Facing 30 percent unemployment among its membership, a local construction union has started its own temp agency.
The idea behind the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association Local 40 starting up Alloy Sheet Metal Staffing this year is to get its people to work during a tough time in the industry, preserving their pay, health care and retirement benefits.
If the union forms good working relationships with Northeast companies as a result, and that turns into long-term contracts for union labor, that’s another bonus, organizers say.
“It is the wave of the future for this business,” said David Roche, business manager for Local 40, headquartered in Rocky Hill. “We want to make sure our members have the ability to go to work and showcase what they can do.”
The pitch from union officials is companies can get high-quality, temporary labor without having to cede any of the control that comes from union contracts. For one rate, Alloy will take care of sending the appropriate workers to the desired job, handling scheduling, payroll, workers’ comp, Social Security, payroll taxes, unemployment, liability insurance, health insurance and benefits.
Local 40 started a temp agency in 2006 and began sending its workforce to temporary jobs all over the Northeast. But the union debuted Alloy in the second quarter this year as part of a new effort to reach new companies and grow the union’s role in the industry.
Organizations such as hospitals, schools and office building managers that traditionally don’t seek out a union sheet metal worker will see the benefit of hiring a high-quality worker on an as-need basis, Roche said.
“They can get that person or a person of equal quality whenever they want it,” Roche said.
Sheet metal workers from Alloy can provide a number of services, including HVAC fabrication and installation, welding, shop production, manufacturing, roofing, siding, decking, specialty stainless steel work and installation of kitchen equipment, shelving, partitions, lockers and cooling towers.
“A lot of people out there don’t know what a sheet metal worker can do,” said Cliff Richards, a Local 40 journeyman. “One guy can do so many different kinds of work.”
Once companies see the benefit of using union-quality labor, that gets Local 40’s foot in the door when the economy recovers and the industry starts hiring again, said Luke Ford, Local 40 business representative.
The union believes it can tap into a much larger market, Ford said.
“There are going to be people hiring sooner or later,” Ford said. “(Alloy) is an easy way for the union to take advantage of that employment recovery.”
South Windsor industrial contractor Steeltech Building Products Inc. uses Alloy for temporary workers. President William Keohane said his industry has changed to the point where clients expect his firm to do installation work, but he has a hard time finding the workforce to fill that need.
Steeltech’s need isn’t constant, so there would be nothing for an employee to do during an off-week. Alloy’s temporary workers are a great solution, Keohane said, because he can get high-quality labor whenever he needs it and saves on the staffing costs whenever he doesn’t.
Contractors tend to be reluctant to use union labor because of the commitments and loss of control involved over their workforces and businesses, Keohane said. The union temp agency allows them to sample the union labor without making a long-term commitment.
“For us, it was a way to get to know Local 40 union at a reasonable cost,” Keohane said. “It was a way for us to try it before we bought it.”
Alloy is a limited liability corporation run by the union officials but it doesn’t have any overhead costs or profit-seeking of other temp agencies because its goals are the same as the union’s, said Jeremy Zeedyk, Local 40 marketing representative.
Local 40 journeyman Paul Massimo lost his full-time job in 2008 and started doing temporary work through the union. Over the past three years, Massimo has done temp work for four companies for varying lengths of time.
The temp work not only introduced Massimo to potential employers that could be hiring when the economy turns around, it also enabled him to keep his health care benefits for his family, which includes his wife and two daughters. “That is a major factor these days,” he said.
The compensation for Alloy’s temp workers depends on the job, but companies will pay more for their workers than those from other temp agencies, Zeedyk said.
Alloy’s union affiliation has added benefits such as free training for the workforce and necessary certifications. Union workers use their own tools and are capable of adapting their skills to fit a specific need. The union can provide workers from specific towns, for example, if a Hartford public project requires a certain percentage of the workforce to be Hartford residents.
Local 40 runs into problems with contractors who feel that while the union quality is good, signing on for union labor means letting union officials run rampant in the company, Zeedyk said. “That is something we want to get away from,” Zeedyk said. “We want to showcase the quality, but keep the control with the contractor.”
