September 2002 Edition

This month we look at what unions can offer teachers to help educate youth about workers rights and unions. We will explore curriculum, programs and training materials to assist this process. If you would like to submit suggestions or information for your organization, please email Sharlene Mentor at SMentor@teamster.org.

For last month's edition, please visit: http://www.ibtstw.org/aug2002.asp.

IBT Education Staff

What's in This Edition

Teamster Updates

Conferences & Meetings Nationwide

Resources to Build Your Own Education Curriculum

Articles of Interest

~ States Suffer Halting Start on Tutoring
~ A More Perfect Union
~ Unite! Kids Page

Get Connected: Web Site Links

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Teamster Updates

IBT LOCAL 1150/SIKORSKY SCHOOL-TO-CAREER MENTOR PROGRAM

Teamsters Local Union 1150 and Sikorsky Aircraft Offer School to Career Program to Local High School Students

On Monday, June 24th, 2002 four vocational technical students began an eight-week School to Career Program at Sikorsky Aircraft Company, where they clocked in alongside other workers at the company's manufacturing plants in Stratford and Shelton, Connecticut. Working through August 16th, 2002, the students earned the union - negotiated entry-level wage.

A unique partnership between Teamsters Local Union 1150, Sikorsky Aircraft and area schools (such as, Bullard Havens & Platt Technical), this program was originally designed to address labor-management concerns over the impending loss, through retirement, of many skilled workers throughout the next decade. Recognizing that they had a mutual interest in nurturing a skilled workforce for tomorrow, Teamsters and Sikorsky collaborated with local schools to create an initiative that would introduce young people to the world of union jobs that open available career paths to high school and college students.

Though developed within the context of the helicopter manufacturing industry, this initiative can be applied and adapted by other unionized industries or sectors that need a skilled work force. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the architect of this program, has reached over 300 students to-date through a joint collaboration with Verizon. Teamsters Local Union 1150 and the AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council have taken the lead to benchmark this program in Connecticut.

Rocco Calo, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 1150, believed in this approach, so he introduced the program to receptive Sikorsky officials and the program was off and running. Joe Grabinski, a Sikorsky union leader and coordinator for the School to Career program, was instrumental in the day-to-day training of these young people. In addition, Jimmy Coverson, union member and on hand mentor to the kids, admits that it "was difficult at first; however, once people saw the program working, a lot more members have stepped up to be mentors..."

<http://www.connpost.com/Stories/0,1413,96%7E3750%7E736955,00.html>

CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS NATIONWIDE

Maryland Highway Construction Career Day
October 24th, 2002

Fort Meade, Maryland

The Maryland Quality Initiative (MdQI) presents their first annual Maryland Highway Construction Career Day. This event is open to high school students and provides opportunities to learn about the many career options available to them in the construction industry. In addition, it will allow students a chance to operate industry equipment and machinery through several hands-on exhibits. <http://www.transportationcareers.org>

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Construction Trades Division and Education Department will co-host an exhibit complete with interactive machinery. For more information contact Sharlene Mentor or Jerry Boeson of the IBT Education Department at 202/624-8117

3rd Annual D.C. Labor 2 Youth Fair
November 26th, 2002

Washington, D.C.
Omni Shoreham Hotel

Nearly 1000 area high school students are expected to attend the Third Annual D.C. Labor 2 Youth Fair, where more than 26 union exhibitors will play host and educate students about union products, workplace rights and the overall benefits of being a union member.

For more information email Futureforce@dclabor.org.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will be participating in this event for the third consecutive year. For more information contact Sharlene Mentor, IBT Education Department Communications Assistant at 202/624-8966. Mentor will be coordinating this year's event along with Project Manager James Beeharilal and Department School-to-Work staffer Nayhema Fitzworme.

2003 Career Conference...Learning to Work...Working to Learn
January 27th - 29th, 2003

Various Locations

THE ANNUAL CAREERS CONFERENCE provides a nationwide forum for educators, counselors, practitioners, and others to gather and share innovative ideas, best practices, quality programs, and lively discussion on issues pertinent to career development. These include school improvement/reform, integrated curriculum, school-to-career, related technology, employability skills, and much more. The conference program is comprehensive, offering participants the choice of hundreds of sessions, more than a dozen tours to workplaces and educational sites, and ongoing networking opportunities.<http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SASA/conference.html>

RESOURCES TO BUILD YOUR OWN EDUCATION CURRICULUM

What should you include in outreach programs and activities that educate young people about unions, workers rights, solidarity and child labor? Here are some ideas:

Talking Union to Your Kids
AFL-CIO America At Work

Talking union to kids is good - both for the union movement and the working family. It lays groundwork for creating the next generation of activists - both for the union movement and working family. It creates common family values and experiences that bond family members together.

