WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: The new Leadership Team at SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation) Local 46 has brought about a number of positive results in a very short period of time for their Rochester Building Trades Union since their Union’s election was held in June. WNYLaborToday.com recently sat down with four Members of the team – pictured above from left to right: Marketing Representative Trevor Westcott; President/Training Director Tim Ventress; Business Manager Anthony Valenti; and Business Agent Jonathan Perna, to find out what they’re doing to make sure their Membership continues to be employed, how they’re working to attract and educate new Membership through an innovative organizing QR code and an upgrade in the Union’s Apprenticeship Training offerings - notably a lightweight, hand-held virtual welder.  (WNYLaborToday.com Photos)

(ROCHESTER, NEW YORK) – From a stepped-up effort to organize, attract and educate Workers via a QR Code to a new, hand-held virtual welding training offering that no one else around town is offering are just two of the many positives being brought about by new leadership at SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation) Local 46 in Rochester.

WNYLaborToday.com recently sat down with the Local’s team of vibrant and young Union Leaders - President/Training Director Tim Ventress, Business Manager Anthony Valenti, Business Agent Jonathan Perna and Marketing Representative Trevor Westcott, to find out what’s taken place since the Building Trades Union held its most recent election in June.

And after a two-hour interview, it’s a lot.

“We have a ‘good group’ of people (running the Local) ‘and I couldn’t be happier - we have a team.’ ‘I’ve put a lot on their plates - and there are things that I want yesterday, but they all have the passion’ (to succeed). ‘We all want to go, go, go.’ Jon (Perna) created a spreadsheet with a number of ‘high and low’ priorities (the Local wants to accomplish). We’re updating our website and looking to create an App and we’re surveying our Members ‘to find out what they want so they are being heard,’” said Business Manager Valenti, noting the leadership group is made up of 14 individuals (pictured below) - including the Local’s Executive Board and Trustees.

(Valenti, Perna, Westcott, Ventress, Vice President Josh Solt, Recording Secretary Kyle Keim, Executive Board Members Scott Baker, Kevin Kuelling (not pictured); Mike McArdle (not pictured), Trustees Joe Mattos, Dan Moynihan and Adam Smith, Warden Adrian Myers and Conductor Adrianne Dalessandro (not pictured)/SMART Local 46 Provided Photo)

“‘We want our Members to know who we are and who their leadership is so there’s accountability’ (to all). And ‘it’s important for our Apprentices’ (to talk to and learn from the Local’s Members who have years of experience). People ‘like telling their stories, what they’ve seen and worked on,’” Valenti, 50, continued. “And, ‘we have a really good relationship’ with our contractors. We’re ‘small’ (Union Local in terms of Membership), ‘but we are powerful.’ ‘We are having success in Rochester and are moving this Local into the future.’”

That success includes Local 46’s Members being kept extremely busy working on a number of high-profile projects - or awaiting several to start, in the Rochester Region, including the $700 million University of Rochester Bed Tower Hospital Project, the $500 million-plus City Schools Project, the upcoming Riverside Convention Center Project, upgrades to the City’s BlueCross BlueShield Arena and another project at Monroe Community College’s Applied Technical Center.

The Local has even had some of its Members travel to Orchard Park to work on the National Football League Buffalo Bills’ new stadium that is slated to open in 2026.

“And we’re just wrapping up a new contract at (the) Genesee Beer (Brewery),” Valenti added.

Local 46 represents nearly 500 Active Members (an increase of around 100 over the past 12 months) and 210 Retirees.

Starting package for a Journeyman at Local 46 is $72.24 an hour.

“We’re ‘definitely growing through our organizing and Apprenticeship recruitment efforts,’” the 42-year-old Perna told WNYLaborToday.com.

“We ‘keep rolling, but the proof is in the pudding,’” Marketing Rep Westcott, 35, added. “We are ‘adapting (to what lies ahead) and laying down a (positive) foundation.’”

