Successful Labor-management Partnerships

By Deb Wyandt

“Nobody will ever convince me that we, as labor and management, are better separate than we are together,” said SMART General President Michael Coleman, addressing hundreds of contractors at the Labor Forum at SMACNA’s National Convention in October. Coleman, General SecretaryTreasurer John Daniel, and Assistant to the General President, Tom Wiant made it a priority to attend SMACNA’s convention to meet with contractors and learn of the opportunities and challenges they are facing in their local markets.

Coleman views the sheet metal industry as a “three-legged” stool. “One leg is the employers, a second is the union and its members, and the third is our training programs,” he said. “If we lose any of the three legs, our industry fails. We all have an obligation to make that stool stand.”

From his meetings with SMACNA contractors and SMART Local members, Coleman is aware that some areas embrace the concept of labor-management partnership very well, while other areas still struggle to do so.

Coleman suggested that areas that wish to have a successful labor-management alliance employ the “90/10” rule, noting that contractors and the union have a lot of common interests. The 90/10 rule asserts that contractors and union members are “lockstep” agreeing whole-heartedly on 90% of the issues that the sheet metal industry faces. Five percent of issues are “somewhat controversial,” and 5% of issues are those for which there will always be inherent differences between labor and management. In a successful partnership, the parties focus on the 90% and do not allow 5% or 10% of the issues derail progress on the 90%.

“Hard feelings stop progress on the 90%,” Coleman said. He added that the following attributes create a solid labormanagement partnership:

• Honesty and integrity – The team members across the table need to be able to trust that your words and actions are based on information and facts that you believe to be accurate at the time.

• Accountability – You’re not always going to be right. When you are wrong, admit it and “own it.”

• Trust – “There is no room for ‘gotcha’ moments in this industry. We work on slim margins and there is no time for gotchas. Lie to your partner and see how long it takes to get trust back… It takes forever. “My father had a good analogy on the importance of trust,” Coleman said. “Trust is lost in buckets but regained only in drops.”

• Respect – We need to be respectful about the 5% of items on we will never agree upon. Instead of emotional “eye-rolling” and “tsks,” ask the other parties why they feel that way. We may never agree on these issues, but better understanding may lead to some progress.

Coleman has a long record of successful partnership efforts at the national level and at the local level in Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as business manager of Local 33. He shared how the National SMACNA-SMART partnership contributed to

• a successful pandemic response effort;

• improved funding status for the National Pension Fund, which has been in the green zone for the last three years;

• a successful project to provide workers to staff industry megaprojects;

• joint lobbying on common issues like indoor air quality and the CHIPS Act;

• a maternity leave program; and,

• the BE4ALL program, which lets all know that they are welcome in our industry regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. “Our industry is growing faster than ever before,” Coleman said. “We need all hands-on deck to recruit and retain like we have never done before.”

“We’ve checked a lot of boxes on successful partnership efforts,” Coleman explained. “But there is a lot more to accomplish. If we don’t work together, we are absolutely going to fail. We have an opportunity to change our industry like never before. We need to seize the moment and come together as leaders of our industry.”

Coleman promised to make it a priority to promote local labor- management partnership and improve the culture of Locals and implored contractors to likewise do so on their end when they return home. “Our industry is too valuable to compromise for any reason,” he said. “We all have fights, we all have separate views, but we are never better without our partners. Working together is our responsibility for the future.”▪

Launched in December 2021, the BE4ALL initiative is a joint effort of SMACNA, SMART and the International Training Institute. BE4ALL seeks to positively impact the unionized sheet metal industry’s work culture so that we can attract and retain the best, most skilled sheet metal workers—and in doing so, affirm the dignity of every person who walks through our doors.

BE4ALL ensures that we are an industry that embodies professionalism—not only in our technical skills, but also in the respectful work environments we create: free from harassment, discrimination, bullying, and hazing. BE4ALL ensures that we are an industry where our members and contractors can do the best possible work efficiently and effectively. These are all critical ingredients to creating a thriving culture and industry, and we believe BE4ALL is the vehicle for how we make this happen.

BE4ALL strengthens our workforce, benefits our communities, and makes the unionized sheet metal industry stronger and more competitive by reflecting the communities where we operate and the people we serve. BE4ALL helps our contractors and our members meet the real-world demand for the best and most qualified workforce available and also reinforces union solidarity.

The leadership of SMART, SMACNA, and the ITI share this vision for transforming the industry. Together, we can create an environment of welcoming, belonging and excellence for all. Learn more at beforall.org▪