Employees of Goergen-Mackwirth Co. Fabricated a Stainless Steel Rocker to help ease past owner and former SMACNA National President Wayne Mertz into his official retirement.  With Wayne at the helm for over 25 years, the Company and Local 71 members have both shared in a great industry success story.  We are thankful to Wayne for his efforts over the years and look forward to even greater opportunities along with Jeff Mertz, who has assumed the leadership role at Goergen-Mackwirth Co.   

Wayne Mertz, along with his wife Pat, son Jeff and daughter-in-law Renee

Local #71 members (from left to right) Marty Slawiak, Dan Clark, Rick Allien, Tom Stotz and Jamie Schmitt

‘Restoring Buffalo’ Is The Role Being Played By Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 Union Members Across The City As Highly-Skilled & Trained Craftsmen Perform Copper Roofing Restoration Work On The City’s Grand Architecture & Revitalized Buildings

Published Monday, December 5, 2011 1:00 am

by Tom Campbell/Editor-Publisher

(BUFFALO) – If you take a moment and listen, you can still hear the echoes of all those “oohs” and “aahs” that came from those who visited Buffalo in October for the National Preservation Conference as they toured our City’s grand architecture and its many revitalized buildings – and that’s put a very big smile on the face of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 Business Manager John Helak, who’s proud of the role that his Members are playing in “restoring Buffalo.”

From the Old Post Office that now serves as home to Erie Community College’s (ECC) Downtown Campus to the Darwin Martin House near the Buffalo Zoo, to Corpus Christi, St. Stan’s and Western Presbyterian Churches and St. Paul’s Cathedral to the Richardson Complex off Forest Avenue, and at some of the oldest and most well-known residences in Buffalo – including the Butler Mansion – and in nearby East Aurora where the historic Roycroft Campus rests, Local 71’s many highly-skilled Members can be found doing what they do best, and in the process, adding to the legacy of Buffalo’s past and preserving it all for future generations to enjoy.

“It was extremely positive having the preservationists here in town a couple of months ago,” Helak (pictured below/WNYLaborToday.com Photo) recently told WNYLaborToday.com during a walking tour of the Union’s Liberty Avenue Business Office and Training Center that’s located on Buffalo’s East Side.  “Our Members are working to restore the City of Buffalo and this historic restoration specialty is where our Members’ work really shines.  Most of the (roof) work is copper and it has to be done to specifications and reproduced right down to the last letter.  If it’s a Level One, it’s original.  If it’s Level Two, it has to look the same, but you can use different materials to get the job done.  I know how hard it is – having personally done the work myself – and our Members are extremely proud of the work they do.”

Local 71 – a member Union of the Buffalo Building & Construction Trades Council – has 325 Members who work a variety of projects across the Western New York Region.  Each Member goes through a five-year Apprenticeship Program to learn the skills needed to perform such work in order to become a seasoned craftsperson.  The Union, which currently has as many as 65 Apprentices, invests $250,000 in training on a yearly basis, Helak tells WNYLaborToday.com.

For example, in Downtown Buffalo, you just couldn’t miss seeing all those scaffolds that have been erected several stories high around the Old Post Office Building to assist Local 71 Members in the copper restoration to ECC’s roofing (pictured below). 

Century Slate & Copper Architectural Metals (which Helak tells WNYLaborToday.com is owned by two Local 71 Members) and Grove Roofing Services Inc. are the local Union Contractors involved in the on-going project, which employs as many as six Unionized Sheet Metal Workers, said Helak, who adds that “it’s a big contract and it’s been going on since the Summer.” (Photos Courtesy of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71)

Meanwhile, Local 71’s Members have been involved in a number of high-profile copper dome and roof restorations at several of Buffalo’s historic churches, including:

• Corpus Christi Church on Clark Street in Buffalo’s Historic Polonia Community where copper flashing repairs were made to its massive dome by Weaver Metal and Roofing Co., Inc., which employed 12 Local 71 Members on the job.

