Transit workers reflect on what it means to be a mentor...

“The training and mentorship programs position transit workers as leaders who set quality service standards for the industry, provide support to new workers, take ownership of operations, and create solutions rather than problems…As a testament to the power of integrated worker voice, the mentoring program creates leaders in both management and unions, who in turn reinforce the value of working in partnership.”
-The High Road to Public Transit

On this International Workers' Day, CTW's senior policy advisor, Tom Fink, reminds us of the intrinsic value of work. 

     Another “first” for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) apprenticeship program with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). Two hundred seventy graduates of the program received Certificates of Achievement in Transportation from Mission College in Santa Clara. The participants who completed the 18-month JWI apprenticeship program at VTA received 18 college credits. VTA’s program was the first in the country to offer a bus operator apprenticeship, officially sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Labor, and it is the first in the country to offer such college credit, in its partnership with Mission College and ATU. 
      General Manager and CEO Nuria Fernandez addressed graduates at a November ceremony. “We know we face many challenges in this industry,” Fernandez told the graduates, “And one of them is attracting and retaining highly skilled, dedicated workers to carry mobility service into the next several decades. We are bringing labor and management together to identify and implement solutions that upskill, reskill and build the knowledge and capabilities of our operators and maintenance workers,” she said. 
      Since the inception of this initiative in 2015, Mission College has supported the education and training leading to Transit Career certifications in the fields of Coach Operator, Overhead Line Worker, Track Worker and Service Mechanic, which mirror the apprenticeships. Providing college credit in the program facilitates and encourages employees to advance in their careers. Each participant is assigned a more experienced mentor, which has allowed this program to become a national model for improving working conditions for transit workers, cutting down on absenteeism and reducing stress.
      Earlier this year, ATU International President John Costa visited San Jose to get a closer look at the workings of the joint management-labor initiative. Subsequently, his International Union passed a resolution to support the creation and development of similar programs at transit agencies across the country. VTA’s JWI program serves as a national model and works with the Transportation Learning Center to help other agencies develop like initiatives.  

Strengthening the voice transit workers have at their agencies is a top priority for International President of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) John Costa. When he heard that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and ATU Local 265 had a successful formula for that concept, he decided to make the three-thousand-mile trip from Washington, D.C. to San Jose to learn the secret to the success.

What Costa may not have expected to find was the strong relationship between management and labor created through the Joint Workforce Investment program (JWI.)

“I’m glad to see the pride here in how you work together,” Costa told a gathering of the VTA/ATU program participants who came together to provide Costa with a full view of how the program functions. “This is good stuff, working together.”

The JWI program is a labor/management partnership that provides mentors, apprenticeships, college credit, and in many cases, career advancement, for incoming and current VTA Operations employees, including bus and light rail operators, mechanics, and light rail overhead line and track workers. It’s become a national model for improving the working conditions of transit workers, and it was the brainchild of now-retired bus operator and ATU member Tom Fink.

​“When I came to ATU with this proposal, (15 years ago) I was riding on my reputation as a driver and a member of the ATU (Local 265) Executive Board,” said Fink, who drove a VTA bus for 25 years. “And I said we were in a predicament with what it takes to train and mentor operators on the street.”

​On April 13th , CTW Directors Jamaine Gibson and Ray Messier met with Golden Gate Transit (GGT) mentors to discuss developing metrics to track program successes and to explore methods GGT could use to strengthen mentor and mentee relationships and improve the mentoring process.

​Long time JWI mentor Ron Langston was recently profiled by VTA as part of Transit Driver Appreciation Day! 
In the article by Holly Perez, Ron highlights the importance of forming close bonds as "a critical part of a mentor and mentee relationship.”
​Read more about what keeps Ron going strong at vta.org/News-and-Media

On January 19th, members of CTW (Deb, Jamaine, Robert and Sue) took part in an all-day mentor training at AC Transit. The day started out with intros from the mentors and the coordinators Danny Marshall and Michael Flocchini of their program, followed by COO Salvador Llamas and the Director of Transportation Derik Calhoun. Deb Moy led the mentor focus group in the morning to help the mentors design their own GYR forms for the program. Deb stressed the importance of “letting the mentors voice their own words and reach their own conclusions during this process.” In the afternoon, Jamaine, Robert, Sue and Eric Chavez led a discussion on how we started our JWI program and some of the experiences that we’ve had throughout the years at VTA.

An event was held November 10th, 2018 at Golden Gate Transit's main yard in San Rafael, CA. to introduce the mentoring program and the mentors to the drivers. The mentors spent the day answering driver's questions, providing an overview of the role of a mentor, and explaining to drivers how they can also become a mentors. ​