Make a Difference—Take Part in Union Summer for Jobs

by Mike Hall, Apr 22, 2010

Are you a college student or recent grad with a streak of activism, a healthy disdain for Wall Street greed and a desire to help put America back to work? Union Summer for Jobs Internship might be just the place for you this summer.

The 10-week internship program gives young activists on-the-ground experience in organizing, community activism and coalition building. This year, Union Summer for Jobs participants will work with the AFL-CIO Good Jobs Now campaign in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York.

They 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’ work will fulfill an important role in building support for the campaign’s top priorities, digging the country out of its 11-million jobs deficit.

Union Summer for Jobs is also an ideal way for young people to learn about unions and their work in the community.

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 be union organizers, organizer trainers, strategic researchers and labor attorneys.

Applications must be in by May 7. This year, the program includes a week of intensive orientation and training, June 7-13, in Washington, D.C., and nine weeks of continuing education in the field. It’s open to college juniors and seniors, plus recent graduates.

It is not necessary to have union experience or knowledge of the union movement to be accepted as a Union Summer for Jobs intern, but such a background is a plus in the application process.

Interns will receive a stipend of $300 a week and applicants will be asked to apply for placement in one of the four locations. The internship will not include a housing allowance. The Union Summer for Jobs program also is committed to achieving diversity among interns, which reflects, as closely as possible, the diversity of the workforce with whom we are working.

Click here for more information. Apply online here, or e-mail résumé and cover letter to unionsummer@aflcio.org. You also may download an application here or call 202-639-6250.

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