• St. Stanislaus Church on Townsend Street in Buffalo is where Joseph A. Sanders & Sons, Inc. – a Unionized Commercial Roofing Company – and Century Slate & Copper Architectural Metals combined to complete a copper restoration dome project (pictured below) a couple of years ago.  A half-dozen Local 71 Members were involved in that project, Helak said. (Photos Courtesy of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71)

• Copper work was also performed by Local 71 Members at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on Delaware Avenue and at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a Downtown Buffalo landmark, as well as at the historic Darwin Martin House Complex near Delaware Park in North Buffalo.

• In addition, three Local 71 Retirees have committed to volunteering their time and efforts to recreate as many as six electrical lanterns for inside the historic Central Terminal Project on Buffalo’s East Side (pictured below).  With no original specs available – this work is being done to specifications with the help of some very old photographs, so the re-creation can be built to as close to the originals as seen in those photos, Helak tells Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper.  (Photos Courtesy of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71)

Other restoration projects that have involved the Members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 include the stabilization of the Richardson Complex in Buffalo off Forest Avenue, and out in East Aurora at the sprawling Roycroft Campus, in addition to several older residences in the City – such as the Butler Mansion.  All are and were in dire need of copper roofing restoration, Helak said.

Such intricate restoration work would be not be completed by these contractors nor would the Members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 be employed to work on them without a good working relationship between the Union and its many individual Union Contractors.

“We have great relationships with Union Roofing Contractors, who employ a number of our Members to put metal on after it’s roofed.  We have open door communications and hold regular meeting with them,” Helak said.  “Local 71 is always working hard to ensure that these local projects and the money that goes with them stay here in our community.  We’re always working with and making sure that good and socially-responsible contractors – who are good for our community – get the work that offers good-paying jobs with medical benefits and a pension.”

Tony Byrne, owner of Weaver Metal & Roofing Co. Inc., agrees.

“It’s a good team (Labor and Management) that we have and a good working relationship.  This is really ‘old-time craftsmanship.’  The workmanship involves doing the work so it looks exactly the way it did – in some cases – one-hundred to one-hundred-and-fifty years ago.  Our guys make a good living and I don’t begrudge them because of the quality work they do,” Byrne – whose company was founded in 1989, employs as many as 65 Workers during peak season and has received a Historical Award for some of the architectural restoration work his company has performed locally, told WNYLaborToday.com.

Another Union Contractor – Joseph Sanders & Sons, Inc., which started its business back in 1919 – has been involved in a number of local projects too, such as rebuilding a skylight out of copper for City Honors High School in Buffalo to “mimic the original skylight,” said Owner Stephen Sanders, whose grandfather, Joe, founded the business. 

Sanders says the superior training and safety training provided to Local 71 Members is “essential” in his business: “I can’t imagine being non-Union with the varying levels of experience (some Workers have).  They may be good at one thing, but not something else.  Our Employees being able to go through Apprenticeship (Training) gives (Union Contractors) an advantage.  We’re in a tough, competitive (business) and (Local 71 Business Manager) John (Helak) does everything he can to supply us with good people.”

Unionized Sheet Metal Workers employed by Grove Roofing Services Inc. are working on the Downtown ECC Project – eight stories up from ground level on some very steep slopes as they install new and intricate copper flashing and gutters. 

Grove Roofing President John Embow described the work performed by his Employees as “sophisticated,” including expert soldering while working “out in the elements.”  He too has what he terms as “an excellent” working relationship with Local 71 that “continually finds up the type of people with the skills and craftsmanship that are great to work with.”  

“Our Employees do the job well, ‘the first time,’ and the Union does a great job training them.  You need experienced guys to do this job and it lends to the credibility of the jobs we do.  With so many (architectural) treasures in our area, (Local 71) certainly provides us with those kinds of Workers that have the skills and are great to work with,” Embow told Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper.

Mike Zink, who is a Local 71 Member himself, has a unique perspective on the Labor-Management relationship due to the fact that he is a co-owner of Century Slate & Copper Architectural Metals.  Zink and Richard Kraft, another Local 71 Member, purchased the Buffalo company in May 2008 after working there for 20 years.  Century employs five Workers and as much as 75% of its overall work involves exclusive copper church restoration.  . 

