OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) apprenticeship program page.
JWI is a national model dedicated to creating a work environment that supports the long-term professional development and health and wellness of employees in collaboration with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (ATU) and Mission College in Santa Clara County with support from the California Labor Federation and the “California Apprenticeship Initiative” of California Community Colleges.
JWI HISTORY
Established in 2006, the JWI program, as a labor/management partnership, 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 transit workers' working conditions, 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,” says 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.”
Fink describes the kind of stress front-line transit workers, like bus operators, experience navigating a multi-ton bus safely through traffic while dealing with some riders who can sometimes be less than respectful or even outright abusive.
Such conditions can and do drive operators away from these jobs, and Fink wanted to figure out a way to keep that from happening. He knew the union couldn’t do it alone, and management hadn’t been able to find the secret to success either. But coming together to tackle the issues soon made all the difference.
“The common ground,” said Fink, “was that we were both concerned about serving the public.”
Lisa Vickery, now a Deputy Director of Operations Development, helped get the program off the ground on the management side as a newly minted supervisor. “Being able to build trust and speak honestly, our compromise is that we can look at a problem from two completely different perspectives but come up with a solution,” Vickery said.
ATU brought in a third-party facilitator, Deb Moy, of California Transit Works!, a consortium focused on transit workforce development, to draw the two sides together to create the program. Moy started doing “focus groups” among workers to see what issues needed to be addressed for them to maintain healthy, successful careers. She nurtured management to address those concerns, and both sides agreed to commit to honest, open communication to improve the working environment.
Joint Workforce Investment Lunch & Learn
OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Joint Workforce Investment (JWI) apprenticeship program page.
JWI is a national model dedicated to creating a work environment that supports the long-term professional development and health and wellness of employees in collaboration with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 (ATU) and Mission College in Santa Clara County with support from the California Labor Federation and the “California Apprenticeship Initiative” of California Community Colleges.
JWI HISTORY
Established in 2006, the JWI program, as a labor/management partnership, 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 transit workers' working conditions, 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,” says 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.”
Fink describes the kind of stress front-line transit workers, like bus operators, experience navigating a multi-ton bus safely through traffic while dealing with some riders who can sometimes be less than respectful or even outright abusive.
Such conditions can and do drive operators away from these jobs, and Fink wanted to figure out a way to keep that from happening. He knew the union couldn’t do it alone, and management hadn’t been able to find the secret to success either. But coming together to tackle the issues soon made all the difference.
“The common ground,” said Fink, “was that we were both concerned about serving the public.”
Lisa Vickery, now a Deputy Director of Operations Development, helped get the program off the ground on the management side as a newly minted supervisor. “Being able to build trust and speak honestly, our compromise is that we can look at a problem from two completely different perspectives but come up with a solution,” Vickery said.
ATU brought in a third-party facilitator, Deb Moy, of California Transit Works!, a consortium focused on transit workforce development, to draw the two sides together to create the program. Moy started doing “focus groups” among workers to see what issues needed to be addressed for them to maintain healthy, successful careers. She nurtured management to address those concerns, and both sides agreed to commit to honest, open communication to improve the working environment.