Why go union
Put it
in writing.
The Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, now SMART, has organized this trade for over a century. Here is what that means for a sheet metal worker or roofer in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario, and what it costs to work without it.
01
Working without it
Non-union sheet metal and roofing work carries risks that do not show up on the first paycheque.
Layoffs arrive without notice and without recall rights. Hours get disputed after the fact. A safety complaint can quietly become a reason not to be called back, and there is no procedure that says otherwise. When the job ends, so does everything attached to it.
None of that is about any one employer being unreasonable. It is what happens when the terms of the work are set one worker at a time, with nothing written down that both sides are bound by.
02
What membership is
A written agreement, a network of contractors, and a procedure when something goes wrong.
Wages, hours and conditions come from the provincial ICI collective agreement bargained by the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers’ & Roofers’ Conference with the contractors’ association, under the Thunder Bay appendix. It is a document, it is enforceable, and a copy is held at the hall.
Work comes through a hall that knows the signatory contractors across the region, and through the inter-local referral system when it is busy elsewhere. Members carry their standing with them rather than starting over with each employer.
When something goes wrong there is a grievance procedure with steps and time limits, and a steward on the job who knows how to use it.
03
The ticket
Sheet Metal Worker is a compulsory trade in Ontario. The apprenticeship is the way in, and the union side pays for the upgrading after it.
Sheet metal is trade code 308A, a compulsory trade, ending in a Certificate of Qualification and the interprovincial Red Seal. In-school instruction runs through the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre, jointly run by the union and the contractors’ association.
Flat and built-up roofing follows a different path. It is a voluntary trade, and the Thunder Bay Roofing Apprenticeship Council holds those apprenticeship contracts for this region.
After the ticket, upgrading continues through SMART’s International Training Institute and through courses run out of the hall. Nobody is asked to pay their own way to stay current.
04
Why we organize
Standard wages and conditions across the region protect the contractors who already meet them.
A contractor who trains apprentices, pays the agreement and runs a safe job should not lose work to one who does none of it. Standardized terms take that out of the bidding, so the job is won on skill and productivity instead of on what can be cut.
That is the whole argument for organizing this trade, and it is why the International has pursued it since long before it was called SMART.
Talk to us before you decide.
There is no obligation and no cost to ask. Conversations about organizing a shop are kept confidential, and that includes the fact that you called.
Business Manager
Or reach the hall at (807) 622-2609 · all contact details