The memories of 2001 will forever be etched in our minds.

Few will forget where they were and what they were doing when brutal terrorists used America’s air transportation system as a weapon of destruction ... as a tool to kill thousands, assault our economy and wreak havoc on our daily lives.

Let us not allow September 11 to obstruct our vision or weaken our spirit as we transition to 2002. No, we will not forget what those cowards did to our nation but we will move forward with a purpose to tackle the many problems confronting BMWE members and all rail workers.

And, we will not allow the current public euphoria over President Bush’s leadership around the world in the war against terrorism to deter us from speaking out against the misguided policies of this Administration. Of course we stand with the President in America’s mobilization against the forces of evil but at the same time we will demand action to help the millions of working families in need rise from the economic rubble left behind by the destroyed twin towers in New York city.

The facts are serious and in fact have worsened since I last communicated to you.

Millions are laid off throughout the nation. While the economy is in recession, manufacturing is in a depression. Just ask a steelworker in your town who faces the potential destruction of the U.S. steel industry brought on by a government that for too many years allowed foreign steel producers to illegally dump their products in America. Ask a Machinist member at Boeing who may be one of the 130,000 layoffs the aircraft manufacturer has announced. Or ask the almost 250,000 airline and hotel workers, most of them union members, who have lost their jobs in the wake of September 11.

Fortunately, BMWE members have not seen these types of job cuts, but this union has seen the layoff effects — and make no mistake about it — no segment of the American work force is immune to the current economic slowdown and the permanent demise of good jobs in industrial America.

And still, Congress and the President have yet to act.

As I reported in my last column, politicians were poised to go home for the holiday without helping the unemployed and without enacting a single dime to put people back to work. They did.

After witnessing the incredibly swift and bold action of bipartisanship by these very same politicians immediately following September 11, few believed our elected officials could demonstrate such callous disregard for the working men and women who have suffered so severely since America’s economy went into a tailspin.

In past economic slumps the government has taken action to help the unemployed and jump start the economy by investing and putting money in workers’ pockets. Ten years ago, under the first President Bush, our government at least extended the length of time that workers could collect unemployment assistance. Yet such a simple and sensible step has not been taken even though 768,000 laid off workers exhausted their unemployment benefits between September and December 2001. This is simply wrong.

Worst of all, the centerpiece of President Bush’s economic recovery plan was a $1.6 trillion tax cut that left our government broke and filled the pockets of the richest Americans. Now the President and his allies in Congress want to finish the job by proposing billions in tax cuts for the richest corporations like IBM and General Electric.

As if it isn’t bad enough that the President and Congress went home for the holiday without helping the unemployed. They also abandoned many pressing needs. For example, they left Amtrak to fend for itself as it struggles to meet soaring demand while footing the bill to implement new security measures needed as result of the September 11 attacks. They ignored the need to address the vulnerability of our rail system to terrorist threats. And they failed to provide an adequate level of assistance and aid to commuter rail and transit authorities that face the same security threats as the nation’s airlines and airports.

September 11 taught us a great deal about our vulnerabilities as a nation. Today, that horrific day is reminding us that politics matters.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt and some courageous Senate and House Republicans want to help the laid off workers in this country by ensuring they do not lose unemployment benefits or health care coverage. The Republican-led House twice passed so-called economic stimulus bills that provided four times as many tax cuts as benefits for middle and low income people, with no intervention by President Bush. In other words, for working people it matters who is in charge of our political system.

Yes the memories of 2001 will forever be etched in our minds. But 2002 offers a new beginning. As Americans we have time and again proven our ability to fight back. With your help 2002 can be a year of great opportunity. It’s time to:

- Speak out if your Member of Congress supported the forces of greed that have blocked action to help the unemployed.

- Agitate in your community if your elected official is paying lip service to the financial and security needs of Amtrak.

- Become an activist on the job to blow the whistle on security breaches you detect in our rail system.

Finally, make sure you and everyone in your family is registered to vote because the next time your voice will be counted is on Election Day 2002 when politicians will be judged not by what they said but by what they did or didn’t do to help Americans rebound from the slump in the economic reality.