SMART Local Union No. 36

SMART Local Union No. 36

SMART Local Union No. 36 administers a defined-contribution 401(k) plan serving sheet-metal workers, air-conditioning technicians, and rail transportation employees in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The plan is a jointly trusteed Taft-Hartley fund — its Board of Trustees comprises an equal number of union-appointed and employer-appointed representatives, a governance model that requires consensus between labor and management on all investment and administrative decisions. George L. Welsch represents the employer side through the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors Association of St. Louis (SMACNA), while Ray D. Reasons II represents the union membership. The local is a subordinate body of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), a 200,000-member labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The 401(k) plan functions as a participant-directed retirement vehicle, with individual account balances invested across a curated menu of mutual funds, collective investment trusts, and potentially stable-value options typical of union retirement plans. As a Taft-Hartley plan, its investment policy is shaped by a joint board with fiduciary obligations under ERISA. The plan's size — estimated at roughly $238 million in total assets — places it in the mid-range of local union retirement plans nationally, large enough to warrant institutional share classes and professional investment consulting but well below the threshold where internal investment staff would be justified. Plan assets are held in trust, with administrative recordkeeping typically outsourced to a third-party provider. The fund's investment lineup is designed to comply with Department of Labor regulations under Section 404(c) of ERISA, shifting investment risk and responsibility to individual participants who direct their own accounts. Beyond the 401(k) plan, Local 36 maintains its union hall and benefits office at 2319 Chouteau Avenue in St. Louis's Gate District neighborhood. The local also sponsors an ancillary SMART Local Union No. 36 Vacation Fund, a separate benefit vehicle for members that sits alongside the retirement plan and health-and-welfare trust structures commonly found in building-trades unions. Philanthropic activity flows through partnerships with the United Way of Greater St. Louis and the American Parkinson Disease Association's Greater St. Louis Chapter, including participation in the annual Jack Buck Memorial Golf Tournament. These relationships reinforce the local's community presence beyond its core collective-bargaining and benefit-administration functions. What distinguishes SMART Local 36 from a generic defined-contribution plan is its Taft-Hartley joint-trustee architecture. Unlike a corporate 401(k) governed by a single employer's appointed committee, every investment menu change, recordkeeper selection, and fiduciary decision requires agreement between union trustees and employer trustees — creating a built-in negotiation dynamic that shapes the plan's conservative risk posture and its preference for institutional, conflict-free service providers. The local's small-asset-base, single-city concentration, and labor-market sensitivity make it a representative example of how building-trades pension capital is structured and governed across the American Midwest.