July

The 43^rd Regular Grand Lodge Quadrennial Convention was held July 13 through 17, 1998, in Montreal, Quebec, with the 517 delegates setting the BMWE's direction as we approach the next millennium. President Mac A. Fleming and Secretary-Treasurer W. E. LaRue were both reelected by acclamation to their third term of office. The highlight of the week was the second (the first being at the 1994 Convention) Solidarity Education Day on Thursday, with the entire day devoted to discussion and work groups dealing with issues of major importance to BMWE members. Immediately following the Convention President Fleming headed to Mexico, leading a delegation that signed an historic solidarity agreement with the Mexican Railwaymen's Union.

Also during convention, an important arbitration award was released having to do with travel allowance benefits under the National Agreement Article XIV. While it was a BNSF award, it was written in broad language, "so we think that this should settle the cases on all the 298 railroads," said Steve Powers, BMWE Director of Arbitration. On July 23, the written decision of the Surface Transportation Board approving the purchase of Conrail by CSX and Norfolk Southern was released.

A Few Scenes From Convention

Diversity Committee

In order to explore how the BMWE can better serve the interests of its culturally diverse membership, President Fleming created a new Convention Committee -- the Diversity Committee -- to meet and develop recommendations. After several meetings (early in the morning and late in the evening) the Diversity Committee reached a consensus on the following recommendations in their report and a resolution which were accepted and passed by the delegates. Members of this first Diversity Committee were Gilles Beauregard, Jasper Brar, Frank Coleman, Herman Dixon, Eddie Posas, Jr., Raimero Ramirez, Anthony Rochon, and Joel Myron, Convenor, and Advisors Susan Creswell and Tim McCall.

1. The Diversity Committee should continue as a Committee of the BMWE after the Convention and meet periodically.

2. Grand Lodge should write letters to local lodge presidents and secretary-treasurers asking for recommendations for qualified people to fill appointee positions along with the job advertisements that are published in the Journal. The letter should include a sentence that all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply for the advertised position, including minorities and women. The letter sent to the local lodge presidents and secretary-treasurers should be published in the Journal each time job advertisements are published.

3. There should be more education programs and all members, including minorities and women, should be encouraged to attend. Some educational programs should also take place in areas where there are concentrations of minorities and translation services should be provided, when necessary.

4. BMWE should fund educational seminars, including salaries and expenses for attendees, and make them available for all members, encouraging minorities and women to attend.

5. The President should attend more general membership meetings, encourage all members, including minorities and women to attend and discuss issues of interest to all.

6. Grand Lodge should have an "Office of Civil Rights" connected to the General Counsel's office.

7. BMWE should provide union material in English, Spanish, French, and other languages if necessary, when needed and should encourage carriers to provide collective bargaining agreements in English, French and Spanish.

8. Designate a minority-owned law firm on the FELA approved list.

RESOLUTION No. 47

FIGHT DISCRIMINATION OF RAILROAD PROPERTIES

WHEREAS, The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes has an obligation to represent all its members equally; and

WHEREAS, Railroad companies across the United States and Canada have practiced and continue to practice discrimination; and

WHEREAS, Discrimination by the railroads has caused hardship and mental anguish to our members and is designed to divide our members against each other; and

WHEREAS, Several lawsuits against discrimination by the railroads have been filed on behalf of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes' members; Therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 43rd Grand Lodge Convention of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes go on record to fight discrimination on railroad properties across the United States and Canada with all of the commitment of which we are capable, within the context of financially prudent allocation of resources.

In Solidarity -- Canada - Mexico - United States

First North American Railway Labor Conference

An historic agreement pledging mutual solidarity was signed in Mexico City on July 23, 1998, at the First North American Railway Labor Conference, by BMWE President Mac A. Fleming, BLE President Clarence V. Monin and Victor F. Flores Morales, National Secretary of STFRM (the Mexican Railwaymen's Union). This first conference followed several years of developing contacts with the Mexican railroad union, which represents all crafts on the railroad.

In the spring of 1997, the BMWE and the BLE entered into a partnership initiative to attend to specific matters of interest to the two unions as it pertains to recent developments in the railroad industry, both in the United States and Mexico. In October the Transport Workers Union joined this partnership.

Working cooperatively with the AFL-CIO, the unions were particularly interested in labor and economic issues resulting from accelerated U.S. trade policies with other countries in the Western Hemisphere. The primary aim of their initiative was to develop policies and programs to address job protection, growth and improvement of working conditions and living standards of their memberships.

