pride and dedication they bring to the job every single day.”
Solidarity at the statehouse
Fights like the one described by Local 19 go beyond the bargaining table: Sheet metal locals have also mobilized in state governments to win laws that create work for SMART members and working families.
For many years, bad-faith contractors have exploited custom offsite fabrication loopholes to win bids on public works projects and/or jobs that are covered by project labor agreements, preventing offsite fabrication work from going to SMART members and depriving offsite fabricators from getting the union-won pay and benefits that all working people deserve. That’s why SMART locals nationwide consistently fight to extend prevailing wage to cover custom offsite fabrication work. Local 38 and Local 49 recently won laws that did exactly that in Connecticut and New Mexico, respectively: huge victories that will help SMART members, signatory contractors and working people in both states.
“The way this type of bill helps us grow our membership is, it increases our volume of market share by having equal wages across fabrication shops,” said Local 49 Business Manager and Financial Secretary-Treasurer Isaiah Zemke. “Everyone’s having to pay that same state prevailing wage for these public works projects.”
Local unions are also working to secure indoor air quality work for sheet metal members. In Virginia, SMART Local 100 helped win the passage of HB2618: Public school buildings; indoor air quality, inspection and evaluation. The bill adopts several requirements for school districts to help ensure there is proper indoor air quality in public school buildings, mandating that at least once every four years, each school district conducts an industry-recognized uniform inspection and evaluation of the HVAC system. The bill outlines that the evaluation must be performed by a skilled, trained and certified workforce — in a state where more than half of public schools are over 50 years old, the legislation is expected to create work for SMART sheet metal workers.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, Governor Jared Polis signed an HVAC Improvements for Public Schools bill into law, which will require school districts to thoroughly assess and upgrade their HVAC systems using certified contractors when spending federal infrastructure or education funds, and to provide for regular maintenance and inspection of HVAC systems following installation. It also directs the governor to use remaining Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to assist school districts in finding certified contractors and writing grants to access federal funding, and instructs the state Department of Labor and Employment to create a list of certified HVAC contractors schools can hire from.
“The biggest win for me is that we’ve now enshrined our HVAC standards into law. This ensures that when schools undergo assessments and upgrades, they are working with certified contractors who meet workforce standards, including prevailing wage and apprenticeship utilization,” said Local 9 Business Manager Jon Alvino. “The certified contractor list created through this bill guarantees that those who pay prevailing wages and participate in registered apprenticeship programs are eligible. It’s a huge step forward for ensuring quality work and supporting skilled local labor.”
SMART-TD puts safety first
As Congress continues to stall on federal transportation safety legislation, SMART-TD isn’t waiting to bring the fight to the local level. TD members have racked up an impressive number of legislative wins centered on securing or strengthening safety protections this year.
In Maryland, SMART-TD passed a transit safety bill that protects bus and passenger rail workers from violent assaults by requiring the Maryland Transit Administration to form a safety-focused workgroup in consultation with SMART-TD and other unions. The group will create a passenger code of conduct and roll out a variety of internal safety improvements.
TD Local 202 secured permanent funding for the Office of Railroad Safety in Colorado after more than two years of tireless organizing, lobbying and standing firm in the face of corporate and political games. The office is charged with collecting and analyzing safety data, including the impact of train length, crew size and scheduling on accident rates — key areas that the carriers and the AAR have consistently claimed lack “data to support.” SMART-TD then passed a second new law in Colorado that enacts “Transit Worker Assault and Training Requirements,” which widens the definition of a transit worker and imposes harsher penalties for transit assaults.
In Massachusetts, SMART-TD successfully broadened the definition of “public employee” and “assault” to cover transit workers employed by private companies in the commonwealth, closing an unintended loophole that barred them from the same level of protection as public transit workers.
And collaboration across SMART-TD state legislative boards helped win passage of two major laws in Arkansas, both of which originated in other states (Nebraska and Illinois, respectively). One law protects railroaders’ anonymity in reports on railroad fatalities; the other strengthens the consequences for serious vandalism on rail property and for assault of transportation workers. Those laws will benefit SMART members, and they show the value of communication and solidarity across our union.
