As I meet with contractors and business owners, many often ask how they can get involved in the chapter at a local or national level. This is music to our ears. Volunteering is one of the most profound ways you can give back to your association. Sharing your time and knowledge is invaluable, which is one of the reasons SMACNA Oregon & Southwest Washington greatly appreciates all its volunteers.
Our industry benefits from your involvement, time, and expertise. In return, you benefit both professionally and personally by:
- contributing to addressing industry and organizational issues
- exercising new leadership, team building, and communications skills
- networking deeply with other contractors and thought leaders in our trade
- helping to develop programming that keeps our industry competitive
- learning from other successful entrepreneurs like yourself
July is a key time for national volunteer opportunities. There are a number of committees and task forces that are now accepting new members. Visit smacna.org/community/volunteer-opportunities to discover and peruse available opportunities at the national level.
Political Engagement
One of SMACNA’s greatest strengths is its political influence in both Washington, DC, as well as in Salem, Oregon. Our efforts in Washington, DC, are promoted through the efforts of SMACPAC, the SMACNA Political Action Committee.
As leaders in our industry, we all know the political stakes on Capitol Hill and how they affect our bottom line, both as business owners and as an industry. Across the country, business owners are sharing examples of notices that outline record level tariffs, often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, on equipment—and the anticipated supply chain chaos. But the stakes are even higher, with trillions of dollars in business tax cuts soon to expire, even for equipment expensing, R&D credits, and bonus depreciation incentives.
Your contribution to SMACPAC helps our organization engage with our champions in Congress and helps fuel political action. SMACNA staff are at the table advocating for our industry every day on Capitol Hill. Their aggressive advocacy is based upon a combination of expert industry-specific policy briefings and significant political contributions to individual candidates of the two major political parties. SMACPAC makes sure that political Washington is attuned and responsive to the business needs of the unionized HVAC contracting community.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) (center) visits with SMACNA National Immediate Past President, PAC Committee member, and Premier Pacesetter, Carol Duncan (left) and SMACNA Oregon & SW Washington Chapter Executive & CIC member,
Chris Schneider (right) in the US Capitol building.
SMACPAC influence opens doors for us. This May at the CEA National Issues Conference in Washington, DC, MCAA, SMACNA, and TAUC members met, focused on key regulatory and legislative issues affecting the union construction industry. The conference hosted regulators and representatives from Congress and we were able to hear their insight on a variety of topics. We heard from the House Majority and Minority Whips as well as numerous members of Congress. After the event, participants fanned out across the House and Senate office buildings to speak directly with our congressional representatives.
I encourage you to engage and become a member who supports SMACPAC efforts by reaching out to smacpac@smacna.org
Apprenticeship Contest
I am very proud of the work our sheet metal apprentices put into competing at this year’s Northwest Regional Sheet Metal Apprentice Competition held in Pasco Washington May 14-16, 2025. I got to see first-hand the pride, attention to detail, and skilled work that our apprentices did competing with apprentices from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
To compete, apprentices must be recommended by instructors. Depending on the specialty, the competitions involve multiple challenges, including reading and interpreting blueprints, brazing, welding, fabricating and installing duct runs, and fabricating architectural features.
This year, Sheet Metal Institute apprentices placed on the podium in the following categories:
- 2nd Place Architectural – Edwin Graham from General Sheet Metal
- 1st Place HVAC – Malachai Wallbridge from CKG Industries
A fine collection of Milwaukee and DeWalt tools were generously provided for these contest winners.
Congratulations to these apprentices for their hard work and skills! ■