"The union helps our family have a happy life," says five-year-old Max Mendelson, whose father, Drew, is a former senior communications specialist with California State Employees Association/SEIU Local 1000, and works for Governor Gray Davis.

"People's work lives are not something separate from their home lives," says Amanda Vesey, a council representative with AFSCME Council 18 in Albuquerque, N.M. "When members integrate their families into actions that we have, it teaches children that this is about working families."

Recent data collected by the University of Minnesota's Labor Education Service (UMLES) suggests that children who are aware of their parents' activism are far more likely to feel positive about unions. "They benefit from the knowledge they pick up concerning what a union means," says Howard Kling, labor educator and telecommunications director at UMLES. "I think they'll carry it for the rest of their lives."

Educators suggest that the best method of "talking union to kids" is to relate labor issues to their current experiences. "You have to touch them where they can feel it," says Maurice "Skip" Turner, program associate and conference coordinator at University of Michigan's Labor Studies Center. For example, talking to kids about the sweatshop-made Nikes that they and their friends wear really hits home. Four times a year, Turner puts together conferences for adult union activists and workshops for their children (ages 8-12 and 13-18.)

"Certainly notions of stability, working together and justice are concepts kids can relate to," adds Kling. "It's important they know adults are working for the same things, just on a different level." But Kling cautions against lecturing. "I think kids react to too much preachiness," he says.

Here are some ways to interest children in union values:
· Ask them, "What's your job?" (Typical answers include "to go to school" and "to do what my teacher tells me to do.") "If you do good work, you're supposed to get good grades. But if you did 'A' work and got all 'F's, would that be fair? What could you do about it?" Make the point that working adults form unions because unions work to make sure their members, and all workers, are treated fairly.

· Tell your kids that years ago, many Americans didn't go to school when they were children because they had to work. In some countries, children still have to work. Ask your children what working instead of going to school would mean to their lives today and to their future. Tell them our unions helped change the law to prohibit child labor.

· Remind them that when they get sick, you take them to the doctor. Explain how your union negotiates with your employer for such benefits as health insurance. Say that some kids whose parents don't have a union can't get the health care they need.

<http://www.aflcio.org/articles/talk_union_to_kids/talk_union.htm>

The Yummy Pizza Company

The Yummy Pizza Company, an interdisciplinary thematic unit that introduces the world of work to elementary age students, is now available from the California Federation of Teachers. This 32-page booklet includes everything an elementary teacher needs for ten lessons, including objectives, materials, procedures, practice/homework, extensions to various subject areas, and bibliographies. A 32-page booklet produced by the California Federation of Teachers' Labor in the Schools Committee, guides teachers who want to introduce the world of work to elementary-age students. <http://www.cft.org/comm-n/labsch/labsch4.shtml>

Getting It Together

This video uses a rap song and game show to teach kids in grades 5-12 about unions. It is available through the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and includes a study guide, Labor Studies Curriculum for Teachers. <http://www.carlsonschool.umn.edu/ExecutiveProfessional/
LaborEducationService/LaborEducationService.cfm>

In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning

By Deborah Meirer (Beacon Press, 224 pages, $23.00)

Meirer, a progressive educator and small-schools advocate, envisions public schools as autonomous democratic and intellectual communities. In her view, learning emerges not from externally conceived standards and tests - which she sees as intrusive and destructive of community - but from close relationships forged among faculty members and between teachers and students.

Build Your Future 2001

Produced by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER)

This video is an entertaining and informative look at the construction industry, and the many challenging opportunities it has to offer. As today's' largest industry, construction trades can provide young workers with high-skill careers and a chance at upward mobility. The video emphasizes the fact that there is a shortage of workers in the industry. Construction is truly the engine that "drives our economy." For information, log on to: <http://www.nccer.org>

Start a Do Something Club!

Start a Do Something Club at your school and win $500 to improve your community!

This program offers a wonderful opportunity for young people to work together for a common goal, something important to them. It is about organizing - one of the most important issues in the labor movement. The students get an opportunity to win $500 in grant money and materials to start their own club.

