Leading By Example

The Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force (BPMETF) promotes labor-management cooperation at the international level. Its team ensures that every issue of Partners in Progress magazine and each Partners in Progress Conference showcase how SMACNA contractors and SMART members can elevate their industry by working together. The 2023 SMACNA Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, provided another example of how a commitment to labor-management partnership can help industry partners rise to the pinnacle of their service.

As a joint task force, the BPMETF is led by co-chairs appointed by SMACNA and SMART. SMACNA’s Carol Duncan and SMART’s Mike Coleman worked together from spring 2020 through to spring 2023 as BPMETF co-chairs to educate industry members about the benefits of a collaborative relationships. The final day of the 2023 SMACNA Convention brought Carol and Mike back working together again in different roles—this time at the top of each organization as SMACNA President and SMART General President.

One of the most popular sessions at the SMACNA Convention is the Labor Forum, during which the SMART General President shares the international union’s vision for the industry and has a conversation about it with a room full of SMACNA contractors.

At his first Labor Forum since becoming SMART General President in June, Michael Coleman told the crowd that he is a huge believer in labor-management partnerships and that he will stand behind his record of labor and management efforts.

“Labor and management face 90% of industry issues in lockstep and in agreement,” he said. “If we tackle the remaining 10% with respect and honesty, we will get through those, too.”

Coleman shared three things that are important to any relationship:

1. We have to communicate.

2. We have to be able to trust each other.

3. We have to respect each other when we differ.

“If we can control those three things, we should have no issues moving forward,” he said. “We will have bumps in the road, but that is all we will have.”

Fast forward to the session immediately following the Labor Forum, which was the incoming president’s luncheon where 2022-2023 SMACNA President Tony Kocurek turned over the president’s gavel to Carol Duncan. During her address to the audience, President Duncan shared the important goals and initiatives that she wants to pursue on behalf of SMACNA during her year in office. And no surprise, many of those goals require SMACNA and SMART to work together.

The SMACNA Convention had a packed schedule of educational programs and industry updates, but Duncan and Coleman made the time to sit down and discuss how the two organizations can move forward on initiatives that will be far more successful with collaborative effort, including:

• Building workplaces where all employees, regardless of their backgrounds, feel like they are welcome and can make a difference. Employees who feel valued are more likely to stay in the industry to further their careers.

• Noting that apprentice surveys still show that most new industry entrants are referred by friends and families, the two organizations need to collectively cast a wider net to ensure a more diverse workforce.

• Noting that the average age of new apprentices is 26 or 27 years, promoting initiatives to recruit more effectively at the high school level.

• Continued collaboration on the joint Megaprojects Task Force. Coleman and Duncan discussed a recent labormanagement visit to a megaproject in the midwestern United States to learn how labor and management worked together to establish a shop of 30 employees to supply a megaproject.

• Strategizing on how to protect core work in area so that work is not lost to the non-union sector given the enhanced attention to the megaproject.

• Further strengthening the labor-management relationship between SMACNA and SMART and providing contractors and locals with tools they can use to expand work opportunities.

To view the video featuring the discussions of President Duncan and General President Coleman, visit the SMACNA Member Update at smacna.org/stay-informed/news-andpublications/member-update/smacna-convention-interviewcarol-duncan-and-michael-coleman

The final bullet point above is a call to action for local labor and management representatives. Please make sure your area is represented at the February 26-28, 2024 Partners in Progress Conference in Orlando, Florida, and collaborate to bring upand-coming young leaders. As always, don’t forget to check out the tools available on the Partners in Progress website pinp.org They are designed to help you establish a labor-management committee and learn more about joint programs like B4ALL, SMART Heroes, Heavy Metal Summer Experience, and many other labor-management programs that have helped move our industry forward.

On behalf of SMACNA and SMART leadership, the BPMETF, and the Partners in Progress team, we look forward to working on your behalf and with you on creating a prosperous 2024 for the sheet metal industry. ▪