BE4ALL Corner: General President Coleman on Belonging and Excellence for All

Brothers and sisters,

Last summer, I had the chance to take part in the first-ever Belonging and Excellence for All (BE4ALL) Town Hall at my home local in Cleveland, Ohio. Together with SMACNA Past President Tom Martin and a packed house of Local 33 members, plus members from across North America who joined via livestream, we talked all things BE4ALL: What it is, why it’s impor­tant, and how it benefits every single member of our union.

Because that’s the thing, brothers and sisters. BE4ALL is what our union is all about. It’s in the name: Belonging and Excellence for ALL. That belonging is what every member who joins our union deserves: We want to have the opportunity to work, earn a good living and enjoy a long, fulfilling career in our industry. And that excellence is what we pride ourselves on as SMART members. Craftsmanship, hard work and standing up for one another, from the jobsite to the union hall.

Those are the values that BE4ALL is working to bring to every single jobsite, workplace and member across the United States and Canada. Making sure every single one of us feels welcome when we walk onto the job, go to our local union meeting, attend classes at the training center and beyond.

In other words, BE4ALL is about solidarity. It is about our values as SMART members: having each other’s backs, bargaining collectively to win the better pay, benefits and lives that we and our families deserve.

But it’s also more than that. BE4ALL is strategic. It’s about making sure SMART locals and our contractors — the UNIONIZED sheet metal industry — can grow and take on more work in every single part of North America. For our union to thrive, for our pensions to stay secure and for our collective bargaining power to grow, we need to recruit and retain any American or Canadian ready to work hard and commit to SMART.

That is what BE4ALL is all about. And we all have a role to play. There are so many different ways to get involved with BE4ALL. You can attend the BE4ALL Learning Journeys online (or watch the recordings afterwards). You can participate in BE4ALL’s chal­lenges, emailed to members regularly. You can browse the various Toolbox Talks and other resources on the BE4ALL website, beforall.org.

Most importantly, you can do your part to make sure your brothers and sisters feel welcome at work and in our union. That’s how we secure our future.

In solidarity,

SMART General President Michael Coleman