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Recognized as an Effective School-to-Work Practice,
November, 2002
Teaching Unionism in the Classroom
Teamsters Local Union 537
Denver, CO
Overview of the Project
Teamsters Local Union No. 537 has been supporting the
career development of high school students in the
Denver, Colorado area since September 2001. The local
represents 3,100 members working in the dairy, bakery,
laundry, grocery, and other industries. Since that time,
the local business agents and members have instituted
several programs and activities specifically focused on
providing high school students an understanding of
unions and perspectives on specific occupations. Since
the inception of the program, Local 537 has been
addressing classrooms involving more than 300 middle
school and high school students. The local has also
helped students prepare speeches on several topics that
have been presented to the graduating class. Local 537’s
business agents and members have also held discussions
with student councils to help these students see
similarities between their advocacy role within the
student body and how unions work to unify and support
workers. Another activity supported by Local 537’s
members is to engage teams of students in debates on the
pros and cons of unionism in today’s labor market.
Scholarships are also made available for children of
Local 537’s members on a competitive basis to support
their participation in postsecondary education and
vocational training programs upon graduation. In
addition, Local 537 actively requests any and all
members to speak with their children’s school and
request that school curriculum add classes focused on
employer-labor relations, and within the same context,
unionism, past and present. The local actively recruits
workers through its Web site and through formal requests
at union meetings. Presentations include lecture and
discussion with specific attention to the history of the
labor movement, collective bargaining, and the benefits
of being union workers. In order to promote active
member interest in getting the union message out to
parents, students and educators, Local 537 also sponsors
a high school hockey team. This strategy helps to
promote positive working relationships in the community
as well as providing the local visibility to promote the
importance of unionism. Overall, Local 537 relies on the
personal creativity and interest of its membership to
initiate and participate in local schools to make high
interest, informative presentations and related
activities available to students.
The Need
Dean Modecker, organizer at Local Union 537,
emphasizes that, “In today’s world, young people really
don’t seem to grab a hold of history. Instead, they are
very interested in the present and their future
aspiration. The local focuses on the fact that not
everyone will be the next Bill Gates but, through unity,
every worker can be afforded the chance to receive
living wages, health and other benefits, and the
opportunity to express their views and voices in the
workplace.” This perspective has been carried forward
into each of Local 537’s specific programs and
activities with public schools. Initially, Local 537
announced to its membership at scheduled union meetings
and through other promotions the importance of teaching
unionism to middle and high school students. All members
were encouraged to ask their children’s schools for an
opportunity to make a presentation about the union and
specific union occupations. These Local 537’s members,
whose children were attending local middle and high
schools, felt strongly that schools were simply not
teaching enough about unions and their benefits to
workers. It was these parents who came forward to
request that Local 537 get involved. Without adequate
information about unions, these parents felt that their
children would lack the knowledge necessary to help them
find future jobs with good wages and benefits. Parents
also felt that the schools were placing far too much
emphasis on those students going on to college without
acknowledging that a large number of students still do
not choose college as a post high school option. As Dean
Modecker noted, “We polled students in some of our
initial classroom presentations on whether or not they
were going to go on to college after graduation.
Approximately half of all the students who were asked
replied that they would not be attending a college.
These would be young people who we primarily wanted to
reach out to and give them good information about unions
and union workplaces.” These initial classroom
presentations also helped to identify additional
activities in which the local could make a positive
impact on teachers and students. Once they were in the
school, the local quickly identified opportunities for
further participation in reaching out to student
councils, debate classes, and working with individual
students on classroom related activities. These were
viewed as additional opportunities where the union
message could be shared with students with the support
and encouragement of Local 537’s members, particularly
members whose children attended the local middle and
high schools.
Meeting the Need
The start up of Local 537’s involvement with public
schools was due, in part, to the influence of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Skills For
Tomorrow project. That is, according to Dean
Modecker, “We saw what other locals were doing around
the country and we too wanted to get involved. We knew
we could do this and we also knew our members would play
a significant role once we got a few things going.
Information about how others were doing it was helpful
and we used this as a starting point.” Local 537 then
approached their stewards to enlist their interest and
to further communicate about the importance of this new
initiative to members. Communication also went forward
during regular union meetings to convey the message
about the importance of getting involved with schools,
teachers, and students.