As part of each school's Do Something Club, students will identify issues that concern them and then turn their ideas into action! Whatever the cause - it's up to students to speak out and Do Something!

Do Something helps young people organize community involvement using these steps:

SPEAK OUT: Choose important issues that matter to them and explore ways to take action
DO SOMETHING PROJECTS: Organize community projects throughout the year using Do Something's Path to Change and create a plan of action

CELEBRATION: Reflect on their work and celebrate it's success

WHAT THE STUDENT GETS!

• A chance to win a $500 Grant and start their own Do Something Club!
• Do Something materials, such as posters and stickers, that will help spread the word
• A Youth Manual on how to start and support a Do Something Club! Web tools like project ideas, how-to tips and teen features!
• One-on-one support from Do Something staff at <http://www.advice@dosomething.org>
• Access to the list-serve for advice from teens who are taking action in their communities!

HURRY UP! TIME TO APPLY!
The Do Something Club Application is now available for download! at <http://www.dosomething.org/pdf/Dsclubapp.pdf> to download the PDF version of the application (may take a few minutes to download). Plus, check out a completed sample application at <http://www.dosomething.org/sitepages/index.cfm!formid=326> to help YOU get started!

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 10, 2002!

University of Wisconsin-Madison Center on Education & Work
Publications and Resources

Established in 1964, the Center on Education & Work (CEW) has a rich tradition of enabling educators to engage youth and adults in learning and career development that leads to productive lives as well as to enhance the quality of career-related learning for individuals in schools, college and workplace.

In addition to publishing their own educational resources, CEW also selects outside source material that targets kindergarten through postsecondary instructors and students. Representative content areas include: Career Exploration and Development, Career Planning for Special Needs, School-to-Career Transition, Occupational Equity, Adult Career Planning and Success Skills, Integrating Occupational and Academic Education, and Program and Staff Development.

A catalog of resources, published each fall, is available at the CEW web site, or upon request. A separate resource guide for Elementary Career Development is also available upon request. <http://www.cew.wisc.edu/cew/catalogsAndResources/catalogsAndResources.asp>

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

Education Week: States Suffer Halting Start on Tutoring

By Erik W. Robelen
<http://www.teachermagazine.org/>

At least five states have been operating under the mistaken - impression, according to the U.S. Department of Education, that none of their public schools must meet a key requirement in the new federal education law this school year.

For the rest of the article, go to: <http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15864a64748a106465963a5>

Career Coach/Education Week: A More Perfect Union

By Ben Joravsky
<http://www.teachermagazine.org/>

Deborah Lynch wants more than just decent wages for Chicago's teachers. She wants them to be in charge.
It's not even 8 a.m., and already Deborah Lynch, president of the Chicago Teachers' Union, is well into her day. "I'm meeting with the teachers this morning," she says, pulling her minivan into the parking lot of a small elementary school on the city's West Side. "After this, I have a meeting with other union leaders. So it's going to be a busy day." On this particular morning in early June, she happens to be visiting Laura Ward Elementary, a mostly African American school. Lynch makes drop-ins of this kind two to three times a week. "These visits are key," she explains. "I want to meet the members. I want to keep them abreast of what we're doing. I want to hear what's on their minds." <http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=03nip.h22&keywords=Meier>

Unite! Kids Page

Unite! Kids Page is devoted to Child Labor. It does a great job of defining child labor and offers reading lists as well as information on different organizations whose goal is to abolish child labor in all forms, in all countries.

There are many kinds of work that kids do, but not all of them are child labor; child labor is:

• Work done all day by kids under the age of 15
• Work that keeps kids out of school
• Work that is dangerous and harmful to kids, either physically, emotionally or mentally

The other kinds of work that kids do is helping around the house, or earning money after school - work that may not be exciting, or fun, but it is not child labor; child labor is not:

• Chores done around the house before or after school
• Internships (when you go and work for an organization or company during the summer or over a vacation to learn about a specific kind of work)
• Apprenticeships (times when you are learning about something and doing it at the same time. For example: Electricians often have apprentices learn the trade while helping out around the shop.)
• Helping out at a family farm or business as long as it doesn't keep you from going to school or doing your homework
• Once you are 16 you can choose to work after school or on weekends to earn extra money

Source: International Labour Organization; October 1998

GLOBAL PEN PALS ON UNITE SITE

The following letters are between B.D. Nolen, an American sixth-grader and Ateth, a boy living in a country where he has to work in a factory everyday. Ateth cannot write because he never went to school; therefore, his brother has to read the letter to him and then write the responses for him. Here is a great example of how American students can make a difference to children in countries where they do not have the opportunities that we do.

