Job Shadow Day at Local 25: Teamsters Helping Students Enter the Workplace

Local 25, Boston, Massachusetts

Exerpted from The Spokesman, a publication of Local 25.

Most of us know the second of February as Groundhog Day, and we associate it with the story of Punxsutawney Phil waiting to see his shadow to tell us how much longer winter will last. This year, on Groundhog Day, Local 25 participated in another tradition, Job Shadow Day. Students visit a worksite and "shadow" a union member for a day, providing an up close look at what a "real job" is like. Students get to see how the skills they learn in school could be used in the workplace.

Coordinated by Director of Education & Training Steve Sullivan, Local 25 selected 2 students from Madison Park Vocational Technical High School and 6 students from East Boston High School. The "shadow" activities included a visit to Brigham's Ice Cream with Recording Secretary/Business Agent Ritchie Reardon and to Logan Airport to see the various activities of Massport members. The students also had an opportunity to visit the Dental and Medical facilities at the Charlestown TeamstersCare facility and the Local 25 Tractor-Trailer Driving School.

"It's an opportunity to provide the students with a preview of the worksite and help them understand the integral connection between school and work," said President George W. Cashman. "School-to-Work is about providing young people—our future members—with opportunities and assisting them in the transition from school to the workplace and life-long learning," Cashman said.

Job Shadow is a component of the School-to-Work [STW] program, an initiative designed to address the nation's skill shortage through the creation of partnerships between educators, employers, labor and the community. These partnerships have been established to bring together state and local efforts to prepare young people for high wage, high skill careers in a dynamic global economy.

In 1994, President Clinton signed the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, which is jointly administrated by the US Departments of Labor and Education. The Act specificallly requires that representatives of organized labor be engaged in the development, implementation and governance of school-to-work partnerships nationwide. The Act is an important step toward designing systems that address the academic and career development of America's young people. School-to-Work is based on the proven fact that people learn best when they can apply what they learn to real-life and real-work situations.

Please contact Spokesman Editor Colleen Brady by mail at Local 25, 544 Main Street, Boston, MA 02129 or by phone at 617-241-8825 with questions or comments.

Back to Teamsters and America's Youth