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Camp Teaches Teens about Labor Unions

from the Kansas City Star, July 27
by Steve Rosen

Youngsters attending the Romeo Corbeil Summer Camp typically play a game that involves a walk into the woods.

Except there's a twist.

The point of this game is to show the income disparity between a corporate chief executive and an everyday laborer. While one camper marks off a few paces to symbolize the laborer salary, another camper playing the role of the CEO keeps walking and walking deep into the woods.

Clearly, this is not your traditional recreational summer camp where days are filled with canoe trips, pingpong, games of leap- frog, and even short-sheeting a roommate's bed.

Camp Corbeil, held annually for the last six years at Lake Wappapello near Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri, is considered the only one in the country where campers join mock labor unions and examine workplace issues in our society. This summer's one-week session starts Aug. 2.

The approximately 15 to 18 campers attending the upcoming session will ponder the meaning of terms like collective bargaining, shop stewards and human rights in exercises and classroom-like
discussions. They'll also learn about the history of the labor movement and participate in role-playing games to gain a broader understanding of the world of work.

The camp, modeled after a program in Saskatchewan, Canada, is named after the late Romeo Corbeil, a French-Canadian and former secretary-treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees International Union. The union sponsors the camp along with the Missouri AFL-CIO, the International Association of Machinists, and the labor education program of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Campers, generally ages 13 to 17, are a diverse group of Canadian and American boys and girls. They are selected by the Office and Professional Employees union and the other union sponsors, which provide camp scholarships and other financial assistance.

Though campers come from families with union ties, not all the kids have a good understanding of their heritage, said Paul Rainsberger, camp director and head of the labor education program at the university.

Rainsberger starts the week with a basic orientation about the role unions play in society and an overview of union administration and collective bargaining concepts. Part of the opening program is aimed at dispelling the notion that unions are involved only in disruptive strikes and conflicts.

After learning the basics, campers are organized into local unions and select officers and representatives to serve on bargaining, education, recreation (yes, there is free time) and
environmental committees.

Rules are negotiated between the campers' bargaining committee and the staff -- everything from recreational games to mealtimes and curfews. "The goal is to keep heavy-handed adult rules out,"
Rainsberger said.

If problems arise during the week, the bargaining committee "works with the staff to assure that a fair and equitable resolution is achieved," according to a camp brochure.

Instructors cram in exercises throughout the week that deal with child labor laws, problems that young workers may face, and strategies for dealing with working excessive hours, sexism, racism and other human rights issues.

"Some of the kids don't understand that they do have rights and can ask questions without being treated poorly or harassed," said Jan Mammen, a volunteer instructor at the camp and business
manager at Local 320 of the Office and Professional Employees union in Kansas City.

Campers also receive instruction on deciphering a paycheck and devise a household budget for a factory worker, Mammen said.

Rainsberger hopes the kids will go away with a better understanding of "work and the workplace experience."

Another goal of the program, he said, is to instill in the campers the importance of being role models "in their city, their neighborhood, their school."

Herb Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the Missouri AFL-CIO, said the development of the campers in one week is impressive. "They get just about as good an education in a week that you can ask
for," said Johnson.