New MCTS Apprenticeship Program Seeks Stronger Workforce

New MCTS apprentices. Photo taken April 29, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) launched a registered apprenticeship program Tuesday, officially signing on more than two dozen future mechanics and bus operators.

MCTS has spent the past four years working with the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 to develop the programs. Transit agencies across the country have struggled to retain workers, including MCTS, and officials celebrated the new program for its potential to develop and retain the transit system’s workforce.

“Now, this is going to bring new opportunities to our workforce and help us continue to move Milwaukee economy’s economy forward,” County Executive David Crowley said at a signing ceremony and press conference for the inaugural program.

The new apprentices are being drawn from the transit system’s existing workforce and they will enter either an 18-month program for mechanics or a 12-month program for operators. One new apprentice, Sharieka Thomas, began working for MCTS in 2017 as a bus cleaner and tanker. At the end of her apprenticeship she will be a certified A-level mechanic, which is the highest grade.

Apprentices will be paid and assigned a mentor to help them through the program. Mechanic apprentices will make $30 to $33 an hour and operator apprentices $25.40 an hour. The goal is to begin each new apprentice cohort with 25 bus operator apprentices and two mechanic apprentices.

Each mechanic apprentice will receive $4,000 worth of tools from the transit system. This sort of investment in the trade has long proven a barrier for individuals interested in learning to become a mechanic, said Julie Esch, MCTS interim managing director.

The ATU national union has worked to develop similar apprentice programs across the country, said Donnell Shorter, an MCTS mechanic and former president of ATU 998. The skilled labor workforce is aging, with a majority of skilled labor workers nearing retirement age, Shorter said. The apprenticeship program should help MCTS bring in more young skilled laborers, and retain the workers it has. Other ATU properties have found the mentorship aspect of the apprenticeship program has bolstered workforce retention, Shorter said.

MCDOT Director Donna Brown-Martin said the new apprenticeship program is the first of its kind for MCTS and will help the transit agency develop its workforce for the future.

“Without a qualified workforce, the people of Milwaukee County might not get to work,” Brown-Martin said. “No matter who you are, someone you rely on relies on public transit.”

DWD officials including Secretary Amy Pechacek and David Polk, director of Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards, attended the ceremony Tuesday. Apprenticeships are critical for developing the workforce for jobs in demand now, and those that will be needed in the future, Pechacek said.

Polk is a former apprentice himself, having started his career as a plumbing apprentice. He encouraged the apprentices signing on with MCTS Tuesday to remain life-long learners, telling them he never imagined his apprenticeship would one day lead him to the top of a state government agency.