Students in the FutureForce Program Explore IBT Trades

The following is excerpted from the Labor/Learn Project Summer 2001 Photo Journal provided by the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO Labor/Learn. Photographs provided by the IBT Education Department.

Project Description

The Community Services Agency’s FutureForce program piloted a summer union career exploration project for six students from DCPS high schools. Over the course of three weeks in July 2001, the Labor/Learn Project exposed six young adults entering the tenth grade to careers in five major area growth industries: building and construction trades, services, transportation, healthcare, and utilities.

By providing these young adults with engaging, hands-on, work-based experiences in partnership with more than a dozen area labor organizations and their employers, they acquired on-the-job exposure to a number of potential careers in a relatively short period of time and gained an appreciation for the ways academic skills like math, reading, writing, comprehension, and oral communication are used on the job. And, they now have a better understanding of the role labor unions play in the workplace.

With this design, the Labor/Learn Project lays the foundation for creating sustainable opportunities that bring young adults, unions, and employers together to prepare one another for the workforce of the future.

[The following excerpt from the photo journal relates the students' experiences with IBT.]

On Thursday, we went to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

We pretended to work at a toy factory and held a mock negotiating session. Mulu and Sydney teamed up with the Teamsters summer intern to play the management role.

Chris, Aisha, Tiara, and Zelalem played the union bargaining team’s role. Good practice for our negotiations with our own “management” later on.

Then we boarded the IBT’s van to head out to a Washington Gas in Springfield where IBT Local 96 represents members.

In the afternoon, we went to Washington Gas where IBT Local 96 members work.

After we took our picture with one of the new employees who was being trained at the facility...

...we watched as the new workers were trained on fire and gas safety.

Then we learned how to meld pipe together...

...and found out about all of the materials Washington Gas workers make in-house.

Other worksite hosts who provided such fun and educational information and hands-on experiences, include:

• Iron Workers Local 5 JATC
• Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 100 Training School
• IUPAT District Council 51 Painting and Glazing Training Centers
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• IBT Local 96
• Washington Gas
• American Red Cross, Office of Labor Participation
• International Association of Machinists Lodge 1759
• United Airlines
• American Federation of State, County, and
• Municipal Workers Local 953
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Service Employees International Union Local 722
• District of Columbia Nurses Association
• Washington Hospital Center
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1900
• Mirant Mid Atlantic, LLC
• PEPCO

Project Participants

Tiara Anderson

Sydney Baker

Mulunesh Gerima

Zelalem Gerima

Christopher Headecker

Aisha Russell

Project Staff

Jeanine Nagrod, Future Force Program Coordinator

Nancy Martin, Future Force Program Associate

Stan Gordon, Labor/Learn Project Coordinator

FutureForce
1925 K Street, NW
Suite 410
Washington, DC 20006

See complete Photo Journal in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file.

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