Better Wages and Benefits
It’s proven that workers who are trade union members earn more than non-unionized workers.
Personal Protection
Unions have got your back. Not only can they tell you your rights, they will defend your rights.
Health and Safety
With the backing of a union, you can say no to dangerous work without losing your job.
Solidarity
Trade unions have an incredible network. When you join a union, you join a global family.
Why Join SMART LOCAL 55?
For more than 100 years, workers in the sheet metal industry have found that SMART Local 55 is best suited in understanding their needs, their industry, and their hopes and aspirations. Sheet Metal | Air | Rail | Transportation Union (S.M.A.R.T.) was one of the first unions in its industry to establish 100% employer-paid health insurance programs, employer-paid pension plans, industry health and safety programs, formalized apprenticeship and journeyman training, and excellent wage and working conditions.
Membership Doesn’t Cost… It Pays!
What happens when you deserve a raise — or need a day off to take care of an unexpected emergency — or your employer has sold the company… or new equipment takes over your job… or working conditions on the job endanger your health?
It’s usually impossible, and always difficult, for an individual worker to go one-on-one with an employer when it’s necessary to protect your livelihood. The president of the company may not even be located in your community. Your supervisor knows you need to work — and the supervisor has the final word. One person’s voice just isn’t strong or loud enough to influence a large, impersonal organization.
Unions provide the responsible, united voice, which gives millions of wage and salary earners their proper share of participation in American industrial democracy.
You’re Better Off in the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 55
Answers to the Questions Most Asked by Workers in the Sheet Metal Industry When Joining a Union
American workers have been joining democratic unions since the end of the 18th Century. Economic history has shown that only when workers join together in unions can their voices be heard and the lives of themselves and their families be bettered.
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Collective bargaining. A local union of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 55 (SMART Local 55), to which you will belong, will form a bargaining committee of your fellow employees, to meet with your employer and together negotiate a contract that will spell out exact wage rates, job classifications, work conditions, pension, and health benefits, and other concerns you have.
The International Association will assist SMART Local 55 in these negotiations as needed to achieve the results everyone desires. Once the bargaining committee and your employer agree on a proposed contract, it will be put before all members of your bargaining units/no vote.
The agreement that SMART Local 55 negotiates with your employer is signed by both parties and is a legal contract. Your local union and the International Association will take whatever legal action would be necessary to enforce every aspect of this document.
Every job site or manufacturing plant has a union steward who is one of your fellow workers. He or she is your contact for any concern or grievance. A meeting with your employer can be arranged by your union job steward to address your concerns. If this fails, your local union business representative can be brought into discussions, and also an International Association representative when needed.
Monthly dues, where part goes to the local union and part to the International Association to finance their work on your behalf. The dues rates are established by vote of delegates to the International Convention every five years and in your local union by a vote of the entire membership.
Considering the benefits you gain through your union membership, these monthly dues literally pay for themselves. It just may be the best investment you ever make throughout your working lifetime.
All officers of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 55 are elected by the entire membership in a secret ballot. Elections are governed by Federal Labor Laws to ensure they are democratically conducted. Most importantly, the Official Constitution of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association guides the overall activities of our union.
- Contact our Business Representative online using the form above, call 509.666.6693, or visit our office in Spokane, Pasco, or Boise, ID.
- A local union representative will contact you to discuss your situation and advise you of the SMART Local 55 Program.
- The law requires that employees must show that they are interested in being represented for purposes of collective bargaining. Employees’ interest is shown by a “signed authorization card”.
- When a majority of employees in your company have signed authorization cards, your local union will request recognition from your employer.
- Your employer can recognize and agree to negotiate a union contract with a bargaining committee of your choosing from the employees and a representative of the union.
- If your employer does not recognize the union, the union may petition the National Labor Relations Board, and the NLRB will set a date for an election. If the results are in favor of the union, the NLRB will certify the union as the legal bargaining representative for the employees.
- Collective bargaining then will begin with your employer to negotiate a union contract. No union contract can be signed without the full knowledge and consent of the majority of the employees covered by it.
The Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association (SMWIA) has a long history of settling local union/employer problems without the need to strike. Procedures for settling disputes, including arbitration by an outside, objective party, are in place to prevent strikes. Only as a last resort is a strike called.
NO. Your right to join a union of your own choosing is guaranteed by the laws of the country. The National Labor Relations Act gives you the right to form or join a union for the purpose of collective bargaining. The law prohibits your employer from interfering with your efforts to organize.
Unions, including the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association through its Political Action League (PAL), are involved in politics for three good reasons:
1. To protect themselves and the gains they have won for workers through collective bargaining.
2. To promote justice, fairness, and equal opportunity for all workers.
3. Elect public office holders who believe in the above.
No dues monies are given to political candidates running for office. Only voluntary contributions to PAL are used to contribute to political campaigns.
