After more than a year-long hiatus of VTA’s Overhead Line Worker Apprenticeship, the program is back to carry on the work of our VTA Family members who lost their lives May 26, 2021.
They’re called the “Power Crew”, the Overhead Line Workers who are responsible for inspecting and maintaining the electrical overhead line of VTA’s light rail system.
They are the highest paid ATU position at VTA, and the most dangerous. Because of the highly skilled technical nature of the job, it’s not an easy position to fill. And despite the pay level within its union, the Bay Area cost of living only makes filling those jobs tougher.
Originally, the apprenticeship program was 18 months long, and it allowed our agency to be fully staffed in the overhead line department. Then came May 26, 2021. In that tragedy, three overhead line workers who helped to keep our light rail system running were among the 9 initial victims.*
In the wake of the mass shooting, with light rail service suspended, the apprenticeship program stalled. In August 2022, a new class started training.
What Does the Overhead Line Worker Do?
During the last heat wave, the understaffed team was swamped. During the summer heat wave, scorching temperatures caused overhead electrical lines guiding our trains to sag, so these specialized teams in training were kept busy.
Working around live electricity is a serious hazard because of the dangerously high voltage.
“These people are going up in bucket trucks, several feet in the air in inclement weather, rain, or during extreme heat or lighting; they are dealing with high voltage,” said Transportation Superintendent Steve Jovel, co-director of the partnership program Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) with ATU.
They also need to make sure the pantograph, which connects the train to the overhead line, has a clear path away. Many of those inspections are done on foot, at night and during the day, and in sections throughout the 42 miles of VTA’s light rail system.
How did the Overhead Like Worker Apprenticeship start?
About four years ago, there were six openings in the overhead line and track worker department. Since recruitment for those jobs occurs among track workers and electromechanics, JWI decided to add that job specialty to the program, taking apprentices in this order: Senior track workers, Track workers, Electromechanics and electronic technicians.
Training
Currently, there are four apprentices in the program, two electromechanics and two senior track workers, who will complete their training in 2024.
The instruction, which takes place at the Guadalupe Yard, includes classroom work followed by a hands-on/practical module. They test weekly to ensure they are all learning everything they need to know.
Like the other JWI apprenticeships (Light Rail Operator, Mechanic, Bus Operator and Track Worker) employees are paid their regular wages during the training. “It is a win-win for the union and the agency,” said Jovel. “For the union workers, you give them that career ladder, that opportunity to move to a higher classification and for the agency to fulfill those positions.”
The reborn apprenticeship program is now two years long instead of 18 months, but that’s not the end of their training. The overhead line workers must complete multiple certifications at different intervals. Some, every year, some every two years.
VTA uses Titan Electrical Contracting, Inc. to provide most of the training led by Brian Grant. Other vendors are also contracted to teach specific parts of the program. Long range plans include a “train the Trainer” program, so VTA instructors will eventually teach the program directly.
JWI - Joint Workforce Investment
Like all JWI apprenticeship training programs, the overhead line apprenticeship program owes its success to the collaboration between management and labor.
The VTA/ATU Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) apprenticeship program is a national model as a partnership among VTA, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (ATU), and Mission College in Santa Clara, with support from the California Labor Federation and the “California Apprenticeship Initiative” of California Community Colleges.
All apprentices in the JWI program can earn up to 18 college credits during training, helping them create a path toward management positions.
Each apprentice completes 2,000 hours of classroom and on-the-job training, maintaining contact with a more experienced mentor in their job focus as a resource to help retain those new workers long term.
VTA was the first transit agency in the nation to offer certified apprenticeships for coach operators and mechanics. The agency began the program with bus operators to help fill a void expected by the so-called “Silver Tsunami,” an impending wave of retirement-eligible workers expected to leave the transit industry.
This year almost 50 workers applied for the overhead line apprenticeship program. there were only 8 openings. The next group of 4 electromechanics and trackworkers is scheduled to start the overhead line workers apprenticeship program in March or April 2023. It will be the second training class offered in the past four years.
*Note: The 10th victim of the May 26 attack on the Guadalupe Light Rail Yard was Henry Gonzalez, who, overcome by trauma, tragically took his own life three months after the shooting. We miss and mourn them all.