In April of this year, following what began as a wildcat strike of Mexican railroad workers on February 16 (See May 1998 JOURNAL), a delegation from the United States undertook a fact-finding trip to investigate the rail workers' situation in Mexico. Under the auspices of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, the delegation included Joel Myron, Director of Research and Roger Sanchez, General Chairman, from the BMWE as well as representatives from the BLE, TWU, UTU, TCU and Teamsters. Author Dan LaBotz accompanied the group as tour guide and interpreter.

While in Mexico City, the union leaders met with Mexican railroad union leaders, officials of the Secretary of Communications and Transportation and the Mexican National Railways (FERRONALES) and congressgional representatives and senators. The group also toured the Terminal Valle de Mexico railroad yards and shops and met and talked with railroad workers. Later the delegation traveled to Empalme, Sonora to talk with local leaders and workers involved in the strike there in February-March.

Among the union leaders in Mexico the U.S. leaders talked to were: Victor Flores, head of the Railwaymen's Union, STFRM; Salvador Zarco, leader of the Committee to Defend the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a caucus within STFRM; and Carlos Figueroa, leader of Local 8 of STFRM in Empalme.

As a result of this trip and the expressions of solidarity by the U.S. union officials, Flores began organizing the First Northern American Railway Labor Conference. Attending this conference from the BMWE, were Myron, Sanchez, President Mac A. Fleming and Canadian Vice President Gary Housch.

Because President Fleming's brief speech after the signing of the historic agreement provides us with an excellent summary of the feelings of the unions' leadership, we are printing it here in full. We are also printing a full copy of the Trilateral Letter of Agreement following President Fleming's speech.

President Fleming's Speech

It is difficult to describe what has happened here in such a short period of time. I came to Mexico City to begin what I believed would be a relatively lengthy process of forging unity with mi hermanos and hermanas south of the U.S. border. Brother Monin and I discussed this because we saw that the same companies that our members work for in the U.S. and Canada were using NAFTA to spread their operations into Mexico. We knew their agendas from their anti-worker, anti-union actions in the U.S. We knew that although most of them are not ill intentioned, their agenda placed their workers at a lower priority than we place our members -- and, after all, our members are their workers.

We knew that they want to maximize profits at any expense. While we also want efficient, profitable railroads -- we also must have railroads that provide decent salaries, benefits, working conditions and safety for their workers, even if that eats into some of the railroads' profits.

We knew that when we came here to meet with President Victor Flores Morales and his Executive Board that we were meeting with a union leadership that functions under different laws than we do in the U.S. and Canada. We knew that he headed a union that represents all railroad workers, whereas our rail union structures in the U.S. and Canada are craft specific -- I represent the men and women who construct and maintain the track, bridges and buildings and repair track equipment only; President Monin represents the men and women who operate the engines only; another rail union president represents only workers who do clerical work -- and so on. In effect, STFRM is much more powerful than any U.S. or canadian rail union because it represents all railroad workers, not simply one part of the workers.

Over the past three days we have met with our Mexican companeros. We found a union leadership in STFRM that is completely dedicated to providing its members -- and their families -- with the best working conditions possible. And we have found that President Flores, his Executive Board and the STFRM have the vision and understanding necessary to move the process forward -- and move the unity process forward rapidly.

All of us understand that in order to provide the best for our members in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada and that we must work together -- to support each other in a way that recognizes no North American border. We understand that we cannot allow the railroad companies to set any of us against each other on the basis of nationality.

We understand that just as the railroad companies are building a seamless rail transportation system from the Guatemalan border to the Northern-most tip of Alaska, we are building a unity of railroad workers from the Guatemalan border to the Northern-most tip of Alaska; when a railroad worker from any craft on the Southern-most tip of Mexico is injured because of the actions of a railroad company, workers of all crafts at the Northern-most point of Alaska will scream "ouch."

As a result of these first-ever strategy sessions between the Mexican, Canadian and U.S. railroad unions, we have signed a historic document that forges our unions together with the strength of the steel that comprises our rail and the power that moves our trains. We will meet together regularly, exchange information, take united actions and do whatever is necessary to guarantee every railroad worker in all of our countries -- and their families -- the best living and working conditions possible and we will do it together regardless of the borders.

Today I confidently can tell the multinational railroad companies, the governments of Mexico, Canada and the U.S. that there is a new day dawning in the North American Rail Labor movement. Join with us and we will build and operate the best rail network on the planet. Try to shortchange us anywhere on the continent and suffer the outrage and unity of a united Rail Labor movement that recognizes no borders. It's your choice.

