SMART Union Local 5's Membership Growth Efforts Pay Off
Key elements to recruitment efforts included translator earbuds and meeting potential workers where they were, like Sheetz gas stations
UP: In North Carolina alone, Local 5 membership has doubled since 2023. (Courtesy of SMART Local 5)
In 2023, Steven Ruger, marketing director for the SMART Union Local 5, was on a mission to grow the union's membership to meet a 500-person demand for three upcoming megaprojects — the Wolfspeed chip plant, Toyota Battery Plant, and VinFast plant. With little time to spare, Ruger got to work training with now-retired International Organizer Kevin Mulcahy and built a person-of-interest list.
Today, the union has grown to 1,487 members — 248 in Chattanooga, 631 in Knoxville, and 608 in North Carolina. In North Carolina alone, the membership has doubled since Ruger and the Local 5 began expansion efforts in 2023.
Getting the word out about the union was a multifaceted approach, including running ads on Craigslist and Indeed, and passing out 500 palm cards that included a QR code, which navigated to the Local 5's landing page, which could be converted to Spanish, where people could find information on the mega projects, scale, per diem, overtime, and other benefits to joining the union.
"I researched non-union fabrication shops in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, found where workers left these shops and placed yard signs at high-traffic intersections," Ruger says "The International put on a 'Blitz' in Raleigh in September of 2023. We had two days of training and two days of job site visits. We had four cars with four organizers in each car. I knew the language barrier would be a problem, so we had a bilingual organizer in each car."
Ruger even recruited workers from a major non-union competitor by observing their job sites and blending in with the crew. He convinced a foreman to join, and that foreman brought his team of 10-plus workers with him.
Word-of-mouth recruiting prompted Alexis Romero of Dynamic Systems, Inc. to join the Local 5 in 2023. "I got involved with the Local 5 through a friend who worked with the union for a while," Romero said. "I have been working on a mega project, which is the Wolfspeed project in Siler City, North Carolina. Wolfspeed has been a project where I have been able to learn many things, starting with safety and the importance of our daily work tasks," he said.
While growth is important, diversity is too, Ruger notes. That's why he pushed to make sure language barriers didn't deter workers from joining Local 5.
"I was able to organize a lot of Spanish-speaking workers by using translator earbuds. I would meet these workers at Sheetz gas stations and our Local Union Hall, to explain all the benefits of joining. I hired a few bilingual speakers and going forward they would help me relay information and assist with recruiting."
Keeping the momentum going in the area is key. As these projects end, Romero says that many workers need new employment opportunities — and that’s something Ruger is working on.
"Local 5 has a lot of work on the books. We have a lot of data centers coming to the Charlotte area. SMART Local 5 also has a new signatory contractor in the Charlotte area, ICON Mechanical," Ruger concluded. "I am looking forward to the partnership and seeing the growth in their new Charlotte branch."
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