News

Labor & Management Working Together to Strengthen Apprenticeship & Mentoring for Transit Coach

Posted August 2016

“When can we find a good time to meet?” That simple question opened up a lively discussion about how labor and management need to learn how to find common ground in building a partnership that works for a transit coach operator apprenticeship program. Deb Moy, who has served as the facilitator for the Joint Workforce Investment partnership between Valley Transit Authority and ATU Local 265 in San Jose, posed the question as part of her presentation to the August 2-4 national meeting of the Transit Coach Operator Apprenticeship Committee in Oakland, CA. Time to meet really focused on the need to bring together experienced operators willing to serve as mentors with new operators for an intense day of discussion and training. Representatives from both labor and management in Washington DC, Baltimore, the Twin Cities, Cleveland, Oakland, San Mateo County, Dallas and San Jose all responded.

At that point, Mike Hursh, currently the General Manager at AC Transit in Oakland and formerly the Chief Operating Officer at VTA, jumped in to offer the perspective from his experience. For the union, it might mean leaning on some members to take overtime on a weekend day. The mentor training might not be your priority, but it’s important to the union. For management, it might mean that we decide to miss a route on a Sunday. That’s not ideal for service, but we decide that this training is a priority.

Through the two and half day meeting, participants reviewed and revised current industry standards for training, exchanged ideas on current and best practices for training, discussed ways to combat operator assaults and debated what a new competency-based format for coach operator apprenticeship would look like. Diane Jones from the Urban Institute presented the competency-based model she is developing for the US Department of Labor. Bus operator assaults were a particular focus of discussion with a lot of attention on how law enforcement can be involved in training operators on their rights. The model of mentoring for apprenticeship remained central through the whole meeting.

Participants of the meeting included labor and management representatives from:

For more information on the Transit Coach Apprenticeship Committee:
-    Read the full story
-    Contact Project Manager Tia Brown.