Common questions
Getting started,
answered.
The questions we hear most often, about joining the local, the apprenticeship, and what membership in Sheet Metal Workers & Roofers Local 397 delivers across Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. Don’t see yours? Reach the hall.
- How do I become a member of Local 397?
- There are two ways in. For sheet metal, you join through the apprenticeship: drop a résumé and proof of Grade 12 (or equivalent) at the union hall, 1135 Roland Street in Thunder Bay; when the local needs apprentices it schedules an aptitude test ($25, about 3.5 hours). For roofing (a voluntary trade) no experience is needed and all safety training is provided; contact the hall at sheetmetal397@tbaytel.net or (807) 622-2609.
- What work do Local 397 members do?
- Local 397 has two divisions across Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. The sheet metal side covers HVAC and service, architectural sheet metal and cladding, ventilation and duct fabrication, and shop fabrication, with strong industrial and resource work in mining and pulp and paper. The roofing side installs and repairs flat and built-up roofing on commercial, institutional and industrial buildings.
- How long is the sheet metal apprenticeship, and what credential does it lead to?
- Sheet Metal Worker is a compulsory, inter-provincial Red Seal trade (Ontario 308A). The apprenticeship is 9,000 hours in total: 8,280 hours of paid on-the-job training plus 720 hours of in-school instruction, delivered in three eight-week blocks at the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre (OSMWTC) in Oakville, leading to a Red Seal Certificate of Qualification. Flat / built-up roofing is a voluntary trade, with the Thunder Bay Roofing Apprenticeship Council holding those apprenticeship contracts.
- What benefits do members receive?
- Members get a pension built on per-hour employer contributions on every hour worked under the agreement, and Health & Welfare benefits covering members and their families (drug, dental, vision, life and disability, with short- and long-term disability) administered through Manulife / Union Benefits. Members also earn negotiated wages plus vacation pay (indicative sheet metal journeyperson around $48.16/hr; contact the hall to confirm) and have access to SMART's confidential wellness and member-and-family support.
- Is Local 397 part of a larger union?
- Yes. Chartered on June 25, 1946 and rooted in a craft organized at the Lakehead since 1910, Local 397 is an affiliate of SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.
- Is this the Carpenters' Local 397?
- No. This is SMART Local 397, the sheet metal workers and roofers local for Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario, with its hall at 1135 Roland Street. Local numbers are assigned by each international union separately, so more than one union can carry the same number and search results mix them together. If you are looking for a different trade, you want a different organization.
- Is SMWIA the same as SMART?
- Yes. The Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA) is now SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers. It is the same union and Local 397 is the same local under either name, so older references to SMWIA Local 397 and current references to SMART Local 397 mean the same hall.