“Training absolutely plays a major role with copper and soldering.  It’s very hard to find a guy off the street (who could do this kind of work).  Safety training is also extremely important because these guys have a repertoire of working at great heights.  Our relationship with Local 71 is great.  We understand where both sides are coming from and we’ve got good, skilled Workers.  It’s the quality of our work that we’re most proud of,” Zink said.

Meanwhile back at Grove Roofing, Local 71 Member and Company Employee Rich Foley is Grove’s Sheet Metal Supervisor.  A Member of his Union since 1977, Foley also serves as an Apprenticeship Instructor/Trainer for Local 71.   He learned his craft in copper from his father, who was also a Member of Local 71. 

Foley says those who work the Trade must have a “passion for Architectural Sheet Metal Work” because it’s “a very specialized field and you have to be the kind of person who doesn’t mind heights.”

Adds Foley of the Labor-Management Relationship between Local 71 and Grove: “It’s a great relationship.  Grove knows what it needs – experienced Workers that are trained by Local 71 – and it’s the Union that furnishes those Workers.”

NOW IS THE TIME FOR WORKING MEN AND WOMEN TO TAKE BACK ERIE COUNTY!!!

Please get out and VOTE!
 

Do you want to secure your future in the Construction Industry? 

Come and show your support for the future of the "Blue Collard Worker" along with Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 71, United Autoworkers, IBEW, SMWIA, PMCA of WNY, NECA, and SMACNA. 

Date:  Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Location:  Seneca Niagara Casino

Program:

4:30pm – 6:30pm:  "Flavors of Buffalo" Buffet

6:30pm – 8:30pm:  Mark Breslin presents:

"Alpha Dogs, Leading, Managing & Motivating in the Construction Industry"

This seminar can put you ahead of the curve and secure your place in the construction industry!

Complete this registration form and return it to the Union hall or give us a call to register.

Another event listed on the calendar is the Tripartite Group Training Seminar on October 11, 2011 at the Seneca Niagara Casino featuring Mark Breslin.  You can download the registration form here.  Mark has spoken to hundreds of thousands of Building Trades Workers throughout North America on issues that we face and will face in the future.  I would encourage all Local 71 members to attend this event.  As you will see on the registration form we are holding  this in partnership with the United Association, the Electricians as well as all three contractor groups.  A Flavors of Buffalo Buffet will be provided from 4:30 – 6:30 pm with Mark Breslin speaking immediately afterwards.  Mark always offers a tremendous presentation and I hope you will attend.

Buffalo Bisons Game
Friday August 19th, 2011
7:35 pm

Tickets are ONLY $5.00 and can be purchased at the Union Hall.

Family and Friends Welcome!
Fireworks to follow the game!

SHEET METAL WORKERS’ INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION         SWAT programs and training in the use of social media. "SMWIA Assault on Families Fund". We will stay in close contact with the locals now under siege and distribute these funds only to the local unions under attack and those directly assisting them on a strategic and/or "as needed" based criteria. The accounting of these funds will be totally transparent.  

______________________________________________________

MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN

GENERAL PRESIDENT

February 23, 2011

To all Business Managers in the United States and Canada

SMWIA Assault on Families Fund

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In my communication to you yesterday I told you about the outstanding job our local unions from several states (73, 265, 219, 10 & 1) are doing on the ground in Wisconsin to support locals 565 and 18. Further, I had indicated the fight in other states is just as important and our locals in those areas are fighting back with vigor and in some cases progress is being made. In that letter I also told you how you could help your neighboring locals by participating in rallies or protests. These protests are also being organized in your home state and we encourage your turnout at those events or perhaps you can travel to the states under attack after coordinating with the Business Managers in those states. We also offered the SMWIA’s expertise in developing local union

But we are looking at this as a multi-state battle, a battle where the careful use of resources may be the key to success. To that end I am asking you to consider a donation from your treasury to the

I am very proud of our local unions who are directly in this fight or are already assisting in the battle. The "SMWIA Assault on Families Fund" is another way to join your local directly in this evil assault on our brothers and sisters and we would appreciate your participation in this manner.

Yours in Solidarity,

MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN

General President

The face of labor relations in America was changed on August 3, 1981, the day that President Ronald Reagan opened the flood gates of union-busting in America. On that day he fired 13,000 members of the Professional Association of Air Traffic Controllers. 

