Activists speak out on ... Building the High Road

Activists speak out on …Building the High Road

The Actors’ Fund of America’s Actors’ Work Program (AWP) provides employment and training services to entertainment industry union members nationwide seeking sideline careers. Last year, AWP developed relationships with union-based education programs in New York and Los Angeles that led to teaching employment opportunities in such areas as ESL, computer training, and communications/customer service skills. AWP has worked with NABET/CWA and IBEW to develop opportunities for members to obtain the skills needed to operate new digital technology. Potential new initiatives on both coasts include: working with the SAG/AFTRA Young Performers Committee, and A Minor Consideration, an advocacy organization for former and present young performers to plan services to assist young performers to make the transition to adulthood and Act II a program to support older members who face additional employment barriers in the arts. The AWP will continue to advocate for industry and help to create “high road” jobs in the entertainment industry.

Kathy Schrier
Executive Director
Actors Work Program

Actors Worker Program

This year the Massachusetts State Federation of Labor, in coordination with CWA 1365 and IUE 201, was instrumental in developing a career ladder program that received an H1B training grant of $2.4 million. The funded project implements training — from remedial study skills through the engineering level with an emphasis on training incumbent workers for tester and technician positions at Ametek Aerospace and Lucent Technologies. In the coming year, we plan to work with community groups, local unions, Central Labor Councils, and labor representatives to WIBs to improve the access of working people to good jobs and promotional opportunities in the state of Massachusetts.

Harneen Chernow
Education Director
Massachusetts AFL-CIO

One of the activities of the Association of Joint Labor/Management Educational Programs in 2000 was to research the application of distance learning to the needs and interests of working adults. This led to the creation of tools to assist career counselors in helping participants determine their potential for a successful distance learning experience. These tools are included in a distance-learning workshop provided to counselors, mentors, and peer coordinators. Over the next year, among other activities, the Association will support the development and implementation of asynchronous distance learning curricula for public sector employees. Another project will assess the impact of joint labor-management educational programs on three primary stakeholders in workforce development: the worker, the employer and the union.

Marshall Goldberg
Executive Director
Association of Joint Labor/Management Educational Programs