News - Page 4 of 9 - Sheet Metal Worker Local Union 24

In the face of a silver tsunami, union apprentices are high in demand

The Great Resignation means union building trades apprentices are more valued and needed than ever before.

That is the premise of a recent Dayton Daily News article that details the importance of apprentices to the local economy, especially as more Americans are quitting their jobs and reassessing what they want from a career.

Continue reading →

Sellers, Union Leaders Celebrate the Passage of Historical Infrastructure Bill

SMART General President Joseph Sellers, Jr., along with other union leaders, celebrated the signing of the five-year $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. 

“The bill can create jobs for existing SMART members and spur new union jobs, which will help us grow the power of union,” said Sellers in a prepared statement on the SMART website. 

“The bill includes over $1 billion in funding for Indoor Air Quality for schools along with commercial and residential buildings that can be used for badly needed HVAC upgrades,” he said. 

Sellers also noted the legislation will invest $25 billion in airport and $17 billion in port infrastructure to not only address repair and maintenance backlogs, but to invest in keeping America’s supply chain moving.  Continue reading →

H.B. 235 would mandate apprenticeships for construction workers

A proposed Ohio House Bill would mandate construction workers to either complete a registered apprenticeship or have five years of industrial experience in order to work in a refinery. 

Rep. DJ Swearingen (R-Huron) and Brian Baldridge (R-Winchester) introduced House Bill 235, The High Hazard Training Certification Act, in March. In addition to the training requirement, the legislation sets safety standard mandates, including OSHA-30 certification for all construction workers who work in a refinery.

If passed and signed into law, H.B. 235 will create two classifications of journeyman construction workers: Class A and Class B. 

Class A Journeymen are graduates of any state or Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program and hold an OSHA-30 certification. This designation essentially covers every tradesman and tradeswoman who completed a building trades registered apprenticeship program.

Class B Journeymen are those with at least five years (10,000 hours) of industrial construction experience in their craft and hold an OSHA-30 certification. Individuals who fall under this classification did not enter or complete a registered apprenticeship program. For the union construction industry, this designation pertains mostly to those non-union workers who were organized into a Local. The legislation would allow apprentices in any state or Department of Labor approved apprenticeship training programs to also work in an Ohio refinery, locations that have been classified as “high-hazard.” 

The bill was sparked after Canadian-based Cenovus purchased two Ohio oil refineries and replaced highly skilled and highly trained local union building trades members with construction workers from the Gulf Coast during turnarounds.

The affected refineries included the Lima refinery and the BP-Cenovus refinery in Toledo. 

As a result, Ohio union construction workers lost work. Using unskilled workers for the turnarounds have also created safety issues and quality control concerns.

The bill has 24 House co-sponsors from both parties.

Construction to Begin on Amazon Datacenter in Central Ohio

Construction on Amazon’s second datacenter campus in the Central Ohio area is expected to begin by the end of the year.

The Amazon datacenter in Hilliard will be the largest in the region — an area that has been touted as Ohio’s Silicon Valley.

The region has had an influx of construction jobs thanks to numerous datacenters being built by a variety of technology companies. Both Google and Facebook are currently constructing datacenters in New Albany. Amazon has another datacenter campus in Hilliard, as well as separate datacenter buildings in Dublin and New Albany.

The Columbus area is also home to other numerous, smaller datacenters. Continue reading →

Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 Endorsed Candidates

Posted by / October 7, 2021 / Categories: News / Tags: , , , , / 0 Comments

Nov. 2 General Election

Cincinnati Area

Cincinnati City Council
Jeff Cramerding
Michelle Dillingham
Steve Goodin
Reggie Harris
Mark Jeffreys
Greg Landsman
Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney
Victoria Parks

Continue reading →

CDC Pushes for Mental Health Discussions on Jobsites

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now encourages construction contractors to invest in the mental wellbeing of their employees, as the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on every working class American.

The CDC has updated their COVID-19 safety checklists for employees and employers. The sheets now include mental health items for both groups to think about and promote.

On the CDC webpage promoting the new checklists, the CDC recommends ways for contractors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, encourage social distancing, masking and how to manage sick workers, as well as dealing with the mental health of employees, among other tips. Continue reading →

Non-Union Workers Hurt More by Pandemic than Union Workers

Posted by / April 1, 2021 / Categories: News / Tags: , , , / 0 Comments

While COVID-19 eliminated millions of jobs and forced additional layoffs last year, an annual report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found fewer union members lost their jobs in 2020 compared to non-union workers.

The pandemic hit the job market extremely hard, with a large number of both union and non-union members getting laid off. Union members, however, fared slightly better, the study found.

From a nationwide perspective, the overall union membership rate increased last year, despite declines in the number of actual union members. The rate increase indicates a larger decline in total wage and salary employment among non-union workers compared to union members. Continue reading →

Lima Husky Refinery to use Non-Union Construction Workers During Fall Turnaround

During a recent press conference, Lima Building and Construction Trades Council President Rick Perdue, who is also a Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 Business Representative, confirmed the Lima Husky refinery does not intend to use union construction workers during its fall turnaround.

The fall turnaround, which was the largest preventative maintenance project scheduled at the plant this year, will be performed by “turnaround specialists” instead of the building trades members who have worked on the facility for years.

Continue reading →

Brother Paul Uhrig Receives 70-year Pin Award

Posted by / February 2, 2021 / Categories: News / Tags: , / 1 Comment

Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 is proud to announce Brother Paul Uhrig recently received his 70-year pin.

Local 24 retiree Rich Uhrig and member Clint Uhrig had the honor of presenting retiree Paul Uhrig with his 70 year pin award.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Local was unable to host a pin award ceremony last year. Continue reading →

New $2.1 billion Capital Budget Approved

Posted by / January 18, 2021 / Categories: News / Tags: , , , / 0 Comments

Ohio lawmakers approved a $2.1 billion capital budget that provides funding for construction projects and more initiatives to boost the state economy.

The bill earmarks funding for a great deal of construction work, mostly infrastructure projects. The funding supports both new construction and renovation work.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law on Dec. 29. Continue reading →