I want to thank President Flores, his Executive Board and members, President Monin, BLE Canadian Vice President Gils Halle, BLE Executive Assistant to the President Dave Ditzell and their members, BMWE Vice President Gary Housch, BMWE General Chairman Roger Sanchez, BMWE Director of Strategic Coordination and Research Joel Myron, and our members for their hard work and dedication. Solidarity forever

Trilateral Letter of Agreement

At the invitation of the Mexican Railwaymen's Union (STFRM), the railway unions of North America met in Mexico City July 20-24, 1998, united in the trade union spirit that characterizes railway workers throughout the world.

The railway workers of North America declare their unity in securing fair and equal treatment for the performance of their services, and agree to create a railway labor coalition that can meet with equal strength the large multinational railroad corporations.

The unions adopted a framework of open and full communication, harmony and friendship that will bind all railway workers in this region in advancing and protecting the peculiarities of railroad work. Expressing unity in the objective of obtaining respect and justice through negotiated collective bargaining agreements, the signatory unions reached the following conclusions:

1. To establish permanent links of mutual assistance and cooperation.

2. To interchange experiences and information regarding working conditions, wages, benefits, legislated social protections, pensions, new technologies and work methods, worker safety, health and welfare and other related issues, including the safe operation of trains and railroad work in general.

3. To work closely in the development of collective bargaining strategies, and most particularly in connection with common railway employers.

4. To study the impact of privatization and deregulation in the railway industry, its impact on workers and to develop appropriate responses to meet the challenges posed by those developments.

5. To adopt mutual solidarity assistance pacts among the signatory unions as a means of helping each other during labor conflicts in our industry.

6. To give continuity to the important work initiated through this first conference of North American railway unions through a regular exchange of delegations from the three unions, with the understanding that the next conference shall be held in the United States and the subsequent one in Canada, at a time and place to be determined by the parties at a later date.

7. To develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the protection of all railway work now performed by members of the railway unions of North America and to require that no sub-contractor handle any railroad work normally performed by Mexican, U.S. and Canadian railway union members without agreement with our railway unions and Brotherhoods.

8. Finally, the signatory unions DECLARE their firmest intention to strengthen the railway labor movement in Mexico, the United States and Canada, lending emphasis to training and skills development, education and full cooperation on social and labor issues affecting the three countries.

This Trilateral Letter of Agreement was adopted with a clear trade union spirit and with the deep conviction that working in unity, the railway workers of North America will profit from the best of their combined experiences for the benefit of the workers represented by our unions. We, therefore, adopt this document in Mexico City, D.F., on the 23rd day of July of 1998.

The agreement was signed by Victor F. Flores Morales, Secretario Nacional, S.T.F.R.M., Sindicato de Trabajadores Ferrocarrileros de la Republia Mexicana, M. A. "Mac" Fleming, President, BMWE, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, AFL-CIO and Clarence V. Monin, President, BLE, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, AFL-CIO.

Mark Priest Exhibit

PHOTO - Mark Priest Exhibit

Periodically over the last four years, the work of artist Mark Priest, "a superb figurative painter who has a master's in painting from Yale University," has been featured in the BMWE JOURNAL. In July of this year he began another "visually dazzling, highly educational exhibition" at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland. Exhibiting since 1982, he chose for his subject this time -- "Women on the Railroad."

"The figures doing the grunt work in Priest's action-filled canvases are idealized. Man or woman, they are big and brawny, their straining muscles and tendons carefully rendered in the kind of stylized, anatomical precision found in figures painted by Michelangelo, whom Priest reveres. But the light and color that give Priest's paintings their strong feeling of action, drama and spirituality seem to be taken from the impressionists, rather than the Renaissance."

Priest, 40, an assistant professor of painting and drawing at the University of Louisville, made a few sketches while working as a trackman on the L&N Railroad -- now part of CSX -- from 1979 to 1986, while also earning his undergraduate art degree. But he says, "I couldn't paint those experiences when I was doing the work. They were too close and too fresh. Time has given me the distance to paint them now."

Priest's paintings "document the various tasks performed by the 90 person track gang, which worked 10 hours a day laying and repairing rails, with 20 minutes for lunch the only break. The worst job was throwing scrap. This was stoop labor, requiring the worker to bend over, pick up and toss metal spikes, plates and anchors onto flatcars. It was the first job that newcomers, including the women, were given."

"The work was hard," Priest says. "After four days, I'be be really exhausted. I lost 20 pounds the first month I worked on the railroad. The women did the same things we did, although they shuffled them around a bit more so they weren't always doing the most physically demanding jobs. Some of them couldn't meet the physical demands and left. But some stuck it out."

