BLET Western Conference Speech – Benefits of Belonging

Brothers and Sisters, I am honored to be provided the opportunity to speak to you today. When President Pierce first ask me to address the subject of “The Benefits of Belonging” I initially found it a rather odd request. I thought to myself… “surely everyone knows and understands the benefits of belonging to a union”. However, once I began to reflect on and research this project I came to a very sobering realization. I like many of you and probably many of our members have underestimated the true value of the benefits of belonging over the years. I would like to spend a few minutes with you today

reviewing some of those benefits.

First let’s take a look at what I call our obvious benefits of belonging to a union. These are benefits that have real, tangible monetary value to us all and that we sometimes have a tendency to overlook or take for granted.

• As a union employee your wages on average are 30% higher than your nonunion counterparts. As a railroad union employee you are in the top 10% of industries in America in terms of compensation. In 2015 the Association of American Railroads reported the average freight rail employee’s salary was $86,000.

• As a union employee you have a 92% probability of having access to employer paid health care benefits vs only a 68% probability of your nonunion counterparts. As a railroad union employee you enjoy some of the best health and welfare benefits in the country. In 2017 the GA23000 plan you and your family enjoy will cost approximately $2.6 billion dollars with approximately $2.3 billion of those dollars paid by your employers. The railroads will pay an average of approximately $20,000 per employee this year for health and welfare benefits alone. While you as an employee will only pay $2,747 for the excellent benefits protecting you and your family. And those employer numbers do not include the costs of the dental and vision coverage that you and your family enjoy that are paid for by the railroads.

• As a union employee you have a 93% probability of having access to an enhanced pension plan vs only a 64%probability for your nonunion counterparts. As a railroad union employee it is important for us all to never forget that the railroads pay approximately $0.20 on every dollar you earn toward your railroad retirement and other legislated benefits that you and your family enjoy.

• As a union employee you enjoy employment protections via the just cause discipline provisions negotiated into your collective bargaining agreement vs your nonunion counterparts who are at will employees. “At will” simply means you can be disciplined or terminated by your employer literally at their whim without any recourse or due process.

• As a union employee you enjoy the contractual benefits of a seniority system that ensures your job preference based on your length of service vs your nonunion counterparts who must work whatever crappy job the boss requires just to keep their job.

• As a union employee you enjoy the benefit of having your collective voice heard in Washington DC through the lobbying efforts of your union representatives. Rail Labor’s success in years’ past beating back attempts by labor hating Congressman Paul Ryan to roll your Railroad Retirement into Social Security is a prime example of one of the many benefits of belonging that you enjoy. This cause has recently been renewed by Speaker Ryan and others serving in this Congress.

Brothers and Sisters… we must remain vigilant. We must be prepared to unite and fight against the damaging legislative agenda of this labor hating conservative congress. It is imperative that we unite and fight to install union friendly legislators in the 2018 midterm elections to take back the House and Senate to stop the legislative attacks on the labor movement.

• As a BLET union member you enjoy the protection of off track vehicle benefits of $300,000 negotiated for you in the National Agreement that will go to your family in the unfortunate event you lose your life or limbs in an off track vehicle accident.

• As a BLET union member and engineer you enjoy access to short term disability benefits negotiated in the 2003 BLET National Agreement. Additionally, both trainmen and engineers enjoy access to voluntary short term disability and other insurance plans offered by private firms exclusively to BLET members only.

• As a BLET union member you enjoy life insurance protection of $20,000 negotiated on your behalf in the National Agreement.

• As a BLET union member many of you, like me, enjoy access to voluntarily purchased term life insurance that otherwise would not be available to you due to preexisting health conditions.

• As a BLET member you enjoy access to job insurance to protect your family’s income in the event you make a mistake at work and suffer an unexpected loss of employment as a result of discipline.

• As a BLET member you enjoy both the contractually negotiated and legislated right to retire at 60 years of age with 30 years of service with health and welfare benefits provided under the GA46000 plan bridging you to Medicare.

• As a BLET member you enjoy both the contractually negotiated and legislated right to collect an occupational disability pension with 20 years of credited service vs your nonunion counter parts who must be totally disabled to collect disability under Social Security.

As a railroad union member you enjoy the legislative protection of the Federal Employees Liability Act vs your nonunion counter parts who are covered by the inferior provisions of Workman’s Compensation in most states.

The above benefits and many more I don’t have time to talk about today are provided to you as a result of our Leadership and the BLET Membership uniting to pursue both a contractual and legislative agenda that enriches the lives of all of our members

and their families.

