(The Chicago Sun-Times posted the following article by Francine Knowles on its website on July 21.)
CHICAGO — After being laid off from a job as a printer five months ago, Derek Kimble found himself out of work along with millions of others in a still-limping economy.
But a week after completing a unique employer-designed conductor training program, he landed a job with Union Pacific Railroad and says he’s on track to earn around $40,000 this year.
He’s not alone. Some 113 Chicago residents have landed employment as freight conductors since completing the city’s Railroad Hiring Initiative program, which boasts a 98 percent job placement rate.
That rate is “nothing short of phenomenal,” said Will Edwards, project manager with the Workforce Solutions unit of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development.
MOWD partnered with City Colleges of Chicago to offer the training program at Daley College.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX Corp., which has operations in the Chicago metropolitan area and nationally, developed the curriculum and testing for the program to meet a growing industry need for conductors and locomotive engineers.
The industry has an aged work force and faces a “retirement bubble,” thanks to federal legislation passed two years ago that allows workers to retire and receive full benefits at age 60, down from age 62, said Ray Wolf, manager of training at CSX.
“Over the next five to seven years, a huge number of employees will retire,” he said. “We’re trying to meet demand by having the colleges as partners.”
The industry is expected to hire thousands of people over the next three to four years to fill the jobs of retiring staff and has partnered with eight colleges around the country, including Daley College, to help address its hiring needs.MOWD used community development block grants to provide $157,000 in training funds for a pilot version of the program that was launched in 1998 with 15 students. To date the city has provided $600,000 in funding for the program, which included covering students’ tuition fees of $4,250 per student at Daley College. A class under way now has 17 students, and the program has evolved to include Union Pacific as a partner.
Neither CSX nor Union Pacific guarantee employment, but they do guarantee interviews at the end of the training.
The five-week courses are not held year-round but rather in accordance with industry demand. That increases the probability that those who complete the training will land work as conductors, whose job is to inspect train equipment prior to departure and to supervise the switching, loading and unloading of train cars and the break-up and make of trains.MOWD Commissioner Jackie Edens views the city’s investment in the program as a good one, given the nearly $3.4 million in taxable salaries it has produced.
That salary figure doesn’t include the current class, where students will soon be undergoing job interviews, with prospects for landing work high.Edens stressed the program puts workers on a career path to boost their salaries beyond the $30,000 to $40,000 conductor range. Locomotive engineers, who can make $70,000 in annual pay, start out as conductors, program representatives noted. Edens contends the city has a vested interest in offering the training.
“Seventy-five percent of all rail freight passes through city rail yards,” she said. “In support of that industry, it would behoove me to find money to keep the jobs from going elsewhere.”
Among current class participants is 33-year-old Andre Wrenn. The former office equipment salesman decided to enter the field after being laid off for roughly six months.
“With the layoffs and state of the job market in corporate America, I wanted something that was more stable,” he said of why he pursued the training.In light of the fact that many people are expected to retire from the industry in the next several years, he said he sees opportunity for growth and advancement.
“I’d like to advance to the highest level,” he said of his long-term goals.
Kimble, who has been on the job for five weeks, traveling Midwestern routes, also shares that goal. He said he enjoys the work.
“I’ve worked outside lot,” he said of his past experiences. “I’ve operated machinery. I’m not scared of hard work.”
The conductor training he received prepared him well for the job, he said.
The training program is open to Chicago residents who have a high school diploma or equivalent. To qualify, applicants must be able to lift 85 pounds, have a valid driver’s license, and pass a physical, drug test and criminal background test.