My Journey: Jan Chappell

President, Local 85 in Atlanta, Georgia

By Jessica Kirby

Jan Chappell took the sheet metal cluster at the vocational school associated with her high school and knew right away she was on to something. “That was my first exposure to sheet metal and welding,” she says. “I ended up getting my air traffic controller training and left that to go work in a shipyard in California where I found work in the sheet metal shop. I really enjoyed it.”

She eventually moved back to Atlanta, and once home, she needed work, so she cracked open the phone book. “I looked up ‘sheet metal’ and found the JATC,” she says. “I didn’t know what that was, but I needed a job, so I called them up.”

Once she answered their questions, she produced all her accreditations—a reference letter from the shipyard and a certificate of appreciation from her vocational school. “I ended up hired on and went on to complete my apprenticeship, win a contest, place in the following year’s contest, and turn out as a journeyperson four years later.”

Today, she is president of Local 85, a position she has held for about 18 months. But getting there wasn’t easy. She ran for the conductor, the board, and as a trustee, putting herself out there in four separate electons but with no success. On her fifth time around, she tied with her opponent and conceded rather than cost the union the fees associated with sorting it out.

“After that, I was appointed onto executive board and from there to vice president and eventually to president,” she says. “The moral of the story is, so many run for leadership positions and don’t get them, and then you don’t see that person again, but that isn’t me. I kept trying.”

She was diligent because she wanted to have a voice that perhaps rang louder than as a general member. Her message? Women can do the work, and everybody is a team member.

“No matter what, we need to bring everyone into the locals so we can grab market share,” she says. “I want people so know we can look beyond traditional demographics to find people who can do the job. And the idea is that new people we bring in supplement the current workforce, not replace it. No one needs to be scared because the people joining don’t look or sound like you. We are here to supplement the Local and grow together as a team.”

For 30 years, she has worked on the tools, developing an affinity for fabricating things from raw materials. “It opens up my creative side that I don’t feel I can show anywhere else,” she says. “I also love the benefits and the ability to support my family and have a nice home, a pension, 2.2 dogs, and a foster cat. It’s nice to have all of that without worries about money, especially as I transition toward retirement.”

Like with anything, there were challenges—mainly, resistance to new demographics of people in the industry—but Chappell conquered this with humor and common sense. “I used humour to off-set the disgruntledness of those who didn’t think I belonged, and I also knew my place,” she says. “That earned me some respect.”

When she was laid off during the 2008 recession, she made ends meet for two years, but also kept paying her union dues. “I didn’t let bitterness get the best of me,” she says. “It was challenging coming back, but I made it.”

In 2023, she joined—or rather, was chosen to join—the SMART BE4ALL Committee. “I didn’t know what it was at first, but being on the inside of something helps you understand it better than looking in from the outside,” she says.

She enjoys brainstorming ways to make the sheet metal industry diverse and equitable so that it’s clear that every person in a Local matters. “There is some bias, at times, toward people coming in from the non-union side or toward people who are trained outside your local area,” she says. “That is just an old school way of thinking.

“You can grow old in two ways: by becoming an old person who never travels past a 2.5-mile radius and clings to stagnant, dated ideas, or you can become a senior citizen and embrace change, go with the flow, and learn to use a cellphone. Stagnant water attracts leeches, and I am not about that.”

For young people considering a career in sheet metal, she has this advice: “Ask more questions than you think you need to,” she says. “Do your research and make sure you know what to ask. The people that bring you into the union speak to 1,000 candidates a year, but you only talk to them once. Be confident, ask a million questions, don’t back down, but also know your place.”

“I love telling young people about a career in sheet metal because even though you get tired and you hurt a little bit after doing it a long time, it really is a great opportunity. I barely eked out of high school, and it gave me a great start. It gave me the chance to go to a great job, work with different people, and really build my confidence.”

Whether talking about BE4ALL, recruitment, or the industry in general, Chappell can’t stress enough that labor and management need one another to create a better future for everyone.

“None of us can grow alone,” she says. “We are 50/50 partners. I would like to thank the contractors for their continued support for SMART through scholarships and their on-going partnership. We are not two separate entities—we are a viable team, and I appreciate that.” ▪

Jessica Kirby is editor-publisher for Point One Media, a small but sturdy family-owned trade magazine creator in British Columbia, Canada.