For more than 125 years, Local 46 has been providing the highest quality Craftsmen to its contractors - with its Members being Fabricators and Installers of: Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems; Installation, service and repair of all types of Commercial, Industrial and Residential HVAC Systems; Green Building Technologies, LEEDS and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ); Testing, Adjusting, Balancing (TAB) and measuring of all types of fluids, processes and Mechanical Systems; Direct Digital Controls and Building Automation Systems; Architectural metal work - including metal roofing and all forms of interior and exterior metal systems; and Kitchen equipment, lockers, partitions, industrial ventilation and material handling systems.

The Building Trades Union has also upgraded its logo to include HVAC/R(efrigeration) Techs in order to reflect and recognize the many areas of expertise Local 46 offers its affiliated contractors and the local community.

As such, the SMART Local is attracting new Members through individual organizing and bringing young people into the Local’s Apprenticeship Program through the use of some new equipment that is catching the eye of those who attend local Construction Career Days events in the area, most notably a very lightweight, hand-held virtual welder, according to President/Training Director Ventress.

“It’s a Miller VR, hand-held virtual welder that’s used with a welding hood. ‘It’s extremely portable and the kids love it.’ It’s a ‘big’ conversation piece,” said Ventress, who is in his early 50s and is a 25-year Union Member.

The SMART Local currently has 118 Apprentices in its Training Program - up from the 100 or so it had a year ago.

“We are also working with lasers to measure areas we’re in and upload them to a laptop. While we’re still teaching our Apprentices the ‘old style,’ the days are done of ‘working on old sketches and drawing pipes’ (where they are to appear in a room or facility),” he said.

The virtual welding device comes on top of another new training tool Local 46 uses to its advantage - not one, but two unique and lightweight heat pump trainers that WNYLaborToday.com previously reported on, which feature an inverter compressor and refrigerant that can be easily operated and viewed, as well as quickly transported to anywhere Local 46 wishes. (Read: SMART Local 46’s Leadership Is ‘Guiding’ This Building Trades Union ‘Into The Future’ - WNY Labor Today: Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, Bringing You Labor News From Across The Nation, New York State & Western New York)

On another front, Local 46 is marketing itself and the opportunities the Union presents to Workers by advertising on billboards and with radio ads in the Rochester market, as well as reaching out to a variety of contractors to educate them on what the Union offers.

“Our ‘Baby Boomer’ Members are retiring,” Valenti said. “So we’re ‘adding to our blueprint by doing more marketing’ - including billboards and radio ads (to attract replacement Members). We’re also interested in getting Military Veterans into our Union.”

“And we’re ‘gaining more visibility’ (by having the Union’s name and logo appear inside Rochester’s baseball stadium and inside the Downtown hockey arena). ‘We need to be seen,’” Perna added.

“We’ve brought in some new Members (through organizing efforts), but we’re also reaching out to residential contractors to let them know how we can help them by supplying them with Workers and helping them get new business,” added Westcott, a 15-year Union Member.

The SMART Local has also developed a QR Code for anyone who might be interested in becoming a Member, which can be accessed via the camera on a mobile device that leads to an array of important information and benefits offered by Local 46.

“A lot of people ‘just don’t know what we do.’ Now they have access to our info and they can watch a number of videos,” Westcott said.

Architectural and ornamental metal work, CAD Blueprint detailing and drafting, HVAC, Commercial, Residential Institutional and Industrial work, all types of service and control work – information that is all easily accessible via the QR Code, Ventress says.

“They can even watch several career path videos,” he added.

Politically, the SMART Local is also heavily involved in lobbying for an Indoor Air Quality Bill in New York State and is working to educate its own Membership by “focusing on how (political choices) affect our Union and what it takes to pay the bills and put a roof over your head,” Valenti said.

“We ‘don’t tell our Members who to vote for, but we are talking to our Members to stop talking about all the nonsense and instead focus on how (Elected Officials and the issues) are affecting’ Unions,” he said.

“When you talk to your Members, and not at them - you’ll find they are listening to what you have to say,” Ventress added.

“The Indoor Air Quality Bill ‘will generate a lot of work for us because (Local 46) is the only’ certified testing and balancing opportunity where you can get certification,” Valenti noted.