Local 537 used its Web site to communicate to its
members. The Web site specifically requested any and all
members to speak with their children’s schools and request
that schools address employer-labor relations within the
curriculum, including focus on unionism past and present.
Two important messages were placed on the Web site for its
members:
- When U.S. history is covered, nothing is ever truly
taught to our children about the role labor unions played
in building our great nation.
- Through 12 years of school, students may never be
taught the importance of labor unions and the rights they
have and don’t have once they start life in the corporate
world.
Members were requested to ask teachers, school
administrators, and/or their local school boards, to enable
the opportunity for members to speak directly to children.
Examples were also included on the Web site that illustrated
how, at one local high school, a Local 537 member and
business agent spoke to classrooms of junior and senior high
school students about the world of work and how unions can
benefit workers. This Web site proved to be an effective
strategy as more than a dozen members stepped forward to get
involved.
Local 537 also approached teachers directly. A meeting
was conducted with the teachers union, Colorado Education
Association (CEA), to discuss aspects of the program and to
seek their approval. Local 537 recognized that the teacher’s
union in Colorado could play an important role in supporting
their relationships with teachers and school administrators.
Following this, Local 537 made contact with teachers at
three high schools and one middle school within the Denver,
Colorado area. These included Pomona, Arvada and Faith
Christian High Schools as well as Arvada Middle School. The
students involved were from grades 8-12 and approximately
30% of the student body were African American and Hispanic
students.
Specific programs and activities for middle and high
school students included classroom presentations, sponsoring
debates on unionism, supporting student speech writing,
conferencing with student councils, and making scholarships
available to Local 537’s members’ children. A brief
description of each of these programs and activities is
provided below.
Classroom presentation. Once an agreement was
reached with individual teachers, a classroom presentation
format was planned and organized. The basic approach was for
a Local 537 member and business agent to make presentations
in social studies and economics classrooms. The focus of
these presentations was two-fold. First, a Local 537 member
described his/her job, including wages and benefits, duties
and responsibilities, job outlook, and working conditions.
Second, the business agent, assisted by the Local 537
member, would discuss the role of unions from its historical
and present day context. Discussions focusing on the value
and benefits of unions were also included in the
presentation. Basic questions were covered during
presentations such as: What is a union? Do you know of
anyone in your family who is a union member? And, what do
you feel are the benefits of working in a union versus a
non-union shop? Because of the high value teachers
placed on Local 537’s message, they have since been asked to
expand their classroom presentations to two full days each
quarter at the Arvada High School. The presentation was
augmented by IBT and Local 537 brochures and organizing
materials and high interest give-aways, i.e., union
stickers, t-shirts, pens, and other materials that were
distributed to students and teachers.
Sponsoring debates on unionism. Local 537 also
took the message of the union into high school debate
classes. In these classes, two teams of four students each
would take opposing sides to debate the question: Is
unionism needed today? One team would represent labor
and the other management. Through this debate, the pros and
cons of unionism were discussed by the students with Local
537’s representatives facilitating the discussion.
Supporting student speech writing. Several
individual students came forward with an interest in
developing a speech that they could present to their
graduating class focusing on the principles of unity,
solidarity and organized labor practices. One student, for
example, developed a speech discussing the recent Columbine
High School tragedy in Colorado. This student developed the
speech focusing on the Columbine event by presenting
perspectives on the need for unity and solidarity among
students in the face of disaster. A second student developed
a speech conveying the message that irrespective of the
type, level, and importance of future careers that students
achieve, everyone needs to be respected in the workplace.
Unions can play a role in accomplishing this objective.
Conferencing with student councils. Local 537’s
representatives met with student council members to discuss
their governance and advocacy role in relation to the total
student body. Local 537’s members facilitated the discussion
pointing out the similarities between unions and student
councils in terms of their advocacy roles.
Scholarship program. Local 537 has set up several
scholarships for the children of its members. Currently, the
local offers three $2,000 scholarships and several
additional smaller awards to help support the post high
school education and training of union members’ children.
These scholarships are awarded based on high school grades,
performance, and other factors.