SMART programs benefit members and families
In the backdrop of the various fights detailed in this article, SMART continues to offer groundbreaking programs to benefit members. Those include SMART’s pioneering childcare benefit partnership with TOOTRiS, available to sheet metal members at participating local unions in the U.S.; SMART’s maternity leave benefit fund program, also available to United States sheet metal members whose local unions have adopted the program in their health & welfare plans; and Union EAP, an employee assistance program designed to support members’ mental health — created by organized labor, for organized labor.
These benefits, too, are part of the fight. They are explicitly designed to help improve the lives of SMART members and their families.
“These programs are about making things better for SMART members,” General President Coleman concluded. “Because we, SMART members, are worth fighting for. And we’ll continue to fight every single day.”
Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates set minimum pay and benefit standards on federal construction projects, based on surveys of wage rates in the area. This ensures that contractors bidding on those jobs can’t undercut area standards — putting skilled, well-trained construction workers (including SMART members) on projects. In many places, prevailing wage laws provide union-won pay and training standards to local workers, benefiting local communities and working families.
Prevailing wage rates also help SMART members at the bargaining table. When contractors across a local area are required to provide strong, family-sustaining pay and benefits, local unions can negotiate for the contracts members deserve without worrying about bad-faith companies pricing out high-road employers and lowering area working standards.
That’s why SMART fights for strong prevailing wage laws at the local level, and to strengthen the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts in the federal government. Because unfortunately, SMART members are just as impacted when prevailing wage rates are lowered.
A recent example from Florida: For decades, the United States Department of Labor has used one Davis-Bacon wage determination for construction work at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Patrick Air Force Base, Kennedy Space Center and Malabar Radar Site — known altogether as Cape Canaveral — and another for Brevard County, Florida. The Cape Canaveral wage determination reflected union-won rates for all classifications, ensuring contractors bidding on work were paying strong, union-negotiated packages (and helping signatory contractors and members win more work). The Brevard County wage determination does not reflect those rates. Most of the rates on the Brevard County wage determination are low rates that haven’t increased substantially for more than 10 years.
Earlier this summer, the new administration’s Department of Labor announced that the Cape Canaveral prevailing wage rate would be replaced, effective July 4, 2025, by the lower Brevard County rate.
“Unfortunately, this is a decision that will affect SMART members in the near future and for many years ahead,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “The high standards contractors previously met at Cape Canaveral have now been lowered, opening the door for companies to bid on work without paying workers what they deserve. That’s the immediate impact. And in future negotiations, local unions in the area won’t have the foundation of strong prevailing wages to stand on when bargaining for the pay and benefits that our members earn.”
“SMART members and their fellow construction workers at Cape Canaveral are doing vital work to support our nation,” he added. “Undermining that just doesn’t make sense.”
Canada sets the standard
The disappointing actions by the United States Department of Labor and Congress contrast sharply with the current policy that SMART members enjoy in Canada.
In the U.S., the spending bill President Trump signed into law gets rid of a variety of work-creating tax credits. In Canada, similar tax incentives known as Investment Tax Credits offer companies a 30–40% credit for investments in clean technology, hydrogen production and carbon capture. These green economy credits are designed to drive investment toward sustainable energy projects. What sets them apart, however, is their strong labour standards. To qualify, employers must ensure that at least 10% of total work hours are performed by registered apprentices and that all construction workers are paid the prevailing wage — which includes health and welfare benefits as well as pension contributions.
In other words, this represents the strongest definition of prevailing wage ever implemented in Canadian labour history, utilizing the union definition of prevailing wage.
“It’s simple: Thanks to these incredibly strong standards, SMART Canada members will be put to work and Canadian families will benefit. No question,” General President Coleman said. “We applaud the Government of Canada for putting working families first, and we will continue to work with state and federal governments in the U.S. to win policies that benefit our members and their families.”
A $2 billion megaproject that was set to create more than 3,000 union jobs in Massachusetts is under threat after Congress passed the 2025 tax bill, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025.
