I was a student worker on my college campus in south Georgia and I started to organize in my workplace, at Valdosta State University. I was a cafeteria worker and I got terminated for my organizing activities.

 

I continued for four years with a living wage campaign involving campus workers. As a student labor activist I worked with United Students Against Sweatshops and seeing the support labor had for campus organizing during that period helped connect me with the Teamsters and other unions throughout the country.

 

I got a job at UPS as a part-time sorter. I became a shop steward on the sort aisle. I signed up non-members, going into the UPS orientation sessions with new hires.

 

I was a young worker with low seniority at UPS and a part-timer. I certainly saw people like me there that will make up the future of our union. The majority had unique issues as warehouse workers and I felt I was able to address their concerns and relate to them on their level. I would come up from the shop floor dirty and sweaty, just getting off the sort aisle to go to the orientation sessions and that had the impact to show that I’m one of them. I think that helps with getting 95 to 100 percent sign-up rates in those orientation sessions which, in a so-called right-to-work state, is a struggle. For our local, a UPS local, to have a diligent and consistent effort in signing up these young workers is a task that cannot go without committed focus.

 

 

We follow in a long, proud tradition of Teamster leaders that started out in their 20s and teens organizing. They later became elected officers or stayed in their shops, and through that experience, carried over the historical memory of things that have happened.

 

We have a responsibility to learn from those that came before us. It helps sharpen our skills and go through our struggles. A lot of young workers and young organizers look at our efforts as a sprint, how quickly we can get there. With knowledge of the past, we can understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint, for justice for working people. That’s the reason the Teamsters Union has been around for 107 years. We constantly have the idea of being able to pass it on to the ones coming up behind us.

 

 

I’m a college grad, but even as a college grad, at the time, the prospects of moving into a white-collar managerial position weren’t great and now it’s even more severe. Many young workers are looking to blue-collar jobs and stable employment in lieu of going to a four-year university or grad school. Having a stable job with a rising income, where you actually have a voice and respect in the workplace, is important for young people today more than ever.

 

I don’t think young workers, for the most part, concede to the status quo at companies. I think young workers, more often than not, want to challenge the way things have been done in their workplaces. Those are all potential strengths that we have.

 

I think we have a great disadvantage due to the decades-long attacks on unions and the labor movement. An almost complete absence of labor movement history within our public education system hurts us as well. There is a great ignorance of what a union is, what its purpose is and of the concept of collective activity and organization.

 

 

The best ways to relate to young people and their background is through things like sports or the military. A lot of young people have experience with both. Those two are principle ways young Americans have experienced collective activity and the concept of teamwork, sacrifice, dedication and perseverance. All those qualities are easily transferable to the union. We are a group banding together to survive and prosper. It helps young workers to find concrete roles they can play in the union, whether finding issues on the shop floor they can organize around or engaging in activity, like political action.

 

 

What we have as Teamsters that most unions don’t have, and that is attractive in today’s world of marketing and branding, is our Teamster name. We are not just a union; we are the Teamsters Union. I think being able to be in a position where we have a unique face and unique story, those are the things that people can identify with. ‘I’m a Teamster.’ That conveys to a younger generation a sense of power, strength and group cohesiveness that young workers are seeking.

 

 

This generation has a lot of young women entering the workplace who are under 30. There are single parents who are the breadwinners of their households. There are many young people getting jobs in Teamster-represented locations so they can provide for their families, have health care and job security.

 

I’ve been doing this work since I was 18, as a cafeteria worker, making minimum wage. And now I’m organizing workers at Coca-Cola Enterprises that have a wide age range. But at least 50 percent of the 350 workers there are under the age of 30.

 

When we talk about Teamsters for the future, we’re really talking about the Teamsters of today. There is an obligation we all have to make sure we’re developing skill sets and that lessons learned from the past generations are carried over.