PARTNERS BY DESIGN

SMACNA Sacramento Valley and Local 104 represented their local area with more than 30 attendees at the 2022 Partners in Progress Conference.

By Jessica Kirby  Photos courtesy of Local 104

Each Partners in Progress Conference encourages Locals and Chapters to attend together, learn together, and use the time for strengthening their relationships. Local areas take this advice in different ways. Local 280 and SMACNA-BC (and other organizations) sponsor apprentices and encourage employers to join them. SMACNA Kansas City and Local 2 attended in 2022 with their entire negotiation committee. It is not uncommon to find Capital District SMACNA and Local 83 or SMACNA-Western Washington and Local 66 seated together at breakfast or during speaker presentations. It is this kind of deliberate partnership-building action that makes a good team great.

Local 104 and SMACNA Sacramento Valley have been attending Partners in Progress for many years, always making the most of learning and networking opportunities together. This year, they came through in spades, bringing more than 30 representatives from their combined local area.

Cheryl Sprague, executive vice president for SMACNA Sacramento Valley, says the the group has been attending for at least the nine years she’s been on the board, probably longer.

“This event gives us the opportunity to meet and share ideas with our labor partners in an environment that is nonthreatening,” she says. “In other words, we aren’t competing or bargaining; we’re simply working together toward the common goal of strengthening our industry.”

Sal Rotolo, assistant business manager, District 2 in Local 104, agrees. The Local attended its first Partners in Progress event in 2010, and its members have always appreciated the opportunity to connect with their contractor peers.

“Partners in Progress provides a space and opportunity to collaborate with employers,” Rotolo says. “The classes and breakout sessions provide up-to-date information regarding the industry, and the conference serves to strengthen labormanagement relationships.”

Attendance is one thing, but rallying more than 30 participants from one area is a feat to be recognized. The chapter and

local work together to boost participation numbers, and they accessed joint funds to help, starting with Labor Management Collaborative Trust (LMCT) funds, which are used to send apprentices that are selected by their instructors.

“Local 104 values and encourages participation working with our SMACNA partners,” Rotolo says. “The invitation is circulated internally to inspire involvement. We also partner with Sacramento SMACNA contractors regularly through our LMCT, and together we help facilitate apprentice participation.”

“The apprentices see it as an honor to be selected, and we work really hard at ensuring they are mentored and made to feel comfortable at the conference,” Sprague says. “This year, we also allowed the contractors to nominate emerging leaders from their companies.”

SMACNA Sacramento Valley encourages the employer to attend if their apprentice or emerging leader is one of the selected individuals, and the board of directors are all encouraged to attend, with the Chapter covering expenses.

“They understand the importance of having constructive social time with our bargaining partners and how those relationships benefit from this time together,” Sprague says.

At the conference, SMACNA Sacramento Valley and Local 104 usually plan a fun group outing for one of the free evenings. This year, they went to a firing range where they learned about guns and ammo used in WWII and even fired a few rounds. Afterward, they enjoyed a casual BBQ dinner.

“It might seem silly, but getting everyone away from the conference and off the strip to do something where we are learning and having fun together is invaluable and creates a unique bonding experience,” Sprague says.

Relationship building is something SMACNA Sacramento Valley and Local 104 frequently discuss at LMCT meetings. They made funding Partners in Progress participation a high priority, not only for the LMCT, but also for the SMACNA Chapter and Local. “Seeing that each group is fully invested and has made the event a priority is naturally inspiring to our members,” Sprague says. “The Chapter members take clues from our board of directors and staff. If they witness us working as a team and collaborating to strengthen the industry, they will instinctually follow suit.”

In other words, Chapter leadership has an opportunity to foster good will between labor and management, and that spirit of cooperation trickles down to members of both organizations.

At home, one way Local 104 and SMACNA Sacramento Valley foster a healthy relationship is through community service. “Stepping outside scheduled meetings to work side-byside on service projects promotes solidarity and collaboration,” Rotolo says. “When it comes time to meet again, the benefits of the time spent working in partnership are evident.”

The organizations work together on a number of other initiatives, including Women in Construction Week events, Trades Day and other events that promote the industry to high school students, Prison to Employment efforts in collaboration with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and Be 4 All—a diversity, equity, and inclusion program. They also work together with the local governments on project labor agreements and workforce development.

“We share in the understanding that we are in this together, and together we thrive within the sheet metal industry,” Rotolo says. Collective efforts are the most effective route to gaining significant market share, Rotolo says.

“It is essential that we work together,” he says. “It is the responsibility of SMART to provide the finest, most efficient employees, and the responsibility of SMACNA to provide the finest, most efficient place of employment.”

Sprague agrees, “We are all in this together. Period. When the industry is strong, we all benefit.”

Both concur that if management is working on increasing marketshare or moving into new market sectors, contractors will eventually hit a wall in their efforts if those efforts don’t include their labor partners.

“How are they to know what we’re trying to do if we exclude them from our decision making?” Sprague says. “If we communicate what we’re trying to do and can demonstrate the benefits of it, odds are pretty good we’ll get the cooperation we need from the Local. They truly want to see the employers succeed because, just like our businesses can’t thrive without them, their members can’t thrive without us.” ▪

Jessica Kirby is editor-publisher for Point One Media, a small but sturdy, family-owned trade magazine creator representing some of North America’s best construction associations.