Communications
A Call for Brotherhood
Dear Sir,
After observing discourse, both oral and written, over the past two years regarding the future of the BLE, I would hope that all members realize - from the last engineer signed up through and including Division, General Committee and International Officers - that the time has come for all to put aside personal matters and goals as well as taking note of the first word in the title of our organization...brotherhood!
While opinions and judgments are required and needed in the execution of duties and responsibilities of BLE officers, it should be remembered that our paramount goal of preserving the BLE far outweighs any other matter.
At this time in the history of the BLE, it will take the total cooperation of all the resources at hand to fend off the hostile take-over by UTU.
Our best tack is to face this threat as a house united! Let us all stand behind our leadership to sustain the BLE.
Scapegoating BLE
Dear Brother,
I enjoyed your comparison of Charlie "Chicken" Little to Slobodan Milosevic. I used the same analogy in an editorial in our Division newsletter.
Like Milosevic, Little is committed to achieving his grand vision by any means, fair or foul, regardless of the consequences. Like Milosevic, he will only succeed bringing hardship, scorn and disrepute on himself and his followers, and like Milosevic, he may well end up with less than what he started out with.
Question: If saner heads prevail and he stops this fratricidal nonsense, what will become of the dues increase imposed on his membership (ostensibly to fund the "war chest" earmarked for the "fight to the finish" with the BLE)? Will it be rescinded and the increase refunded to the members; or will the money be diverted to restore the $7 million which they siphoned out of the Job Benefit Fund? Could that actually be the true purpose of the dues increase, while we are merely the convenient "foreign devil" which "Chicken" Little has created to mask his own incompetence (or worse)?
Brother Ed, keep fighting! We're with you all the way. For a rallying cry, instead of last year's defeatist "failure is not an option," may I suggest either the tried and true "we have not yet begun to fight," or "it ain't the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."
Dear Brother,
My letter is concerning railroad crossing accidents. As to my railroad career, I went to work as a fireman on the Seaboard Railroad in February 1941, was promoted to engineer in 1944, and retired in 1980. In the early 1950s, I was promoted to road foreman of engines and went to live in Hamlet, N.C.
During these some 40 years, I had accidents resulting in five fatalities. It was while holding the position of road foreman that I attempted to get Seaboard Railroad to consider a plan to avoid accidents at railroad crossings. I suggested to the superintendent that we visit each town, city and county from Miami to Richmond, and meet with their mayors or others in authority to discuss this plan.
My plan was to build a railroad crossing either to go under or over the road. To this suggestion, the superintendent laughed and stated that it would cost too much money. However, just look at the lives that would have been saved throughout the years. I still feel that this plan is feasible and could be implemented if presented to the right people.
My son, Charles D. Smith Jr., is an Amtrak engineer and a 27-year BLE member. He runs between Jacksonville to Miami. At present, he is working the Silver Star down and the Silver Meteor back.
© 1999 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers