Delegates from more than 350 lodges across the Brotherhood’s 12 system federations gathered today in Chicago to begin the important work of the 6th Quadrennial National Division Convention of the BMWED-IBT.

National Division President Tony D. Cardwell delivered the State of the Union keynote address to the assembled delegation, reenforcing the values that have held strong throughout our Union’s 139-year history.

“Our forefathers dealt with mergers, technological developments, greedy bosses, bad government, and big money,” President Cardwell said. “They stood together and fought. We are at a different time and face new hurdles, but the principles are the same.”

“This is why our theme for this convention is so fitting – WE LEAD THE WAY,” he added. “We not only lead by making sure the backbone of American railways is strong, we lead the way because this Union has always stood up in the face of adversity to fight for workers and make a difference.”

President Cardwell emphasized the insatiable greed of the railroad executives, noting that despite labeling railroad workers “essential” during the pandemic, they relentlessly pursue measures that lend no credence to that sentiment.

“A year after the pandemic, greedy executives sent a chemical bomb into East Palestine, Ohio via a defective train car that should have been stopped,” President Cardwell said. “Immediately afterward, they sent BMWED members to work in chemical pools without proper protective equipment until the Union made them stop. One can easily surmise that safety is an afterthought in the face of profit.”

The railroads continue to show no remorse for the derailment. Perversely, they have only accelerated their greed through their despicable lobby group, the American Association of Railroads (AAR). Through the AAR, the railroads have viciously opposed any new regulations. In fact, they are attempting to get the largest deregulation in their history.

“The railroads came up with the brilliant idea of replacing visual track inspections with 40-year-old track geometry machines,” President Cardwell told the delegation. “They continue to lie to the public, claiming that the technology is new and can find 90 percent more defects.”

“If this were true, our workforce would increase by 90 percent to fix the defects,” President Cardwell added.

“Again, rotten railroad executive openly stated in investor forums that they will simply program the automated track inspection to ignore the FRA 213.9 defects that these idiots deem not dangerous,” President Cardwell said. “Hmmm, maybe they will continue to ignore defects like the ones that caused the East Palestine derailment? That is exactly what they are trying to do!”

In addition to the greed of ATI, Union Pacific’s acquisition of Norfolk Southern has brought much public ridicule, and deservedly so. President Cardwell noted that the venture is “so stupid that, for the first time, Union Pacific has managed to force the shippers and the BMWED into coalitions opposing a merger.”

Despite the overarching greed of the railroads, our Brotherhood has fought back and won. We have led the way and we will continue the march toward victories. The BMWED has proven we can fight and win and has achieved significant triumphs since our last convention in 2022.

In Presidential Emergency Board 250, we retained significant per diem improvements that escalate with CONUS; per diem has not changed for 28 years.

We established paid sick leave across most railroads in the industry, and we will not stop pushing until it is all railroads.

Our federations and arbitration office have won millions of dollars in claims for membership, including RailPro flagging claims, setting precedents for thousands of future flagging claims.

Together, we reduced the qualifying years for vacation accrual. We negotiated several nation agreements in this last round ahead of or close to the moratorium. We fought back as a collective Union and reversed a serious attack on Railroad Retirement, convincing the government to change course and came together to get Department of Transportation assurance that any restructuring of Amtrak would not affect BMWED workers there.

“The strategies for fights do not all come from this Union’s leadership,” President Cardwell said. “They come from you – the members.”

“When the ATI fight began, we knew the only way to win was with working members who knew this work. We have brought on members to conduct hundreds of interviews with Track Inspectors nationwide. The information and ideas provided by membership are instrumental in our fight. Attorney, government leaders and other Unions who watched this fight have said this is the strongest fight they have ever seen on a rule-make issue like this.”

President Cardwell added, “I am convinced that if we all recognized who we are fighting with and focus our efforts, we operate at our best ad give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Proceeding President Cardwell’s State of the Union, BMWED National Division Secretary-Treasurer Dale E. Bogart Jr. addressed the delegation, summarizing the financial situation of the Brotherhood, which is strong.

“I can confidently report that the financial stability of this Brotherhood is significantly stronger today than it was four years ago,” Secretary-Treasurer Bogart said. “We remain financially positioned to confront the challenges that lie ahead while continuing to protect the interests of our members, their families and the communities in which they work and live.”

Secretary-Treasurer Bogart informed the delegates that the BMWED has achieved balance budgets and generated operating surpluses in three of the last four years. Membership increased by 6.5 percent between August 2022 and April 2026, reversing a trend of decline and reflecting the Brotherhood’s continued efforts to organize, retain and serve its membership.

In addition to Brothers Cardwell and Bogart, other guest speakers addressed the room. U.S. Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Chuy Garcia brought the house down with stirring remarks in support of rail workers. They have both been key legislators in leading efforts on rail safety and visual track inspection measures in Capitol Hill.

Speaking on the Secure Tracks Act legislation she has led in Congress, Rep. Titus spoke highly of the work our BMWED Legislative team, led by Director Jeff Joines and his staff, has done to help her progress language out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“There were a lot of people saying, you can’t do it, the railroad lobby is too strong, you’ll just piss people off, you’ll never do it, but guess what, we did do it!” she said. “I was shouting from the rooftops that the rail workers know best what is the safest way to inspect track. We make a good team and I look forward to seeing it across the finish line.”

Rep. Garcia spoke on the Railway Safety Act, which has garnered bi-partisan support and includes vital measures for all railroaders.

“The Railway Safety Act is an important step forward and we cannot allow safety reforms to remain stuck while risks continue to grow,” he said. “ATI is not a substitute for experience, judgment and expertise of human inspectors, who find problems that machines miss.”

In addition to speakers, the delegation did take up some important work, including deliberation of the Brotherhood’s operating bylaws. A proposal to change delegate election of National Division officers, including president, secretary-treasurer and vice presidents, saw general debate and opinions on both sides of the measure but ultimately was solidly voted down.

Delegates will return to the convention hall tomorrow at 9 a.m. CT to resume the important work of our Brotherhood, including the election of National Division officers. Stay tuned more additional coverage as the convention proceeds Tuesday morning.