For BMWE members and every worker in America, the stakes couldn't be higher this fall with the close battle for the presidency and the hotly contested struggle over control of Congress. George Bush or Al Gore? A Newt Gingrich clone as Speaker or Dick Gephardt? Those are the choices.

The struggle this fall isn't really about party labels. BMWE members have a proud tradition of working with politicians in both parties. But when it comes to the fundamental issues that matter most - Railroad Retirement, Social Security, rail safety, PEBs, the right to organize, funding for Amtrak, and stopping rail carrier intimidation and harassment against whistleblowers - do we want George Bush or Al Gore sitting in the Oval Office? And who do we want setting the agenda for the Congress? What we do know is that for railroad workers, politics matters.

In 1998, the labor movement proved that energized working families, battling to protect their interests are a potent force that can't be beaten. In fact, 22 percent of the votes cast came from union households, meaning that 1 in 2 adults in union households voted. The labor movement's effort registered half a million additional union voters and members of their families, sent over 9 million pieces of mail, placed close to 6 million personal phone calls, and distributed fliers at several hundred thousand job sites. In the end, extremists still held on to the House but their anti-working family majority actually narrowed by five seats instead of widening by 15 to 20, as predicted by many political "experts."

Clearly, the other side knows that your voice matters in elections. That is why they want to take away - or at least drown out - that voice. First, they try drowning us out with money. Business outspent unions 11-to-1 in the 1998 election cycle, giving $666.6 million to candidates and parties, while working families, through their unions, gave $60.8 million.

The other side has also tried taking away our voice by attacking unions directly. During the second half of the 1990s the labor movement faced a barrage of proposals from the Gingrich Congress and at the state level aimed at weakening the ability of unions to educate and speak out for their members. They threw the kitchen sink at us -

Øpaycheck "deception" proposals disguised as "campaign finance reform" but intended to silence you in legislative debates and elections;
Ømeasures to eliminate or water down your labor protections and collective bargaining rights; and
Øbills to return us to the days of "company unions" whose leaders were hand picked by the company boss.

Let's be clear about one thing: these proposals have one purpose in mind - to silence your voice and weaken the BMWE. Fortunately, all these radical measures and many more went down time and time again, often thanks to vetoes or threatened vetoes by the Clinton-Gore Administration.

But while we as a labor movement have succeeded against these efforts to silence your voice, your voice can only be truly heard if you use it. And that means in this critical election year, using it at the voting booth.

We all lead busy lives and the last thing we often need is one more item to put on our "to do" list. Yet, voting is more than a thing "to do." It is a cherished freedom and right that our Founding Fathers gave to us so that we can have a voice in how our nation is run. And your vote can make a difference - if you are registered and go to the polls.

Perhaps the best known and most notable example of how one vote can make a difference is the historical Presidential race in 1960 pitting then-Vice President Richard Nixon against then-Senator John F. Kennedy. JFK's margin of victory over Richard Nixon in that race was less than one vote per precinct!

A more recent, but equally dramatic and important example of how every vote counts was in the 1996 Congressional race in California where Loretta Sanchez took on the anti-worker incumbent Bob Dornan. After a tough fight, Sanchez defeated Dornan and was elected to Congress by less than four votes per precinct.

And let's look at one other example from the U.S. House of Representatives where the failure to vote was quite costly. Richard Baker, an incumbent from Louisiana with only a 9% voting record in support of working family issues, won his race over his union-supported opponent by 2,700 votes. Why? Possibly because more than 7,300 union members in that congressional district were not registered to vote.

While it is true that the labor movement has made great strides in getting members out to vote - and is currently conducting a massive Labor 2000 Voter Registration Campaign - 50 to 55 percent of eligible union members, and millions more members of union households, are not registered to vote. Just imagine what could be achieved if these union members registered and voted.

All indications are that this year's Presidential race will be extremely tight. And the battle for control over Congress will go down to the wire. Yet, with the margin of control in the House the smallest it has been since 1953 and GOP retirements outnumbering those of Democrats by four to one, the opportunity for us to gain a pro-worker majority is within reach. But every vote will count. Every vote will matter. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that one vote can't make a difference. That's not the BMWE way. If you are not registered, get to it. And once you are registered, remember to go to the polls on November 7 - and VOTE!