Left to right, Ken Deptuck, Bill Brehl, Cindy Walton, Mac Fleming.

Left to right, Mac Fleming, Jim Knight, Tony Wheeler, Bill LaRue

Mac Fleming, Jim Knight, Mark Hemphill, Bill LaRue

Mac Fleming, Jim Knight, Leon Fenhaus, Bill LaRue

Mac Fleming, Jim Knight, Karl Knutsen, Bill LaRue

Mac Fleming, Sam Baca, Jim Knight, Bill LaRue

As has been tradition for over a decade, the International Association meeting of Grand Lodge and System Officers began with an educational program on Thursday morning, May 18, 2000. This year's educational program was dedicated to exploring access to several useful tools via the Internet.

Robert Finkelstein, FRA Staff Director - Systems Support, made a presentation detailing how the accident/incident database of the Federal Railroad Administration can be accessed to verify whether injuries, accidents and incidents have been reported; review all rail equipment accident reports for accuracy; research accident/incident trends; and conduct comparative analysis by railroad, by state, by type of accident, by date, by cause or by classification of persons.

Following Finkelstein, the BMWE's Jim Superfisky, Director of Information Systems, and Steve Powers, Director of Arbitration, presented an overview of the National Railroad Adjustment Board arbitration awards database and the award index in the process of being developed pursuant to Resolution No. 36 passed at the 1998 Grand Lodge Convention.

In the afternoon, Superfisky introduced the BMWE's new portal page customized for union members. A portal page is a start-up page for the Internet. Earlier this year the AFL-CIO selected a company called Ibelong to provide an affinity portal for union members and the BMWE, under the AFL-CIO umbrella, was one of the first 15 labor unions to have an individual portal site available - bmweworkingfamilies.com - continuing the BMWE's commitment to ensuring its members have the best communications possible.

Canadian Vice President Kenneth Deptuck next had the pleasure of introducing William Brehl, Pacific Region General Chairman of the Canadian System Federation and Cindy Walton, Local Chairman of newly organized Local Lodge 2922 in British Columbia made up of Hallmark Hotels employees, both key players in the successful organizing drive conducted last year.

Brehl's brief remarks brought him a standing ovation, and although Walton began by saying, "it is truly an honor to be here, but I'm not a public speaker, just a worker that realizes the importance of belonging to a union," her eloquent remarks also brought the audience to their feet.

Walton said, "I make just over the minimum wage required by law. I like the dignity of a job and feel strongly that my labor is not something that should be steam rolled over in order for someone to make even more money off of that labor. There are not many jobs where I live, a town of about 600 people, and simply putting food on the table and buying decent clothing is enough of a financial challenge.

"What options to people like me have? Seniority, decent working conditions, fair salary for our labor, health and welfare benefits, dental plans, are things we've dreamed of, yet some people take all these things for granted.

"Imagine a workplace where you can get fired because the boss doesn't like you and the boss knows that there are people just waiting to take over your position. Imagine a workplace where more work is just what should be expected from the workers. Imagine a workplace where these things exist and yet the workers are still dedicated and willing to give it all. That's my workplace.

"We need to have seniority, protection from unjust dismissal, protection from harassment, protection from unjust layoff, sick benefits, decent drug and dental plans, as well as a decent salary. We know our brothers and sisters in the BMWE enjoy these benefits. We do not enjoy these fundamental rights, but we would like to. We know that being members of the BMWE is a means to realize those rights, our dreams."

Vice President Ernie Torske then "rose with pride" to present a resolution, seconded by Vice President Rich Lau, in support of "our sisters' fight at Hallmark Hotels." Passed unanimously, the resolution resolved that the IA "supports fully our sisters' struggle at Hallmark Hotels" and further that "if our sisters are forced to strike in order to obtain a fair and equitable contract with Hallmark, every effort should be made to assist our sisters financially, including strike benefits from the Emergency Fund."

Friday morning's program began with guest speaker Philip Pagano, Executive Director of Metra. Metra owns and operates the second largest commuter rail system in the nation, serving over seven million passenger trips per year throughout the six-county metropolitan region in northeastern Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago. In his introduction, President Fleming noted that "BMWE has enjoyed stable and cooperative relations with Metra under Phil's watch and Metra and the BMWE have conducted several joint educational and safety seminars from which both the company and the workers have benefitted."

Following Pagano and moving into the business section of the program was Secretary-Treasurer William E. LaRue who presented the annual financial report of the BMWE (a summary balance sheet was published in the June issue of the BMWE JOURNAL on page 6). LaRue also gave a summary of the financial status of the Maintenance of Way Political League, the BMWE's political action committee, and was honored to present new BMWE desk clocks to individual recipients of this year's MWPL awards.

LaRue noted that $178,708 was contributed to the MWPL in 1999 through payroll deductions and an additional $5,371 was contributed by retirees and various other donations for a total income of $184,079. While two members - Robert Brown of the Northeast System Federation and Antony Wheeler of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe System Federation - contributed over $1,000 in 1999, the average donation was $42.23 per year. During 1999, 271 new members authorized voluntary payroll deductions while 97 members terminated their deductions because of retirement or other reasons.

Receiving the MWPL honor awards were: Anthony Wheeler, highest contributing member; Michael Thomas, highest contributing retiree; Sam Baca, President of Lodge 2414, highest contributing local lodge; Mark Hemphill, General Chairman, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe System Federation, highest contributing system; Leon Fenhaus, Chairman, Northwestern Region, highest contributing region; and Karl Knutsen, outstanding state legislative director from the State of Minnesota and a member of the Burlington Northern System Federation.

Following presentation of the MWPL awards, BMWE General Counsel William Bon gave a legal report and Vice President Gary Housch reported on the state of affairs in Canada.

Vice President Henry Wise then submitted a resolution, seconded by System Federation General Chairman Ron Bowden, which passed unanimously. In summary the resolution stated that whereas the BMWE has been 11 months without a contract at CLN Industries, and whereas on March 6, 2000, members of the BMWE employed at CLN Industries at Cape Real, Ontario, took strike action of one day in their efforts to secure a fair contract, and whereas the employer responded by locking out these members, that the IA fully support "our brothers' and sisters' struggle at CLN Industries" and if they "are forced to strike in order to obtain a fair and equitable contract, every effort be made to assist our brothers and sisters financially, including strike benefits from the Emergency Fund."

Director of Education and Safety Rick Inclima then reported on the status of BMWE safety initiatives; Director of Organizing Paul Swanson reported on the BMWE's mobilization activities relative to the early retirement struggle; Director of Government Affairs Jim Knight commented on the early retirement struggle from a legislative perspective; Director of Strategic Coordination and Research Joel Myron also discussed the railroad retirement struggle as well as the status of national negotiations; Vice President Rick Wehrli discussed a committee report for the handling of major and minor disputes with the railroads; and General Chairman and Executive Board Secretary Bruce Glover reported on the status of talks with various unions relative to possible affiliations or mergers.