EUMA,  BLET Convention & IBT Convention Report
By Rich Darcy, Local Chairman, BLE&T Division 373

Three important union functions took place within the month of June 2006.  
The BLET Eastern Union Meeting Association (EUMA) meeting in AC, NJ, the BLET National Convention and the IBT Convention both in Las Vegas, NV.
 
The three union functions provided important information that affects every BLET member.  During both conventions delegates from around the country got first hand updates about the state of the BLET and the IBT as labor organizations.  The delegates were able to voice membership input on important constitutional changes, the BLET Advisory Board and IBT Executive Board Members.  

During the BLET Convention our delegates reelected many of our same Advisory Board members in addition to newly created VP positions, adopted most By-law Committee recommendations for constitutional changes and made recommendations regarding challenges to our future.
 
The BLET Advisory Board reports that our unions financial outlook has improved since the BLET merger with the IBT.  As the BLET National President, Secretary Treasurer and Advisory Board predicted, nationwide threats to the BLET of raiding, NMB, single craft pressure and on property decertification are subsiding.  Organizing new short line railroads continue.  Negotiating progress is being made at the NCC on a national freight agreement.

The BLET outlined many challenges ahead.  Within the next five years rail shipments of radioactive waste will increase hundreds of times above current levels.  Exposure to radiation will make HAZMAT training and protection a cornerstone of railway worker survival and public safety.  Single man crews will threaten employment and retirement benefits for generations of railway employees.  Political elections beginning this November will decide the future of the US middle-class, social security, healthcare coverage, Railroad Retirement Benefits, social justice, education, the poor, Constitutional Rights and many other issues affecting the lives of BLET members and our families.   

During the 27th IBT Convention, BLET delegates got their first chance to see and feel what it means to be a Teamster.  After nominating candidates to the Teamster Executive Board it now falls to rank and file elections for officers of the IBT.  Each rank and file member will receive a ballot by mail to make their selection for leaders of the IBT Executive Board.  Estimated costs of the rank and file ballot range as high as $10 million.

During the IBT convention there was plenty of propaganda and spin from both sides.  Some of what circulated was it fact.  Some was part truth and some pure fiction.  After listening to a bunch of promises, accusations and challenges, convention delegates evaluated candidates on their credentials, performance and vision.  The choices were narrowed to two competing slates.  The Hoffa/Keegle Unity Slate and the Leedham-Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate.  

For the BLET rank and file it is important to note that we are now new members of the most powerful labor union in North America. Strong in history and leadership, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has in the last ten years rebounded, reinvented itself and changed direction.  From a shrinking, broke labor union under federal indictment and stewardship to the growing political powerhouse that broke from the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters have joined a new wave sweeping the labor movement.   BLET delegates got their first look inside the Teamsters during this 27th IBT Convention.  We saw a huge Labor organization with vast resources in the process of bold changes.   

What being a Teamster offers us as members of the BLET is tied directly to the future of the IBT and the greater labor unity sought by the current IBT Executive Board.  The Hoffa/Keegle Slate of candidates has positioned the Teamster future on a path of growth and strength tied to the whole labor movement.  Teamster leadership has partnered us with a growing list of other forward looking labor organizations, politicians and institutions for the purpose of reversing a decline of organized labor numbers, strength and benefits.  The current Executive Board enjoys a 90% approval rate from the convention delegates in attendance.  

Ambitious? Yes.  Will you and I see it happen? We are part of it already by our merger into the IBT Rail Conference.  If you voted to merge with the IBT, your vote sheltered our union from attack, preserved our craft and gave us the strength gained from standing together with working people from around the world.  As a result, our future is brighter, stronger and filled with more positive opportunities than we have had in many years. We now have more money, more juice and a big brother with footprints on several continents.

The Tom Leedham-Strong Contracts, Good Pensions Slate is the candidate of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU).  The reform movement organized to restore democracy to the Teamsters has been active for some ten years.  The TDU works from within to strengthen local union autonomy, fight corruption and hold International leaders accountable.  Their focus this election seemed to get their candidates on the ballot.  In this they succeeded.  

During the convention the TDU team made promises of reform, strengthening locals, contracts and pensions.  These are the basics of internal organizing and goals of every union.  It is something that no one can do for you.  Locals must do it themselves.  Each local is different.  Some locals stumble while some succeed in expanding and achieving proactive goals.  It is not something that electing a slate of Executive Board candidates will change for a local overnight.

The Hoffa/Keegle slate through merger made the BLET secure and welcome as new members.  They have saved us money while rolling out the welcome carpet and IBT resources we have not even begun to use.   In just a short time we have new political clout, new economic muscle, new legal, organizing, education and bargaining resources that have already made a difference in BLET representation in the US and Canada.

With these new resources come new opportunities, obligations and a new way of thinking.  More than ever we are brothers and sisters to working men and women around the world.  The Teamster Rail Conference currently holds Maintenance of Way, Dispatchers, and maybe someday the UTU.  

During the convention we met Doctors, Boxers, Drivers, Handlers, Service Workers, Railway Workers, Airline Workers, Controllers, Janitors, Dairy Workers, Public Service Workers, Screen Actors, Graphic Arts Workers, Communication Workers, Programmers, Office Workers, Factory Workers, Machine Operators, Dock Workers, Auto Workers and Truck Drivers who were all Teamsters from industries around the world.  Now we Teamsters have new doors open to us, assigned seats at new tables and new alliances.   

The BLET has many new opportunities and resources opened up to us now by being in the Teamster Rail Conference.  For Passenger Rail members, we have the full resources of the IBT at our disposal to help us do what we have always done ourselves.  We have a democratic tradition admired by most labor organizations.  

In final review, neither the TDU slate nor the Hoffa/Keegle Slate can help us fix a broken local, negotiate our local contract, wages benefits or working conditions.   The Leedham Slate promises to fix the ills they perceive still plague their union.   The Hoffa/Keegle Slate promises to continue on a path of building strength and expanding resources throughout the labor movement.  It is a choice we members should make carefully for our future as a labor organization and the middle working class.  
 

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