Organized in the Lakehead since 1910 · SMART affiliate · Thunder Bay
Sheet Metal Workers & Roofers Local 397 has trained, dispatched and represented the skilled tradespeople behind Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario’s biggest builds for generations.
1910
Organized
1946
Chartered
2
Metal & roofing
SMART
Affiliate
Business Manager Dan Krupa · serving Thunder Bay & Northwestern Ontario
Latest
The federal government has committed $2 billion in new trades-training funding for the provinces and territories, targeting 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal workers over five years.
Read moreThe 50th CCSMWR Convention and Apprenticeship Competition wrapped in Edmonton this July. Justin Costa (Local 285) took gold in Sheet Metal and William Morgan (Local 276) in Roofing. Congratulations to every competitor.
Read moreApprentices from Ontario, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan competed at the Skills Canada / Compétences Canada Competition, with Local 30’s Lindsey taking silver and Local 296’s Mitchell bronze.
Read moreWho we are
Organized sheet metal workers have worked the Lakehead since at least 1910, when the tinsmiths marched with Port Arthur’s unions. Local 397 was chartered in 1946, founded by sixteen members at the Day Company of Canada plant in Fort William, and the local carried through the 1970 amalgamation of Port Arthur and Fort William into Thunder Bay. Today, as part of SMART (the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers), our members work in HVAC installation and service, architectural sheet metal, welding, sheeting and decking, and flat roofing, on the commercial and industrial projects that shape Northwestern Ontario.
More about Local 397
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Resources
The provincial ICI sheet metal agreement and the roofing agreement, the wage-and-benefit packages, pension and health & welfare — everything membership delivers, in one place.
Member services
Group benefits for members and their families — drug, dental, vision, life and disability coverage, funded by every hour you work under the agreement.
Learn moreA jointly-trusteed pension built on employer contributions for every hour worked — security you carry from the first day on the tools.
Learn moreSheet metal is a compulsory Red Seal trade — 8,280 hours of paid on-the-job training plus 720 hours of in-school instruction, with wage step-ups as you go.
Learn moreConfidential SMART mental-health resources and member support — for you and the people who count on you.
Learn moreThe work
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Member help
The local is here for more than dispatch. Whether it’s a question about your hours, benefits or pension, a problem on a job site, or you just need someone in your corner, the hall is the first call to make.
SMART also provides confidential mental-health and wellness resources for members and their families — support for stress, addictions, financial worries and family pressures. The trade is hard work; asking for help is not. Calls to the hall are private and never tied to your employer.
Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay. Photo by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