All of the benefits noted above are under constant attack from our enemies who want to take them away. Our job going forward is to work to protect and enhance these benefits.

To protect those benefits it is imperative that we work hard at becoming mentors too

young BLET members. We must help them understand and appreciate the legacy they are inheriting. On May 8th this year our Great Brotherhood celebrated its 154th birthday. During my research for this speech I discovered the very first edition of the Locomotive Engineer Monthly Journal published in January of 1867. This 16-page document was filled with quotes from the BLET leadership at the time urging members to conduct themselves with integrity and honor.

"Let us try and make all whom we have any influence over, better for being in connection with us; our object is right, our cause is just, and let us so act that our employers, our friends, and even our enemies shall sustain us."

I recall with respect and reverence the names of those men who took me under their wing in 1973 when I hired out on the railroad. Men like Grady Nichols, C. W. Cox, Bob Waller, Frankie Meyers, and my personal mentor Vince Pizzaloto. Vince was a fiery animated little Italian who if you tied his hands to his sides would probably have lost the ability to talk. These were men who conducted themselves with dignity and honor each time they placed their hand on the throttle. The lived by the above creed and did their jobs so well that even their enemies were required to acknowledge their skill and integrity. We must mentor men and women in the BLET helping them to aspire to such lofty goals.

We must mentor young BLET members to become the officers of the future. We must develop leaders who can inspire our members to become the best engineers they can possibly be.

We must help young members understand the Railway Labor Act dispute resolution process which we are governed by. In this microwave society in which we live, everyone wants immediate resolution to their disputes. The RLA is not conducive to instant gratification. The RLA is not a sprint where the medal goes to the fastest runner. It is instead a marathon that rewards the runner with the stamina and fortitude to finish the race. While I am sure you would be amazed at how many Issues are corrected with a simple phone call or email from your local or general chairman to management, many must run their course through arbitration under the RLA.

Lastly I need to talk about a topic that may make some people in this room uncomfortable but as the National Division version of Bill Hannah "a retirement age old fart" I have earned the right to say whatever I want. I also need everyone to also understand that the opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my beloved union, the BLET.

I need to make clear to everyone here that I am a Christian… a Father and Husband… a BLET Member and a Democrat… in that order… You need to understand that I need God's

unconditional forgiving grace most definitely for my yesterdays, most assuredly today and even more tomorrow.

With those circumstances quantified, I believe we must help those coming behind us understand the importance of electing legislators who support a labor agenda. It makes me literally sick to my stomach to watch these conservative politicians claim the moral high ground on issues like abortion, gun control, gay marriage and other hot button topics that concern Christians today. They use them as a weapon against us while proposing programs that gut the rights of working men and women all across America.

I believe we must help the next generation of BLET members understand that supporting a woman's right to choose is not the same thing as supporting abortion. I have never supported abortion and never will. My family has on occasion had to make that choice. I am proud to say that we always chose life. However, that was the right choice for my family. Others may reach a different decision and I respect that. The Good Lord put me here on this earth to love them not to judge them.

I believe we must help our members understand that supporting responsible gun ownership is not the same thing as banning the ownership of guns. If you want to open carry a weapon around me I have no problem with that, but I believe I have a right as a citizen to make sure you are properly trained and proficient with the use of that weapon. If I can't see to pass my driving test, I can't legally drive a car. There needs to be some rules ensuring that with the right to carry a gun comes the responsibility to do so safely.

I believe we must help our members understand that supporting the civil rights of everyone in America to love and marry who they choose is not the same thing as condoning sin.

If these conservative politicians are not stopped, they are going to turn this country into a theocracy run by religious zealots rather than the Republic representing all of our citizens equally under the law.

It is Imperative that we educate our members and take back the moral high ground from those who would manipulate religion in an attempt to control us to support their unholy war against the workers of America.

I would like to close by reading you a poem I wrote recently, inspired by Engineer David Nichols that pretty much sums up where I am in life. It is called Three Things.

As evening falls on this BLE life

There are chores still left to do

Three things I need to focus on

To make my dreams come true

The first is to apologize

To my lovers, friends and foes

For mistakes perceived or real

Done to them as I go

The second involves gratitude

For all who have shown love

To this tired BLE Brother

I thank the Lord above

The third is most important

For those that dare draw near

Displaying kindness and compassion

In my remaining brotherhood years

Please join me in this life quest

Make this world a better place

For all Gods creatures on this ole earth

Deserve both dignity and grace

May God bless all of you and the Great Organization to which we belong, the BLET.