News
A Fond Farewell to Founding Director Brian J. Turner
Posted August 2016
Today, the first day of September, officially marks the retirement of the Transportation Learning Center’s Founding Director, Brian J. Turner. Working with former Transport Workers Union President Sonny Hall, Turner created the Center in 2000 as a nonprofit institution that could bring labor and management together around shared concerns on skills training and safety. Dr. Beverly Scott, then leading an APTA task force on the future of the transit workforce, was recruited by Turner and became an early and enthusiastic management representative on the first Board of Directors.
Turner has often cites one of his key mentors, former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, on the basic principle of labor-management partnership: everyone focuses on the zero-sum conflict on issues like wages, but there is a much larger area of mutual interest. Training emerges as one of those key areas of shared interest. By learning new skills, workers can often move into new jobs with better wages. Even if there is no immediate wage increase, workers generally want to know their jobs well and do their jobs well. Increasing skills on the shop floor can become a virtuous cycle where workers practice new techniques and share knowledge and insights. The transit manager’s quest to achieve the elusive “state of good repair” becomes realistic under these circumstances.
Brian Turner took a fundamental idea, that labor and management could find areas of agreement on training, and drove that concept to create the Transportation Learning Center. Under his leadership, the Center initiated local and regional partnerships for training. Realizing that the need for training was national, not local, Brian began the process of working with labor and management subject matter experts to define standards for training recognized by the entire industry. The resulting industry-accepted training for six transit occupations continue to shape workforce development for the transit industry.
Brian always insisted that good research needed to be a pillar of the Center’s work. Research on the return on investment for training turned into a series of reports called “Metrics of Success.” Current Center Deputy Director Xinge Wang led this research under Brian’s direction. As a researcher with a strong background on international economics, Brian himself did the research on international and domestic comparisons for a strong and full system of transit training. This research provided the framework for the Center’s ongoing work in promoting registered apprenticeship. The US Secretary of Labor also recognizes the importance of this research and has appointed and re-appointed Brian to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.
Brian himself often jokes that he just doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. The Center continues to exist because of his persistence and determination that a labor-management approach to workforce development is essential for the industry’s future. While Brian will pursue other interests, he remains committed to the Center, serves on its Board and will be at least an occasional advisor to current staff.
Stay tuned for an announcement of an official going away celebration tentatively planned for Fall 2016.
