KENILWORTH, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The five Sheet Metal Workers Local Unions and the New Jersey Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART Union) today announced their united support for Phil Murphy for Governor of New Jersey.
Joe Demark, Jr., the President of the New Jersey SMART Council and President and Business Manager of Local 25 said this was the first time that the five local unions and the transportation union have joined together to endorse a candidate for governor.
“The five Sheet Metal locals and the Transportation Division represent a total of 11,500 union members and their families in New Jersey,” said Demark. “We are here today to announce our united support for Phil Murphy for Governor of New Jersey because we believe he offers a new path and a new vision for all our state and will be a governor who will make it happen.”
Demark noted that Phil Murphy’s background included growing up poor and working hard to become a graduate of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and an international business leader.
“Phil Murphy built on that success to become the US Ambassador to Germany from 2009 until 2013,” said Demark. “It was there that he was exposed to the value of trade unions and their apprenticeship training programs as a catalyst to growing the economy and he knows how valuable and integral our programs here are to rebuilding New Jersey’s economy.”
Additionally, Demark pointed out that during the past seven and a half years under Christie and Guadagno construction jobs have been devastated, with his own Local 25 and other building trades unions seeing as much as 50% unemployment due to the job killing policies of the Christie Administration.
“It is not a coincidence that we have had building trades unions like ours in the SMART New Jersey State Council seeing upwards of 50% unemployment in the last seven and a half to eight years,” said Demark. “It is because we have had poor leadership under Christie and Guadagno!”
By contrast, Demark said Murphy understands that SMART union members want to support a Governor who will work to create jobs, support prevailing wage laws and project labor agreements and enforce fair labor standards through the New Jersey Department of Labor.
“This is the most consequential election in New Jersey in generations. We in the New Jersey Labor movement know what it means to fight to get ahead and support all workers and so does Phil Murphy,” said Demark. “That is why we will pull out all the stops, Take 5 and elect Phil Murphy the next Governor of New Jersey and Sheila Oliver the next Lt. Governor of New Jersey.”
The SMART Unions represent 11,500 sheet metal and transportation workers in every county of New Jersey.
SOURCE SMART Union, New Jersey State Council
