{"id":190559,"date":"2026-05-12T21:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/190559\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:41:09","slug":"recruitment-and-retention-council-meets-in-pittsburgh-to-strengthen-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/190559\/","title":{"rendered":"Recruitment and Retention Council meets in Pittsburgh to strengthen SMART"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh welcomed SMART leaders, staff and members as the Recruitment and Retention Council kicked off the first day of the Three-Pack Attack \u2014 the three-day meeting of the Recruitment and Retention<\/a>, Production and Sign<\/a>, and Roofing and Building Enclosure<\/a> Councils.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The day opened with a welcome from Geoff Foringer, Local 12 business manager, who greeted attendees on behalf of the host city. Foringer highlighted Pittsburgh\u2019s deep cultural roots, proud sports tradition and important place in the history of the American labor movement.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Local 12 Business Manager Geoff Foringer<\/p>\n

Opening remarks followed from Tom Wiant and Lance Deyette, SMART assistants to the general president. They discussed new SMART International initiatives underway across the the United States and Canada, emphasizing the importance SMART leadership places on hearing directly from local leaders and members. That feedback, they noted, is essential as our union continues working to improve the lives of SMART members and their families.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Wiant and Deyette<\/p>\n

The meeting featured a full slate of presentations focused on organizing, member support, recruitment and retention. Jason Benson, SMART director of organizing, shared updates on SMART\u2019s organizing priorities and ongoing efforts to grow our union.<\/p>\n

That was followed by a presentation on new developments in SMART\u2019s child care partnership with TOOTRiS, led by Louise Medina, director of special projects, and Tiffany Finck-Hayes, governmental affairs representative. SMART General Vice President and Local 85 (Atlanta) Business Manager Steve Langley, along with Local 5 (East Tennessee) Business Manager Christian Fuller, also discussed how their locals are using child care support to make the trade more accessible to new recruits \u2014 and to help keep members in the industry.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Finck-Haynes\"\"\"\"Langley\"\"\"\"Fuller\"\"\"\"Medina<\/p>\n

The morning wrapped up with a presentation on how the International Training Institute is supporting recruitment and retention efforts, as well as the work of the RISE Committee. The presentation was delivered by Tammy Meyen, ITI field staff \u2014 recruitment and retention specialist, and Dale Clark, RISE Committee chair and ITI OSHA specialist.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, the council turned its focus to workplace protections, workforce development and practical recruitment tools. David Ortiz-Whittingham, construction organizer with Worker Justice, presented on protecting immigrants at work and in the community, taking questions from attendees on a range of issues impacting immigrant workers and their families.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Benson\"\"\"\"Chappell\"\"\"\"Local 565 Organizer Steve McDonald\"\"\"\"Meyen<\/p>\n

The session also included a BE4ALL Toolbox Talk led by Jan Chappell, Recruitment and Retention Council recording secretary.<\/p>\n

All told, the day\u2019s agenda reflected SMART\u2019s continued commitment to organizing, supporting members, strengthening local unions and building real pathways into the trade. From child care and worker protections to recruitment tools and workforce partnerships, the first day in Pittsburgh centered one shared goal: expanding opportunity for current and future SMART members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh welcomed SMART leaders, staff and members as the Recruitment and Retention Council kicked off the first day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[79278,73,75,74,10907,84913,6138],"class_list":["post-190559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-organizing","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-recruitment","tag-recruitment-and-retention-council","tag-retention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}