I was reading my most recent BMWE Journal where one brother was talking harsh realities when retiring at 55 years old with 30 years. Well, the harsh realities are what you see every day out here. I started March 1972 for the Norfolk & Western Railroad and some of the many good men who were out here before I was--I worked many years with them--now most all of them are retired and dead and gone. And some of them worked 40 some years before they could retire. Some of them drew one check, some three checks, some drew a year, some didn't draw any before they died from sickness. Because 38-40 years are too long to be beat by the weather and hard work out here. You're talking about a health plan at 62-65 years old to retire. You are looking at a high, high, high risk of using it.

Robert Tucker

Blackstone, VA

The following letter was written by BMWE member James Felger of Minerva, Ohio to Senator John McCain:

The intent of this letter is to appeal to your agenda, as a Republican, of protecting the American family and its values. I am speaking for my own family's situation and myself as an employee of Conrail.

I work as a repairman of maintenance of way equipment in a shop in Canton, Ohio. I am only one of approximately 120 employees and their families that are affected at this location. I have worked this job for Conrail for 19 years.

As I'm sure you are aware, Conrail, which is a very profitable, efficient railroad, with many awards for its service to its customers, has been bought jointly by Norfolk Southern and CSX.

Their intent is to carve up Conrail to increase their revenues, profits, and value for their shareholders. Their words (NS and CSX) may portray something more noble than this. However, quoting the Chinese Philosopher Loa-Tzu "Fine sounding words are not true words."

Being an employee whose family is going to be adversely affected by this merger, due to the announcement of both railroads' intentions of closing the Conrail MofW repair shop in Canton, Ohio, I follow the news about this merger daily.

There are many issues to be concerned with in this merger. I would like to touch on a few of them, but my main concern is the issue of the families involved, mine especially.

The issue of public safety and employee safety. A railroad merger cannot be likened at all to a bank merger or a phone merger. A bank merger that has a mistake can be remedied with a computer keystroke. A phone call mistake as a result of a merger can be corrected by re-dialing. A mix-up or a mistake in a railroad merger has resulted in tragedy as we have seen from the UP-SP merger out West.

Three locomotives pulling and two locomotives pushing 200 loaded freight cars is a weapon capable of destruction of enormous magnitude if a mistake is made. We all know the possibility of error is great as a result of a hostile takeover such as this one.

The customer issue. Conrail has won many awards over the years serving its customers. Awards given to them by the customers they have served. I'm sure than Conrail could accommodate most all customers' issues in time, above and beyond what NS and CSX are promising the government of the U.S.

My family's situation, as a result of this takeover, is one of setback. I have been told I will have to relocate to Richmond, Virginia or Charlotte, North Carolina to do the kind of work I do now and always have done for the railroad.

I am paid $35,000 a year. I now live in an area that I can afford to raise my family decently. This is cheap labor in comparison to the profits and revenues we help sustain for shareholders. If we have to move, it could break us or worse, we may not be able to afford to move and I would have to work for less. Losing my railroad retirement benefits that I was working towards.

The cities I am being "teased" into moving to have a much higher cost of living but the job pays a lower wage than I now make.

I am being told if I want to work at what I do, I will have to relocate. This is only if the unions negotiate an agreement that the new owners will accept. If not, I will get nothing and I won't have a job.

I have a wife of 16 years, a daughter 14 years old, a son 10 years old. We live in the same town I grew up in and many generations back have lived. This plays an important role in family values and our contribution to the community.

These railroads (all three in this case) treat us as owned property, unworthy of recognition in the form of due compensation for our efforts to make Conrail a very successful company. Conrail has had record profits and revenues the last five quarters, and has enjoyed much gain previously.

Conrail is paying out $250 million to its managers, vice presidents, CEO and even its retired managers whose jobs were bought out two years ago. Read that closely!

The labor that did the hands on work got laughs from the CEO of Conrail, David LeVan, who got a $22 million severance package along with approximately $120 million from his stock sale. We, as labor get nothing.

I appeal to Congress because I believe in what Thomas Jefferson said. A federal government was established "to protect the small and the weak," the strong and the powerful are able to care for themselves. He also said, "Still one thing more, fellow citizens--a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."

I feel that in this case of a hostile takeover, which requires U.S. Government approval, that you could turn this merger down and allow Conrail to achieve for its customers all that the other two railroads think they can deliver on.

To quote Mr. Jefferson again, "Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments, however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed."

It would not be an embarrassment to the U.S. Government nor beyond the scope of your duty to intervene in this business adventure on behalf of many thousands of people. The freight will still get hauled, consumers will still get their goods, customers will be served, I will have my job and many will keep their families intact.

It would also be within your scope of duties to enact laws protecting the rights and dignity of labor by awarding them severance packages not less than that of the people we work for when these people sell the fruits of labor to gain great sums of the accumulated wealth for themselves.

NOTE: WITH 2 PHOTOS

@ #1 cutline = Timothy McCall

@ #2 cutline = Mark Barbour

@ heading = Organizing Department Moves Forward

With the addition of Timothy McCall as the second Staff Assistant-Organizing, the BMWE Organizing Department gains solid full-time support. Paul Swanson is the Director of the Department and Carl Stark is the other full-time Staff Assistant. McCall, age 42, was appointed effective April 1, 1998.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, McCall, his wife Sharon Lynn and their three children make their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

McCall went to work for the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad in January 1980 and has worked as a trackman, painter, welder helper and machine operator.

He has held several positions in Subordinate Lodge 1100 and the Southern Pacific Atlantic Federation as well as State Legislative Director since 1994. Just prior to his Grand Lodge appointment, McCall served as First Vice Chairman of the federation.

Mark Barbour was appointed to the temporary position of Labor Party Organizer effective May 4, 1998. The main objective of his assignment is to educate and encourage subordinate lodges and system divisions and federations to affiliate, as Grand Lodge has done, with the Labor Party.

Barbour, who joined the BMWE in 1974, is currently Local Chairman of Subordinate Lodge 551 and a member of the Norfolk & Western System Federation Executive Committee. He, along with McCall, has worked as a part-time organizer in the BMWE's recent organizing campaigns on the Atlantic & Gulf, Georgia & Florida, Florida East Coast and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern railroads. He was the lead organizer in the successful Atlantic & Gulf, Georgia & Florida campaigns.

Barbour, age 44, lives with his family in Blacksburg, Virginia and runs a tamper for Norfolk Southern.

The President of the United States recently signed into law a bill that affects all veterans. This law states in effect that if a veteran has not registered at a Veterans Affairs Hospital since October 1, 1996, then on October 1, 1998 he or she will lose all medical benefits for life.

The V.A. is prohibited from notifying veterans about the new law. The information must be disseminated via word of mouth or by letter.

The V.A. recommends that everyone eligible for benefits come by their office, and sign prior to the October 1st deadline, regardless of whether they have received treatment at a V.A. Hospital since October 1, 1996. This way no one will slip through the cracks.

When visiting the V.A. to sign up you will need your DD-214 and you will need to complete a form that is available at the V.A. The form will only take about five minutes to complete. If you cannot locate your DD-214, go to the V.A. office and they can help you obtain a copy.

By accomplishing these simple procedures you will maintain your veteran's benefits.

Frederick Joseph Grant

Lubbock, TX