Dear Ateth,

My name is B.D. Nolen. I'm in sixth grade. I live in the United States of America, which you probably already knew. I live with my mom, Emily, who works at the post office, my dad Greg, who is a teacher and my big sister, Amber, who is a teenager. We also have a cat, Big Head. I named him myself when I was five; I got him for my birthday. I also got my first soccer ball then, which was a wicked good thing because ever since then that's all I ever do -- play soccer. My parents sometimes get worried that it will keep me from doing my homework but I think that's dumb because I think school is wicked boring and I wish I could just play soccer all the time.

What do you like to do? I don't know very much about where you're from but my teacher said it was really hot there, do you have a swimming pool? What kind of food do you like? My favorite foods are rocky road ice cream and broccoli. A lot of people think I'm weird for liking that because they think it's gross. I hope you don't think I'm weird.

Write back soon!
B.D.
P.S. I'm sending you a picture of me at a soccer game. Will you send me a picture of you?

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Dear B.D.

Thank you so much for writing to me. I'm sorry that it took me so long to write back to you. I don't have much time at home because I spend most of every day at the sports clothing factory where I work. I do not get home until it is dark outside, and I leave when it is just getting light out. I live in a small village with my family. My Grandmother stays home and watches the baby. My mother works at the factory with my sisters and me. When it was only her working there she wasn't making enough to support the family so the rest of us had to go to work also. I am embarrassed to tell you that it is not my handwriting you see. I cannot write, because I never went to school. It is only my brother Veng who had the chance to go to school and even he only went to school until fifth grade. When he read your letter to me I made him read the part about school twice because I could not believe that someone would not want to go to school! Maybe in your country school is different than here? My favorite part of the day is when me and Oul (my best friend) go outside at lunch and laugh about everything.

Ateth
P.S.- I do not think you are weird for liking broccoli. ?

WHAT DID THEY LEARN?

B.D. was confused. Did Ateth really work at a factory? He had never heard of this sort of thing before. Was Ateth really a kid? Maybe he accidentally sent his letter to the wrong address. He walked inside to the kitchen to ask his sister, Amber, about this mess. Amber was 15 and thought she knew everything. Usually B.D. thought she was useless but today he decided to ask her to help him.

"Amber?" B.D had to scream over the loud music.
"Yeah squirt?" Amber spun around to face her brother, "What do you want?"
"Well I just got this letter from my pen pal and she told me that she works in a clothing factory. And she said she's never been to school. Is that true?"

"Duh squirt, child labor. Sweatshops. Get a clue."
Now B.D. was even more lost. What in the world was a sweatshop? Wasn't labor a holiday? B.D. decided to head upstairs to the encyclopedia that his Grandparents had sent him. He walked into his room and stuck his head under the bed... he knew it was somewhere... AACHOOO! There it was, under a pile of dirty socks and dust balls. He opened up the book and began to search....

For more of this correspondence, log onto: <http://www.uniteunion.org/kids/story1.html>

GET CONNECTED: WEB SITE LINKS

AFL-CIO Homework Helpers

The following links connect working families with some of the best homework helpers from all over the Web. Whether the challenge is elementary school math or humanities research in senior high, helpful directories, message boards and real live experts are a click away-and it's all free!

<http://homeworkhelp.about.com/index.htm>
A great search site that includes homework help links for students of all ages

<http://www.askjeeves.com/>
How did kids do research papers before Jeeves? This kid-friendly search site takes questions just the way children ask them and serves up an array of helpful links.

<http://www.go.com/>
Feed this search engine the keyword "homework" and get dozens of useful links.

<http://www.zen.org/%7Ebrendan/kids-homework.html>
Links to basic online tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as other useful sites including some created by kids!

<http://kidocracy.com/Templates/index.html>
A portal page for kids, this site connects users with help in math, science and current affairs and reference tools.

<http://www/yahooligans.com/>
Built by the search engine Yahoo!, the fun in this page may be distracting - but it includes academics and research info. in the Around the World, School Bell and Science and Nature Areas.

End of Issue

To find out more about the Teamsters Union--a vital part of your community in the U.S. and Canada--and our School-to-Work network, visit http://edu.teamster.org/edu.asp and http://www.ibtstw.org.

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