The year 2000, aside from being the beginning of the next millennium, is a very critical year for the BMWE and for the labor movement. In 2000 our next bargaining round will be in full swing AND there will be an election for President of the United States. One-third of the Senate will be up for election as will the entire House of Representatives. Although it is our goal to have the bargaining round over by the middle of the year 2000, we would be foolish not to prepare ourselves politically in the event we are unable to end the round by then. A BMWE with 100 percent of our members and our families registered and ready to exercise our right to vote will provide us with extra leverage to get the round over early, and successfully.

Over the next year-and-a-half, BMWE will be actively mobilizing our members so that everyone, at every level, is unified and prepared to do his and her part. Only when we have the level of unity necessary, and the railroads and our enemies in government know we will do whatever has to be done in order to obtain a fair agreement, can we have any confidence that we will succeed. It's just that simple.

We are developing the data we need to make the best presentation we can in the event there is a Presidential Emergency Board. We are also developing a variety of mass mobilization tactics designed to teach and learn from the membership and let everyone know that we will not accept an inferior agreement. We will keep you informed of these plans as we proceed.

But one campaign Grand Lodge and the systems can start with immediately is to see that every member of the BMWE, and those in our families who are of voting age, is registered to vote. Given the amount of mobilization that will be ongoing, this task will be relatively easy and relatively inexpensive.

I am directing our Legislative Department to use a substantial portion of its existing budget, and the state budgets, to activate the BMWE Committee On Political Education (COPE) which has been relatively dormant because of the amount of work the Legislative Department has had to undertake, to work to register our members. Similarly, I will want every local legislative representative to participate in this program to register every BMWE member by the beginning of the next century. Grand Lodge will also attempt to activate retirees to assist in the process. The Legislative Department will be responsible for developing a list of every lodge in the U.S. and making certain that this campaign is carried out aggressively.

I hope we will attain our goal of 100 percent registration of our membership by the beginning of the year 2000. At the beginning of that year, BMWE will take advantage of the broad organization we develop to educate our members about each of their Congressmen and Senators and the positions of the various candidates for the Presidency. This will be done in the Journal by the Legislative Department and COPE. Once this education is complete, BMWE will make recommendations.

The basis we will use for making recommendations will be the positions these candidates have on the matters most important to BMWE members--Railroad Retirement, rapid resolution of our contract disputes, positive resolution of our bargaining round, no government sanction to railroads breaking collective bargaining agreements in the merger process (or any process), strong safety regulations with strong enforcement, support of AFL-CIO initiatives--just to name a few.

Naturally, we ask our members and their families to vote for the candidates who support our issues. But, of course, if members disagree with our recommendations, they are free to vote for whomever they wish. We are not looking for robots, we are hoping our members, after full education, vote for those legislators who vote for us.

We have all the elements for successfully achieving our goal of 100 percent BMWE members and their families being registered. And we will be in a mobilization period also. Together you, the Legislative Department, COPE, Grand Lodge, the systems and lodges, can achieve this goal and make us stronger in our bargaining round and the other fights we undertake. Let's do it!!!