Labor & Employment Law

Union Summer Interns Anxious to Learn How to Create Change

By James Parks

More than 40 college students and graduates are participating in this year’s Union Summer for Jobs program.

More than 40 Union Summer for Jobs interns will spread out across the country next week to gain an education in how to mobilize workers and how to play a role in restoring jobs lost during the economic collapse. 

The 10-week internship gives young activists on-the-ground education in organizing, community activism and coalition building. After attending the AFL-CIO Young Workers Summit this weekend, the interns will work with the AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now campaign in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York.

Rae Wright, who attended the University of Tennessee and now lives in Chicago, says she wanted to be a part of Union Summer because:

The labor movement has impacted all workers, regardless of whether they are in the union or not. Labor gets things done and I’m excited to learn more about labor organizing and be a part of some pivotal systemic change in America.

The interns may help organize marches and rallies, talk with workers hit hard by the jobs crisis or help build community, labor and religious support for the jobs campaign. The interns will learn about how labor builds support for the campaign’s top priorities: digging the country out of its 11-million jobs deficit.

Gregory Goodwin is looking forward to learning how to spread the union message about jobs. The son of union members, this graduate of Coastal Carolina University near Myrtle Beach, S.C., says he has seen the benefits of belonging to a union firsthand. He says he wants to learn more and help other students and young people learn about unions and how important they are for a better future.  

Adrienne Gori, a senior at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, says participating in Union Summer will be a great learning experience for her and allow her to help others at the same time.

Stephanie Agudelo, a senior at Georgetown University, sums up nicely what Union Summer gives everyone who participates:

an opportunity to learn how to give back to the community and how to mobilize and educate them about what’s going on in our country.

Since its launch in 1996, Union Summer has graduated nearly 3,000 activists, many of whom continue to work for social justice. Past Union Summer interns have gone on to become union organizers, organizer trainers, strategic researchers and labor attorneys.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).