Training Partnerships That Work: An Emerging National Network

published: 2010
By Julie Deibel, Nichole Bauer and Aimee Custis
Training Partnerships That Work provides vivid summaries of successful labor-management training partnerships at sites across the country. The partnerships profiled range from long-established training systems such as that between Chicago Transit Authority and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 9 to Pennsylvania's broad, statewide Keystone Transit Career Ladder Partnership, which encompasses over 25 transit agencies and local unions. In contrast, relatively young joint efforts, such as that between Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transportation Authority and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732 are also included. The cases included here represent a diverse set of transit systems and unique training partnerships. Most importantly, they illustrate how labor and management can work together successfully on issues of training, and provide valuable lessons for other industries facing the problem of retiring baby boomers and inadequate capacity to train replacement workers.

Working Together: A Systems Approach for Transit Training

published: 2009
This publication draws example from the Center's national labor-management committees, which have met regularly for several years to develop consensus training guidelines. These joint committees have focused on five transit maintenance occupations: bus, rail signals, traction power, rail vehicles and transit elevator/escalator. A parallel joint effort has been crafting a national framework for transit apprenticeship.

This publication outlines the process of creating and utilizing labor-management training partnerships through such things as:
o Skill gap analyses
o Training standard creation
o Forming training networks and labor-management committees
o Developing new courseware

Transit Partnership Pays: Working Together – Everybody Wins

published: 2009
By Julie Deibel and Nichole Bauer

The Center's partnership-based, data-driven model for developing training reaps enormous gains for transit agencies, workers and the customers of public transportation. This report highlights the abundant evidence that the most successful, cost efficient and durable training systems come from industry based labor-management partnerships.

Passing on the Legacy: The Benefits of Mentoring in Transit Training

published: 2008
Training transit workers reaps benefits for transit agencies, workers and those who ride public transportation. Passing on the Legacy explores the role of mentoring in transit training. The Center profiled three mentoring programs at Portland TriMet, Alameda Contra-Costa Transit District and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Varying in size, location and training programs, these three locations prove that mentoring can be a successful tool to hone worker skills in any setting.

People Make the Hardware Work: Transit Experts Call for Labor-Management Training Partnerships

published: 2008
A summary of findings from the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), a service of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Public Transportation Association. This short piece outlines five tools for success in labor-management training partnerships:
1. Unions as Partners
2. A Joint Training Strategy
3. Empowering the Workforce
4. Cultivating a Learning Organization
5. Reaching High Performance