Celebrating ATLAS (SunLine and ATU 1277) Partnership Journey!

​From July 14–16, 2025, the Sunline Transit and ATU Local 1277, HRTP (ATLAS) took part in a powerful three-day benchmarking visit AND partnership building retreat in Northern California. The goal of this visit was to strengthen the ATLAS partnership by learning from HRTPs in northern California and taking important time together (away from daily work demands) to build a strong foundation for the SunLine and ATU 1277 partnership.
 
This visit showcased the vibrant California Transit Works (CTW) statewide network of High Road Training Partnerships (HRTPs). It was an exciting learning opportunity – not only for ATLAS, but for northern California HRTPs to acknowledge and celebrate the significance of their own work.

Day 1 kicked off in Stockton with San Joaquin Driving Force, the HRTP between San Joaquin RTD and ATU Local 256. San Joaquin Driving Force Ciro Aguilar, Chief Operating Officer, Crystal Lee, President/Business Agent of ATU256, and their labor and management team members organized an impressive presentation highlighting their partnership journey.

For more information about the San Joaquin Driving Force, visit their page.

Day 2 began at Progress In Action (PIA), the HRTP between AC Transit and ATU Local 192. ATLAS members took a deeper dive into maintenance and operator programs. A highlight of the PIA visit was learning about the role of peer mentor coordinators from Kay Avognon (bus operators) and Gustavo Vasquez (maintenance).  The benchmarking concluded with a visit to SMART, the SamTrans and ATU 1574 partnership. ATLAS especially enjoyed hearing from their peer mentors. 

Learn more about PIA by visiting their page.

Day 3 concluded with a retreat facilitated by CTW and gave ATLAS labor and management members the opportunity to draw from the benchmarking visits in designing the foundation of their own partnership. Labor and management shared open and honest assessments of SunLine operations, and how they want to move forward as a strong team.

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As George Hernandez, SunLine Maintenance Mechanic/ATU 1277 Shop Steward, remarked, "Let's do it. I love it! I'm excited. It makes me want to stay, you know, a little bit longer instead of retiring. To see it done, that's been always my dream, to see it done."  They concluded the visit by creating an action plan of how ATLAS will move forward in 2025. ​

​Gustavo Vasquez, ATU Local 192 Apprentice Mentor, captured the spirit of ATLAS throughout the benchmarking process: “There definitely is passion — Your heart's in it. Stay with it. Create that partnership between union and management. Work together. Once you guys work together and there's harmony there, you guys will progress quickly as you get to where you want to be!”

Thank you to ATLAS and all the HRTPs who contributed to making this visit a resounding success! CTW looks forward to continuing these exchanges between HRTPs and building a strong network/learning community of these groundbreaking public transit HRTPs in California.