Workers’ District Council Opens New Training Center in North Philadelphia

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Workers’ District Council Opens New Training Center in North Philadelphia

Published on 06/26/2021 in news & articles

Workers’ District Council Opens New Training Center in North Philadelphia

Sam Staten Jr. speaks during the opening of the Laborers’ District Council Training and Learning Center.

Samuel Staten Jr. takes pride as he walks through the doors of the new Workers’ District Council Training and Learning Center.

His name decorates a $ 30 million facility aimed at training the next generation of professional construction craft workers.

“It’s important to see this school succeed,” Staten, business manager of Trade Union Local Union 332 and vice president of the United Nations of North American Trade Unions, said at the center’s Grand Opening Ceremony.

“I know this is not the Sam Staten Jr. building,” he said. “I had a partner, so it’s the Workers District Council (LDC) building.”

With that in mind, the 60,000-square-foot three-story building designed by Camille Person Architects is Ryan N. Boyer, James N. Harper Jr., Joseph M. Marto Serra Sr., and Esteban Bella Jr.

Staten hopes that the school will give formerly imprisoned people a second chance and offer young people an opportunity.

“We have to give them an opportunity,” said Staten, who has been in the labor movement for almost 50 years.

“I hope this school will do it for them. If they want, give them an opportunity.”

Community members, construction union officials, elected officials and judges attended the Grand Opening Ceremony on Friday hosted by the Workers’ District Council in and around Philadelphia and the Workers Employers Cooperation Education Trust.

Mayor Jim Kenney talked about how the center can help combat gun violence, which is currently affecting some of Philadelphia’s youth.

“This is the type of experience that will save our children,” he said.

“When they can pick up the tools, they will prevent them from picking up the gun. You can go to work, get paid, and get paid every two weeks. You don’t have to struggle or quarrel on the street when you know. “

Training Center Grand Opening

Officials cut the ribbon on the new Laborers’ District Council Training and Learning Center at 1333 N. Broad St. The Laborers District Council of Philadelphia and the Vicinity is Philadelphia’s only majority Black building trades union. — TRIBUNE PHOTOs/ABDUL R. SULAYMAN

The facility is 1333 N. Broad St on the site of the former William Penn High School. It is in. Through collaboration with Temple University, the center will increase educational and learning opportunities available to the surrounding community. The building was supported by a $ 4.5 million redevelopment support capital program grant from the state.

“I’m also grateful and proud of what this building represents for Philadelphia workers and the surrounding district council,” said Esteban Vera Jr., Business Manager at Laborers’ Local 57. Says.

“This was a collaboration between Philadelphia’s leadership here and the vision we had for quite some time, and today we realize that vision will come true.”

“This state-of-the-art facility not only helps our members, but also to the community in which it stands to prepare, equip and produce quality workers with the highest skills in the region. I hope that, “he continued.

The auditorium in the building is named after the late Joseph M. Martosera Sr., a former president of the Association of Eastern Contractors in Pennsylvania, who has worked with LDC for many years.

“This new facility represents so much,” said his son, Joseph M. Martosella Jr.

“It represents diligence, which is synonymous with the Workers’ District Council. It represents education. It represents work. It represents a better change in the lives of individuals and families, in union construction. It represents a career. “

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Source Links:

https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/laborers-district-council-opens-new-training-center-in-north-philadelphia/article_4174506a-bede-5ac5-a2dd-4907422c50bd.html

https://pennsylvanianewstoday.com/workers-district-council-opens-new-training-center-in-north-philadelphia-local-news/177361/

 

 

Contact Name: Ayana Jones - TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER