Sheet Metal Journal, the insight - the information

LOOKING BACK
SMACNA BC
Lifetime Member Contributions
by Anicka Quin
all historical photos courtesy of SMACNA BC.

There is a technical description for who becomes a SMACNA Life Member, Executive Director Bruce Sychuk notes. According to SMACNA BC bylaws, Life Membership may be conferred on any individual who, upon retirement or otherwise, is recognized by the association for his contribution to the work of the association. And there’s a practical reason for recognizing these individuals: they represent the history of SMACNA BC, and the organization is that much stronger by keeping connected to its recent past. A conversation with any of these members shapes the history of not only the SMACNA BC chapter, but the local sheet metal industry as well. Ron Mikkelson, for example, was one of a half-dozen or so members who formed the fi rst international chapter of the Sheet Metal and Air-Conditioning Contractors’ National Association in 1969. “In the fi rst year of my presidency I doubled the membership,” he laughs. “It wasn’t too diffi cult when there were only six or seven of us to start with!”

Four Life Members—Ron Mikkelson, Rick Baty, Jack Boyce and Dick Phillips—recently shared their refl ections on time spent in the industry with Sheet Metal Journal. Their recollections are great and varied, and many had similar thoughts on the current state of the sheet metal business. All noted the infl uence automation has had on the industry, though Rick Baty had his own observation. “There are technological changes, of course. And I hate to say it, but some of the people coming into the industry now are brighter and smarter than we were,” he says with a laugh.

1 Rick Baty

Like other SMACNA Life Members, Rick Baty clocked plenty of hours on various board committees. But it’s the one that saw an agreement between unions and SMACNA BC that he’s most proud of. “There was a lot of distrust between the union and employers then, and we discussed it all quite openly,” he recalls. In due time, the group had come to a fi ve-year agreement, a move that was unprecedented even among other SMACNA chapters. “We were light years ahead of everybody else - even groups in the States,” he notes proudly.

Like other SMACNA Life Members, Rick Baty clocked plenty of hours on various board committees. But it’s the one that saw an agreement between unions and SMACNA BC that he’s most proud of.

It’s a highlight for Rick, in a career that spans 43 years in the sheet metal business–though he almost followed a very different career path. “I fi nished grade 11, and I said to my dad, I’m not going back to school. I’m going to go to trade school and become an electrician,” he recalls. Rick’s father supported him, but then landed him an apprenticeship in sheet metal a week later. “He said, ‘You’ll be making money.’ Making money sounded better than going to school,” he laughs.

Rick spent ten years at that company, and after a brief layoff, four days to be precise, he ended up at Fairview Sheet Metal. “I saw them and they took me on,” he remembers. “I got two weeks’ work, and then 33 years later, I retired.”

In less political matters, Rick fondly recalls that he was one of a group that organized the Life Members dinner during the annual convention, with the help of Bruce Sychuk. “We just wanted somebody to set it up—lazy people us retired guys are, we don’t have time for this foolishness!” he jokes. “It gives the old guys a chance to poke fi ngers at one another. That never changes.”

2 Dick Phillips

A carpenter since he was 15, Dick Phillips became hooked on the sheet metal business when he became a franchisee for Stanley Automatic Doors. “I needed a place to manufacture them, so I ended up buying City Sheet Metal in ’76,” he says.

Dick says his training as a carpenter was only an asset to his new venture. “Of all the building trades,
the most varied are carpentry and sheet metal work. In sheet metal, there’s [everything from] stainless steel kitchens, [to] the marine industry, the pulp industry or the HVAC industry. To be a top sheet metal worker you’ve got to know all that type of stuff.”

A carpenter since he was 15, Dick Phillips became hooked on the sheet metal business when he became a franchisee for Stanley Automatic Doors.

Dick Phillips sat on the SMACNA BC board from 1983 to 1988, holding the president’s seat for two of those years. That’s when he began agitating to get apprenticeship training out of BCIT, and over to SMACNA BC’s own training program.

And two years later, it came together. “It was a good highlight for SMACNA BC and Local 280 of the Sheet Metal workers to be able to train their own people,” recalls Phillips. “Before that, [apprentices] would go to BCIT and get training there, even though SMACNA would give them their training manuals.”

