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Celebrating the workforce of the future on Labor Day


This article was originally posted by Sound Transit on September 1st, 2022. The article was written by Katie Metzger.


When you’re starting out in the construction trades, it’s not about how much you know, but how hard you try to learn it.

That was one of many key pieces of advice that carpenters, engineers and labor specialists gave to young people when they toured a Sound Transit construction site in late August. While walking the guideway of the future Federal Link Extension, a cohort from the Palmer Pathways pre-apprenticeship program had a chance to ask questions and get guidance from representatives from Sound Transit and our contractor, Kiewit. Kiewit’s Jason Silva answers questions from the Palmer Pathways cohort on our job site in Federal Way.The Federal Way Link Extension adds almost eight miles to our regional light rail network. Sound Transit is currently building more than 40 miles of rail and 28 new stations, and we need a skilled workforce to deliver these important projects. As Labor Day approaches, we celebrate the people hard at work to connect more people to more places in our region. If you’re interested in the trades, you can learn more about pre-apprenticeship on our website or check out the 2022 Construction Apprenticeship Guidebook. Walking along the guideway near the Federal Way Transit Center.We partner with many local organizations that run construction job training programs, including Palmer Pathways, to develop the workforce of the future.

Sound Transit’s Project Labor Agreements set the apprenticeship utilization goal at 20 percent of the total construction hours worked - a high standard for projects. This ensures that there are opportunities for workers who want to get into the construction trades and that there is a ready and able supply of trained candidates.

Based out of Lakewood, Palmer Pathways responds to the growing workforce needs in Pierce County by guiding young adults of color between the ages of 18-26 into meaningful family-wage careers like the construction trades.

It's a great career path; $65,598 is the average starting salary for a meter apprentice, according to Palmer Pathways. And their training program is free.

This cohort is getting ready to graduate on Sept. 7, after earning six certifications, learning construction skills and math, and having try-a-trade experiences, site visits and meetings with union and employer representatives.

It’s only fitting that they were able to tour the transit project that will connect South King County and Pierce County to the rest of the region via fast, dependable light rail service. The Palmer Pathways cohort smiles with representatives from Kiewit and Sound Transit.Pathways to the trades

Sound Transit works with organizations like Palmer Pathways, ANEW, TRAC and more throughout the region to make sure our job sites have the skilled labor needed to expand your mass transit system over the next 25 years.

The agency is invested in several construction training programs around the Puget Sound, including those that serve women, people of color and other diverse groups. 

Hopefully this isn’t the first time you’ve come across our stories about pre-apprenticeship programs. For more, check out:


 
 
 

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Palmer Scholars acknowledges that our work is carried out on, and our office space is located within, occupied Coast Salish land, specifically that of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. We pay respect to Coast Salish Elders past and present and extend that respect to their descendants and to all Indigenous peoples. To acknowledge this land is to recognize its longer history and our place in that history; it is to recognize these lands and waters and their significance for the peoples who lived and continue to live in this region, whose practices and spiritualties were and are tied to the land and the water, and whose lives continue to enrich and develop in relationship to the land, waters, and other inhabitants today.

 

We also pause to recognize and acknowledge the labor upon which our country, state, and institutions are built.

We remember that our country is built on the labor of enslaved people who were kidnapped and brought to the U.S. from the African continent and recognize the continued contribution of their survivors. We also acknowledge all immigrant labor, including voluntary, involuntary, trafficked, forced, and undocumented peoples who contributed to the building of the country and continue to serve within our labor force. We acknowledge all unpaid care-giving labor.

 

To the people who contributed this immeasurable work and their descendants, we acknowledge our/their indelible mark on the spaces in which we operate today. It is our collective responsibility to critically interrogate these histories, to repair harm, and to honor, protect, and sustain this land.

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