Up until that day, the thought of denying workers their basic fundamental rights was looked down upon in America. Not just Democrats, but even Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon publicly embraced and supported the idea of collective bargaining.  Reagan’s action that day changed everything. 
He made the suppression of worker rights achievable by anti-worker business interests across the country and emboldened them to launch the most sustained and intensive assault on workers in decades.  Instead of challenging this assault on the democratic rights of American citizens, we, as a labor movement, were caught surprised and sat paralyzed—not realizing the implications of Reagan’s actions until we too came under fire.

Prior to the PATCO strike, the majority of labor contract negotiations concerned themselves with wage increases. After PATCO, concessions became the norm, and wages flattened out for not just union members, but for all American workers.

And it all happened without a fight.

Today, we are under attack in a new, unprecedented way.

Anti-union politicians across the country are pushing through bills to strait-jacket their citizens’ freedom of association by eliminating their right to collectively bargain.  In many states, right wing politicians are pushing legislation that would eliminate the prevailing wage statutes and project labor agreements that preserve the wage and safety standards we work under, and that help to keep many of us employed during this recession.

In New Hampshire, Missouri, Michigan and several other states, “right-to-work” legislation that would erode collective bargaining is on the march. Every single right to work (for less) law that has passed has had devastating consequences for states and their citizens—and not just from a wage perspective. The 20 states with the lowest wage rates are all right to work states, and not only are those workers paid less, but the workplace accident rate is 51 percent higher in those states than in states that respect collective bargaining.

It’s not just happening at the state level. Newly elected Republicans in the House of Representatives are proposing a repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act.

These attacks on freedom of association target a basic right that dates back to the day that our forefathers emptied the union guilds of Boston, Philadelphia and New York to fight for our freedoms in George Washington’s Continental Army. Our revolutionary union brothers fought and worked to build a country based on inalienable rights, including the right to have a voice in our own destiny.

That right to a voice, or freedom of speech, is the right that constitutionally protects our freedom of association. Workers joined together speak more effectively than any one worker. This is why we have a constitutionally protected freedom to associate and bargain collectively, to join speech together to insist on a living wage and a safe workplace.

These radical right wingers are attempting to pass union busting legislation by using America’s fiscal crises as a phony excuse for their true goal: the eradication of ALL unions and collective bargaining rights from the American landscape. In this environment, no member of any union—no worker—can be considered safe from these attacks.

That is why, in the tradition of our founding fathers at places like Bunker Hill, Haymarket Square and in the industrial centers of the last century, we are fighting back.  Like the pro-democracy demonstrations that are toppling dictators across the Middle East, American citizens are taking to the streets.

Tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens and union members are right now defending our future in the first act of resistance to this assault. Those protests are already spilling over into Ohio and will likely continue across our country.

As I write this, we don’t yet know what will happen in Wisconsin. But no matter what the outcome, the battle will continue . . . and chances are it will be coming to your state.

Make no mistake, after having bailed out the big Wall Street banks, these Republican Governors and legislators want to give tax breaks to the same big banks and wealthy individuals who broke our economy. They let Big Business off the budgetary hook, while they gut our pensions to pay the bill and eviscerate our right to stand together as workers.

I am asking each and every one of you to stand up in solidarity with our brothers and sisters under attack—in Wisconsin and across the country representing every corner of the labor movement.  Once the public employee unions are broken, these right wing legislators will turn their guns on the wages and working conditions that we have fought and bargained for since the birth of our nation.

Please contact your local to get involved in activities in your area.  I also urge you to join the Sheet Metal Workers’ Action Team to keep up to date at www.smwia.org/swat and follow us on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/smwia where we are constantly giving live updates on this crisis.
 

Right now, we must unite behind our common interest.  Like those that came before us, we are fighting for our freedom.

We are fighting to continue the American way of life our movement built – one that reflects our nation at its best. 

And should we win this battle, we will not only have reignited the rebirth of the American Labor Movement but future generations will look to us as the measuring stick through which they will gauge themselves.

In solidarity,

Michael J. Sullivan
General President
Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, AFL-CIO