Conducting Apprenticeship Programs and Skill Gap Analyses within a National Framework A Transit Success Story US DOL Region 1 Green Jobs Conference May 17, 2011

What is the Transportation Learning Center? What do our programs do? Center programs: Build LOCAL labor-management training partnerships at transit properties nationwide Construct and implement a national framework of initiatives, practices and resources to help our local partnerships (and others like them) succeed in their training goals Contribute to research on workforce development topics and training return on investment (ROI) within the transit industry The Center uses labor-management partnerships to improve workforce development in the transit industry.

In the next 15 minutes – Why transit? Why has the Transportation Learning Center chosen transit as an industry to focus on in its workforce development efforts? What is the need for workforce development in the transit industry? National framework as a successful model in transit Takeaway: National system characteristics from transit can be applied in other industries

Why Transit? Why focus our energies on the transit industry? And why is the labor- management partnership model a good fit? Transit is a very GREEN industry Transit industry jobs on the whole offer good, family-sustaining wages Union density Need

Transit Jobs = Green Jobs Each blue collar transit worker saves 138 million metric tons of CO 2 per year. That’s 28,750 times the carbon saved by a single person taking transit to work every day! Transportation accounts for 30% of US greenhouse gas emissions. Burning fossil fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a year in health costs.

Transit jobs = Family sustaining jobs Average national wages: Bus operators: $18.41 Transit maintenance workers: $21.39 Transit jobs also typically provide good benefits. Union density in blue collar transit occupations exceeds 90 percent. Any workforce development initiative that fails to engage this 90+ percent dooms itself to failure from the outset. Transit jobs = Union jobs

Transit NEEDS a better workforce development system – FAST! New technologies in maintenance are pervasive Transit is already beginning to experience a skills shortage crisis caused by retirements of skilled workers from baby boom generation Gas prices and sustainability awareness are growing demand for reliable transit service nationwide

Making problems worse, transit has historically underinvested in workforce development, further decreasing the available number of skilled workers.

Responding to the Skills Crisis: Local Partnerships supported by National Framework Local Partnerships: Labor-Management partnerships work because both labor and management have an interest in better training Start at the local and regional level with problem-solving approach, data-driven decision making (more on this point in a moment) “Grow Your Own” as solution to skills needs—active career ladder for transit National framework Local partnerships

National Framework: Maintaining a bus in Boston requires same skills as maintaining a bus in Boise Labor and management subject matter experts who can define skill sets at a local level can broaden that to a national set of training standards National standards mean that each location has a common framework for its training program In transit, bus maintenance, rail car, signals, traction power and elevator escalator skills standards have been established by the industry Responding to the Skills Crisis: Local Partnerships supported by National Framework

Apprenticeship and National Standards Bus Maintenance Committee has defined skills standards and applied successfully to create a national apprenticeship program for bus technicians based on those standards Rail car maintenance committee is going through same process; transit elevator- escalator is preparing to do the same

Characteristics of Apprenticeship in our National System Voluntary and local. A national framework can make it easier to move to apprenticeship, but apprenticeship needs to be built location by location through collective bargaining Career ladder programs share some characteristics with apprenticeship, such as upward mobility for current workers. Apprenticeship develops a full model that applies to current workers and new entrants. Apprenticeship also recognizes the key role of skilled workers in passing along what they know.

Components of the Transit Partnership Model Labor-management steering committee Work group(s) to carry out the process Skill gap survey – using learning objectives from national standards in each relevant technical area Survey employees on their skill levels In transit, these include such areas as vehicle brakes, electronics and HVAC Training to national standards – Validate courseware to national standards by comparing curriculum to national standards Add and/or share curriculum from other locations to fill in holes in the existing curriculum

Data-driven decision making Once you’ve determined what skills are needed to do job well, a skills gap survey can identify training needs The national skills standards give you the basis for assessing skills in your location Working together on the skills assessment process creates a dynamic of labor and management owning the process and owning the resulting data

Key elements of a good skills survey Data is confidential. Worker who admits not knowing something is helping to identify a training need and cannot be punished Labor and management work together to build confidence in process Self-rating on a scale of 0-4 for every detailed task 0 = don’t know this task, 4 = know well enough to teach others

Sample of skills survey result

Take Home Lessons 1.Apprenticeship’s joint labor-management structure has met test of time in delivering high quality training 2.Joint labor-management structure can be applied to career ladder efforts that are not full apprenticeship programs 3.Joint ownership of both process and results become cornerstone of future work 4.A skills assessment conducted properly starts the process 5.National skills standards developed jointly make it easier to do skills assessment locally

For more information: Jack Clark Director of Workforce Development Transportation Learning Center Or visit our website For more on the transit industry national framework model, see Working Together: A Systems Approach for Transit Training. Working Together: A Systems Approach for Transit Training