Transit Green Jobs Training Partnership

In January 2010, the US Department of Labor awarded a $5 million grant to the Center for a Transit Green Jobs Training Partnership under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The Green Jobs Partnership invested $4 million for green jobs training in four transit locations, two with highly developed labor-management structures for front-line worker training and two with no prior history of labor-management partnership for training.  The four sites included: New York City Transit, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and their joint Training and Upgrade Fund; the Utah Transit Authority and Local 382 Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and their joint Intermountain Transit Career Ladder Partnership; New Jersey Transit and the New Jersey State Council of the ATU; and the Central Ohio Transportation Authority and Local 208 TWU.

In submitting the proposal, the Center and the four sites showed that transit is already a green sector. By offering an alternative to the use of private automobiles, the average transit maintenance or operations employee removes 134 tons of carbon from the atmosphere annually.  Transit continues to become even more green, and employees need the skills to master complex new technologies required for even better environmental outcomes.  USDOL in awarding $5 million from ARRA confirmed that transit is one of the most promising emerging green sectors of the economy.

A full report on the Green Jobs grant can be found in the Resources section.  A few highlights:

• More than 5,000 training opportunities were offered through this grant process.

• NJ Transit and the NJ ATU State Council reorganized and deepened the training available to bus maintainers on electric and electronic systems as the direct result of a skills gap analysis conducted under this grant.

• The Training and Upgrade Fund (TUF) of Local 100 and NY City Transit was able to introduce training on maintenance of solar arrays that produce electric power;  NY City Transit was also able to upgrade training on fiber optics.

• COTA in Columbus, OH already had achieved LEED certification for its newly built facilities; maintenance staff upgraded their skills to use the green technology to the greatest effect.

• Through the Intermountain Partnership, UTA and Local 382 were able to conduct a skills gap analysis for incumbent bus operators that led to improved training for current drivers and improved entry-level training for new employees.

• For the first time, a national joint committee brought together management and labor around issues of training for bus operators.  The national joint committee explored related issues and best practices on operator safety, restroom breaks and awareness of pedestrians when executing left hand turns.  The national joint committee reviewed and revised existing industry recommended practices for operator training.

• Working with several locations and with a national joint committee on bus maintenance, Center staff developed a new national training standard for advanced emissions controls consistent with EPA 2010 requirements.

• Center staff worked with joint teams at the sites to validate local training to the existing national standards.

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