Representatives, members, training staff, and organizers from a number of local Kansas City-area trade unions attended the 2024 Annual Fired Up Conference for the American School Counselor Association. The event was held in the middle of July, this time in Kansas City, MO at the union-built Kansas City Convention Center.
Representatives from local trade unions promoted the idea of pushing more kids to join the trades instead of going to college. Counselors, many of whom are just now learning about what a union apprenticeship could mean for their students, were increasingly receptive to the idea and dove into long conversations with local union members about their experiences.
Bryan Jimenez, pictured above, an apprentice of IUPAT District Council 3, was on hand for the event for his union, proudly promoting IUPAT. Jimenez, originally from California, moved to Kansas City and found a career and trade he loves as a member of IUPAT. He was able to talk to school counselors with firsthand experience about the life changing benefits of a union trade.
Unions across the country need more apprentices in functionally every single trade. Many Americans have grown wise to the notion that college isn’t the only choice, or even the best choice, after high school and that a union apprencticeship can provide a stable career path.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
