A group of Roanoke high schoolers are spending time during their spring break to learn about labor unions.
On a Wednesday in April, three Roanoke high school students sit at a table and use Play-Dough to make circuits for LED lights. They're working with Joe Brinley and Jason Dudding of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 26, who are there to tout IBEW's apprenticeship program. This is the pilot week for a new program that aims to route high schoolers into union apprenticeships.
"Teaching them a little about the electrical and what we have to offer with our apprenticeship program," Dudding says. "Hopefully get them a good career in the future."
"Yeah, a little bit of insight into what we do day in and day out with our apprentices," Brinley says. "Trying to give them an option for a good career later.
"Good career, good benefits," says Dudding, looking at the students. "As young as they are, they could retire at 55 if they want to."
Darryl Campbell and Kristy Vance are the program's co-directors. They conceived this program to get teenagers who may not go to college interested in trades that come with union support.
"We are starting off the day by teaching them labor history, some civil rights history, how the two go hand in hand, Virginia's roles in those histories," Vance says. "We'll break for lunch and then we'll introduce them to the trades in the area. "
Over the course of the week, the teens are introduced to the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 10, Teamsters 322, IBEW Local 26, IUPAT DC 53/International Union Painters and Allied Trades District Council 53, and IUE CWA 82162.
Mario is one of the students who gave up his spring breaks to be here. But he's into the electrical work...
"I like the building of circuits, and getting to see how it works."
The labor history too, which that morning covered the Matewan Massacre and the Battle of Blair Mountain.
"Like, we learn something we didn't learn in school," Mario says.
This spring and summer, the program is limited to residents of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Organizers eventually hope to expand it across Western Virginia.
