By MALLORY GRUBEN
The master agreement between Sheet Metal Local 16 and its signatory contractors expired June 30, and negotiations for a new contract have reached impasse. Members are set to take a strike authorization vote Aug. 5.
The agreement covers roughly 1,750 Local 16 members working for the 60 contractors who are part of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA). Local 16 Regional Manager Brian Noble said the union’s bargaining team wants a contract that brings sheet metal workers’ pay closer to the other mechanical, electrical, and plumbing crafts. Currently, journeyman sheet metal workers make $45.30 an hour plus $26.70 in benefits.
Local 16 has met with the contractors 12 times since negotiations started on May 5.
“The contractors didn’t seem to have any appetite for even just cleaning up language in the contract to make it more clear,” Noble said. “They didn’t seem prepared for meetings and just couldn’t get consensus.”
In September, the union plans to enter an “internal arbitration process” in which the union’s international staff will meet with SMACNA representatives to try to broker an agreement. At that point the two parties can implement a new contract or lock up and send negotiations back to the local, Noble said. If Local 16 members authorize a strike, they could walk out at that point.