The Allston Multimodal Project, which had a project labor agreement in place, would have put workers on the job straightening out the Massachusetts Turnpike throughout Boston’s northwest corner, opened up land for development and invested in public transit. SMART sheet metal workers and other union construction members would have played a key role, including building a new train-and-bus hub.
But on Friday, July 18, the Trump administration’s Department of Transportation confirmed that DOT is terminating $327 million that Massachusetts won in 2023 for the Allston Multimodal Project. Massachusetts will keep just $8 million from the grant.
“Unfortunately, some of the harmful pieces of the spending bill are already starting to impact SMART members and our communities, just weeks after the president signed it into law,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman. “This project wasn’t only going to create thousands of union jobs, including for SMART sheet metal workers. It was going to invest in local communities and the state’s transportation network. Because funding has been so drastically cut, all of that is in jeopardy.”
The project has been in the works for more than a decade. The Boston Globe reported that it “was Governor Deval Patrick, after all, who first promised this new transit hub, dubbed West Station, alongside the turnpike realignment, 11 years ago.”
But the pieces only came together in March of last year, when the Biden administration awarded the project a $335 million grant through the Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program.
Even with the rescinded funding, Mass. Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that her administration “remain[s] committed to doing everything we can, working with our incredible project partners, to make Allston Multimodal a reality.”
But the fact remains that the pulling of federal grant money directly threatens SMART members’ jobs.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is conducting a strategic review of the project to determine a path forward,” SMART Northeast Regional Council President Bob Butler said in an email to Local 17 members. “Local 17 stands with our fellow union partners, as well as our community and government allies in demanding the funding be restored — and in fighting to keep this project alive.”
Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturer, reportedly cancelled a $500 million project in Middletown, Ohio, in June 2025 — leading to a loss in work hours for union sheet metal workers in the area.
“This would have been a solid project for Local 24, especially our Dayton-area membership,” said Local 24 Business Manager Jeff Hunley.
Local radio station WYSO 91.3 reported: “The planned switch from a coal-based steel plant to hydrogen was expected to create 1,200 union construction jobs and protect 2,500 existing positions.”
WYSO noted that Cleveland-Cliffs had planned to replace its coal steel-making furnace with a hydrogen-powered system, supported in part by a $500 million grant from the Department of Energy. That grant came from the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law under the Biden administration in 2022.
But Steel Industry News reported that the Trump administration’s shift away from clean energy and its focus on fossil fuels created uncertainty for the company, and rising tariffs on steel imports “forced Cleveland-Cliffs to prioritize short-term profitability.”
Now, at least for the time being, the project has been abandoned.
Changing clean energy policies impact SMART members
Union sheet metal workers play a key role in building and converting clean energy facilities, including hydrogen, nuclear and battery plants. That’s what makes federal grants, tax credits and funding so important to SMART sheet metal workers, and why the strong labor standards included in such policies under the Biden administration were also crucial for members.
“When we work to pass laws like the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re investing in our future,” explained SMART General President Michael Coleman. “The grants and tax credits we got passed in that law are the kinds of policies that create jobs for sheet metal workers five, ten, fifteen years down the line. Unfortunately, when those types of policies are thrown in jeopardy, we see companies become less willing to invest, and projects get paused or cancelled.”
“The Cleveland-Cliffs project cancellation means that the jobs Local 24 was expecting will no longer be available to members in Ohio. With the cuts to clean energy tax credits and programs in the spending bill passed by Congress, we can expect more disappointing stories like this, at least for the next few years,” he added.
On June 17, 2017, the AFL-CIO issued a legislative alert to U.S. Senators regarding Trump’s nomination of Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel to fill the vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In the alert, Emanuel is noted for representing the “…notorious union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson,” and Kaplan’s, “…sole experience with labor law is on a policy level, drafting legislation to weaken worker protections…” Click here to read the entire letter from the AFL-CIO. A Senate committee may vote on these nominations as early as tomorrow, July 19, 2017 – so contact your Senator today: Visit the SMART TD Legislative Action Center (LAC) to call your Senator and voice your opposition to these nominations. On Tuesday, July 18, the Chicago Tribune outlined how Trump seeks to dismantle unions in America. Click here to read the article.