3 Jack Boyce

Jack Boyce saw a lot of changes in his 50 years in the business. “I started out at $12 a week. It sounds crazy, but then a ride on a streetcar was seven cents,” he remembers. “I lived at home. I bought a watch, and I was clothed pretty good. It was meager, but not bad.”

Though he’s been retired for over 10 years now, Jack’s unflagging enthusiasm for the industry is infectious. “It’s a wonderful business to be in. Any time I’ve addressed a graduation class of apprentices, I tell them I never missed a day’s work in my life due to unemployment. I was happy—and the wages are pretty darn good.”

Jack served on the SMACNA BC board, and was president from ’79 to ’80, and again in ’86 to ’87 (“They seemed to retread you,” he jokes), where he sat on committees that ranged from the BCIT advisory committee, to being a pension trustee.

Though he’s been retired for over 10 years now, Jack’s unflagging enthusiasm for the industry is infectious.

There’s one achievement that really stands out for him. “I hired two of the first females in our industry,” he says proudly, though he acknowledges that not everyone was excited about the prospect. “My employers said, ‘What are you doing to us?’ But really, the biggest problem was finding a washroom they could use. I recently bumped into one of them at our Christmas party, and I’m so proud of her—she’s very successful.”

4 Ron Mikkelson

It wasn’t the thrill of the big city that drew Ron Mikkelson off his farm and into Vancouver when he was a kid. “I was a farm boy, and I thought before I was conscripted, I’d volunteer and come into the service that I wanted,” recalls Ron. “I had visions about being a sky pilot—but when I went to enlist, they said, ‘Yeah, but we can’t take you right now.’”

Having traveled the distance to the city, Ron decided to stick it out and joined the ground crew, repairing and maintaining aircraft. After five years of traveling with the Air Force (and despite career tests indicating he should consider logging) Ron was drawn to the sheet metal industry, thanks to tips from a few friends in the service. “They gave me a few hints, and before I knew it I was a sheet metal worker,” he recalls.

Having traveled the distance to the city, Ron decided to stick it out and joined the ground crew, repairing and maintaining aircraft. After five years of traveling with the Air Force Ron was drawn to
the sheet metal industry…

Ron was a pioneer in the early days of SMACNA BC. Along with other sheet metal workers in B.C., Ron joined the Master Sheet Metal Contractors Association of B.C. “It was very successful, but the problem was that the roofing people were also involved, and they were not involved in the same way that we were,” says Ron. A half-dozen of his colleagues branched out to form the Master Ventilators Contracting Association. “We then decided to join something a little firmer, which was SMACNA,” recalls Ron. SMACNA recognized B.C. as a suitable spot for a local chapter, and Ron became the first president. “I feel very humble to be able to say that I was the first president,” he says.

Ron reflects on a major issue during his leadership: the existence of so-called “helpers” that worked alongside journeymen and apprentices. Working with the Union and the apprenticeship branch of the Labour Board of B.C., SMACNA BC examined these helpers to see whether they were capable of being journeymen, or whether they would be graded into the year of apprenticeship they were capable
of handling.

It was also the first year that SMACNA BC and the unions offered an apprenticeship contest together. Strolling through a marina one day, Ron spotted a ship’s throttle and figured that would be a good first project for the participants. They used brass as their main material back then; though the materials now are likely less expensive he notes, he proudly points out that it’s still a viable competition today. Ron’s own son now works in the industry, having taken up an apprenticeship while he weighed his career options. And Ron shakes his head at others who think that sheet metal workers are overpaid. “People say, ‘Those guys are getting over $30 an hour, what the hell!,” he notes. “But go ahead and see how long it takes to make a smoke pipe. There’s a tremendous amount of skill involved.”

Bruce Sychuk doesn’t mince his words when reflecting on these Life Members’ contributions. “They’re the backbone of this thing,” he says emphatically. “They started it, they’ve carried it on—and it’s a first class operation that they started.”

Asked what he’d like to say these members, he doesn’t hesitate: “I want to assure them that people are carrying on with their work,” he notes. “The current board of directors is doing an equally fine job for the future.”

It was also the first year that SMACNA BC and the unions offered an apprenticeship contest together…
They used brass as their main material back then; though the materials now are likely less expensive
he notes, he proudly points out that it’s still a viable competition today.

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