Labor in the Schools

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Ninth graders at the Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in Washington, DC. learned about the key role of labor unions in society when they visited ATU Local 689 recently. Earlier this year, Local 689 President Jackie Jeter (second from left) visited them in their classroom and then on June 14 the students spent the day at the Local 689 union hall, hearing from various union officials. The students were studying issues involving public transportation in Washington, DC and nationally, with a focus on safety, access, and affordability for different groups of citizens. Jeter closed the day by challenging the students to think about “What are you going to do to make the world, especially transportation, a better place?”