Teamsters Host Cardozo’s TransTech Academy Students

February 25, 2005

On February 10, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) hosted 14 eleventh graders from Cardozo Senior High School’s TransTech Academy in observance of its annual Groundhog Job Shadow Day Program.

The event provided the students the unique opportunity to engage in a hands-on work experience within a union setting. Each student shadowed a professional, technical or administrative worker to get first hand experience of the world of work in various IBT departments, including Accounting, Benefits, Corporate and Strategic Initiatives, Government Affairs, Human Rights, Investments, Legal, Research, Safety and Health, and Organizing. The students learned about workers’ rights on the job, the labor movement, the advantages of being a Teamster, as well as the different career options available to them.

Teamsters Associate Director of Education Michael B. Filler welcomed the students and their teacher Mrs. Shirley McCall. He engaged the students, through questions and answers, in learning about unions and the benefits of being a union member.

Jim McCall, who is Special Counsel in the Teamsters Legal Department, also addressed the students. He spoke about his youth, the opportunities made available to him, the career path he chose and the sacrifices he had to make in order to finally achieve his career goal in the legal profession. He urged them to examine all the available options, choose a career path and work towards achieving their goals.

“I learned the value of a union, and that with a union your rights are protected. Without a union, you could get treated like trash by your employer,” said student Malachi Suggs.

Job Shadow Day is one of the events through which the Teamsters Union reaches out to young people to teach them about the world of work–good jobs, career options, workers’ rights on the job, the vulnerability of non-union workers, the advantages of being a union member, and what unions have done for workers over the years.

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