The sudden arrival of women to work on the railroad "made a lasting impression on Priest and inspired the 25 paintings and drawings" in his new exhibition which was on display at the George Meany Center through November 8. "I wanted to focus on the women because their arrival was such a significant change on the track gang," Priest said.

In a press release from the George Meany Center, Priest made the following statement on his art in this recent exhibition: "The railroad has been the subject of numerous painting and drawings in American art, many of which have been greatly romanticized through the years. For the vast majority the focal point of their interest in the railroad has been the trains and the routes that they take. On the other hand, my paintings are personal narratives based on seven years of experience as a laborer, machine operator and track repairman for L&N and CSX railroad.

"Though men make up the bulk of workers on the railroad, there have been countless women who have worked side by side with the men to construct and repair rail. The focus of these paintings is an exploration of the tasks carried out by the women. They depict the reception of these new arrivals, the biases they overcame, and their determination to succeed in a traditionally male vocation."

Quotes unless otherwise noted are from an article by Ferdinand Protzman for The Washington Post, August 13, 1998.

PHOTO - BMWE Secretary-Treasurer Bill LaRue, left, with Mark Priest and his son at reception at the George Meany Center, July 24, 1998.

August

August was another active month for the BMWE. On August 14 at 6:00 a.m., pickets went up at sites in 14 states as 3,400 BMWE members went on strike against Conrail in a dispute over the use of contractors. Conrail's lines were shut down until the afternoon when a judge issued a temporary restraining order to the carrier. On August 15 the BMWE United Coalition of Greater Kansas City held its eighth annual picnic with members from 18 Lodges attending. From August 19 through 22 Frank T. Coleman, a member of the BMWE Allied Eastern Federation, attended the 29^th A. Philip Randolph Institute Educational Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Sponsored by Grand Lodge, Coleman represented BMWE black trade union activists at this highly informative conference. On August 23, the Fourth Annual Railroad Handcar Races "For The Children," organized by BMWE member Gary Mang, was held to benefit Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago.

For The Children

After three successful years in California, the fundraiser "For The Children" came to Chicago on Sunday, August 23, 1998. Over $24,000 was raised from this year's event, which was used to purchase an Infant Star Oscillator for Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. This much needed ventilator helps infants in severe respiratory distress to breathe.

Originated by Gary Mang, BMWE member and Union Pacific Railroad employee, the "For The Children" handcar races began in 1995. The proceeds from the first three years benefited Loma Linda University Children's Hospital in Southern California. The money provided an EKG machine in 1995, a neonatal incubator in 1996 and several fusion pump machines in 1997.

On a spur line of the Union Pacific Railroad that runs through Petersen Park in McHenry, Illinois, several hundred people lined the track to watch as 88 men and women in teams of four (later in teams of two for safety because the handcar encountered mechanical difficulty) raced against the clock and each other to see who would be the fastest to pump the half-ton handcar up and down the 1,200-foot strip of live track. The participants included Union Pacific employees, local businesses, firemen, police officers and hospital employees.

The all-day event also featured a health and safety fair, blood drive, silent auction, games for the children, music and lots of food. The many sponsors are too numerous to list here but a grateful Mang stressed that, "We could not have done it without them!!!"

Mang said he chose to turn what had been a backyard hobby into a fundraiser because of his own blessing. "Me and my wife are fortunate to have four healthy children," he said. They include the twins which were born within days preceding this year's event.

Plans are already in the works for next year's event in August and Mang encourages everyone to put together a four-person team and race next summer. If you can't participate but want to help the children, send a $20 donation and receive a "For The Children" commemorative T-shirt. 100% of the proceeds go to the purchase of hospital equipment.

Contact "For The Children" at 847-623-6155 or write to P.O. Box 562, Lake Villa, Illinois 60046.

PHOTO - Gary Mang, second from right.

September

A special International Association meeting was held on September 10 in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The meeting was called by President Fleming to frankly and fully discuss Grand Lodge finances. The auditor Grand Lodge employes explained to those in attendance that due to a substantial decline in the value of the Canadian dollar and an accounting system which counts the Canadian dollar as equal to the U. S. dollar, the BMWE's financial condition, though solid, is not as solid as some considered it to be. While the income on Canadian investments has risen substantially between 1994 and 1998, U. S. assets have declined. Members of the International Association commented on and provided input to President Fleming's plan to cut back BMWE expenses. President Fleming's plan has been initiated and is being monitored to make certain that it meets its objectives.