Through all these experiences, Local 537 developed a
strong cadre of volunteers who continue to be a part of
their children’s schools by providing presentations and
becoming involved in other activities of the school. The
schools, in turn, have welcomed the opportunity of receiving
this support from Local 537 to enrich their curriculum and
classroom experiences for middle and high school students.
The Results
According to Dean Modecker, “The impact for a local,
with schools, teachers, and students involved has been
very noticeable.” Through the classroom presentations,
students received an important message; a message that
Local 537 feels they have not had the opportunity to
hear before. The information presented ensures that
these students don’t leave high school without an
understanding of unions and the protections, benefits,
and support they provide to their members. Local 537
also feels that through their involvement with schools,
they help to dispel negative stereotypes that are
sometimes associated with unions. Dean Modecker
comments, “We’ve opened their eyes to what unions really
are about. We help them understand that we aren’t the
bad guys. In fact, we are people who they know in their
everyday lives; we are their teachers, neighbors, and
friends.”
Local 537 has also developed a cadre of member volunteers
to help support its programs and activities for students.
The local will continue to expand its member volunteer
participation by actively promoting the importance of
getting involved at union meetings and through its Web site.
Dean Modecker also feels strongly that, “Getting involved
and volunteering also helps to make our members more
committed, and just better members overall. They’ve become
more conscious of what their own children need help and
support on in school. More and more of our members are
saying that they are taking more time with their children to
help them with their studies and homework assignments.”
Reaching out to schools has also helped to underscore the
importance of the local’s role in community involvement and
community service. Local 537’s sponsorship of the high
school hockey team is an example of how union members can
become involved with schools in activities other than
classroom presentations.
Reflections
In reflecting on their efforts, Dean Modecker
comments, “Local 537 would be willing to share our
ideas, as well as learn from others about what they have
accomplished with schools. We feel educating the next
generation is crucial because many current workers who
did not receive information while in school know very
little about unions and their value to workers. We are
really helping to prepare the next generation. This way
when we go out to organize workers and teachers they
will already know something about unions.” When asked
what his message would be to other locals interested in
similar activities he responded, “Just do it! People in
the community, schools, teachers, students, and parents
are not coming to us to hear the union message – we need
to get out to them and going into the schools is one way
of achieving that.”
Several lessons were learned by Local 537’s
representatives in initiating and carrying out the various
programs and activities with middle and high school
students. First, Local 537 recommends sitting down with
union officers, stewards, and members to develop a plan of
action before negotiating their involvement with public
schools. That is, they recommend taking the time to
carefully plan out the types of activities that will be
undertaken, developing the presentations more carefully
ahead of time, and taking steps to better prepare volunteer
members to enter classrooms and make presentations. Dean
Modecker comments, “We just jumped in and started making
presentations. While everything worked out in the end, we
probably should have developed a plan and a detailed agenda
concerning what we wanted to accomplish with each classroom
and school.” Second, Local 537 also recommends devoting more
time to educating members about these types of involvement
with schools. This includes providing more time to answer
questions that individual members may have about the
implications of such involvements, as well as more actively
promoting the need for volunteers to support specific
programs and activities within schools. In addition, it is
important that prior to entering the classroom, volunteer
members be coached on the types of questions students may
ask. This includes being able to manage student questions
that may reflect anti-union sentiments and opinions. “You
just don’t want your members caught off guard when students
start asking difficult and pointed questions. Members need
to be prepared to handle virtually any question and this
takes time and coaching before you actually enter the
classroom,” Dean Modecker commented.
Local 537 also emphasizes that these types of activities
can be undertaken with very little associated cost. The
largest cost noted by Local 537 was the time that individual
members devoted to participate in classroom presentations,
facilitate student debates, and other activities. According
to Dean Modecker, “All of the costs associated with doing
this should be viewed as an investment for the local. In the
future, this will protect our membership by making sure that
students who graduate from high school have a positive
orientation to unions. Through our involvement we will be
stronger in the future because we have invested the time now
to try and make a difference. It will take a while for our
local and our members to see results, but I am convinced
that within the next several years we will come in contact
with more and more students who fully understand the value
and benefits of unions and seek out union shops as they
begin their future careers.”
More Information
For additional information about Teaching Unionism
in the Classroom, contact:
Ed Modecker, Secretary/Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union No. 537
2345 Elliot Street
Denver, CO 80211
Telephone: (303) 458-6325
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