AFL-CIO offers Organizing Apprenticeship

Applications now open for this intensive training designed to bring activists into the labor movement

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 28, 2025) — If you dream about creating a better world — not just living in one — then a career as a union organizer might be right for you. With billionaires and anti-worker politicians moving quickly to consolidate power, working people leveraging our power is all the more important. Building up a bench of strategic organizers to support workers is essential.

Enter the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Apprenticeship (OI), an intensive training program for activists who are ready to immediately jump into a career as a union organizer.

The OI is intended for unorganized folks looking to learn union-building skills. Specifically, it seeks to bring in activists who have been engaging in justice and organizing work outside the movement, but who are now looking to bring their talents to Labor. (Union members interested in organizing training can keep an eye on the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute Training Schedule for opportunities near them.)

The training begins with a three-day intensive, convening April 23 in Washington D.C. Next, participants will be selected to participate in a 12-week, paid field training with an AFL-CIO affiliate, gaining experience on a union organizing campaign firsthand. While training, housing and meals are also provided.

Successful candidates are energetic, passionate and committed to building a strong movement for working people in this country. Applicants should also be prepared to relocate or travel extensively to where their work is needed, and to begin work as an organizer within weeks of the OI’s end date.

Applications are now open and close March 19. For more information, visit aflcio.org/organizing-apprenticeship.