Only four of 125 Job Corps centers in the United States are unionized, and CFT members staff two of them. Adams & Associates is the private contractor managing both Job Corps centers — with very different results. 

In San Francisco, AFT Local 6319 represents 150 staff in the Treasure Island Job Corps Workers Union. Local President Emily Rapaport said the Department of Labor ranks centers on student job placement and a range of other metrics. “Since Adams came in about five years ago, we have been either number one or two in the country.”

Rapaport is returning to contract talks suspended last year because of federal Job Corps blunders. “Every other center paid a price for what the national office did, but our center was astute and shifted resources so we didn’t have one layoff.”

In Sacramento, by contrast, the National Labor Relations Board filed a petition with the U.S. District Court after an Adams whistleblower testified that management wanted to get rid of the union when it terminated half of the 25 staff members.

The court ordered management to reinstate Genesther Taylor, the leader of AFT Local 4986, to prevent “irreparable harm to the collective bargaining process.” The union hopes Taylor’s return suggests a favorable decision on the other firings.