Spring 2001
Volume 108 - No. 1
Spring 2001
Volume 108 - No. 1
President's Message
Gearing up for the Convention
On September 24th, Delegates representing each BLE Division will convene
in Miami, to chart the course the Brotherhood will take for the upcoming
five years. Over 600 representatives from our locomotive engineer, traffic
controller (train dispatcher) and train service divisions will gather for
a week of long days and hard work.
While International Conventions often are most remembered for the elections that take place, choosing the BLE's international leadership is only a portion of the important series of decisions the Delegates will make.
One key area the Delegates will address is what changes to our internal structure are needed in order to face the challenges that lie ahead of us.
Since the 1996 Convention in Detroit, the BLE has grown by leaps and bounds, and we have moved past the days of being an engineer-only organization. Also, the huge mergers of the 1990s have altered our composition, most dramatically at the general committee level.
Any institutional changes we need to make will be the subject of resolutions to amend our Constitution and Bylaws, which will be reviewed by the Convention's Constitution and Bylaws Committee, who also will recommend adoption or rejection of each resolution.
Over the past 10 years, the International Division also has increased the services provided to subordinate units and the membership in a number of areas. Arbitration support and services have been broadened, as have legislative and regulatory support services.
Education and training, and internal organizing and mobilization activities have been expanded. All of these increased services have come at the direction of the Delegates to prior Conventions, and there is a constant demand for increasing the quality and quantity of these services.
In my 1996 report to the Convention as General Secretary-Treasurer, I noted that, in an era of increasing services, it was important to ensure that expectations do not exceed income growth. The growth in the BLE's dues income of about 18% between 1996 and 2000 is strictly a result of increases in membership, because our dues structure has not changed since 1992.
So, another important set of decisions the Delegates will have to make concerns specifically what level of services the International Division is to provide for the next five years, and how those services will be funded. Our Committees dealing with legislative and financial matters will provide the Delegates with the information and tools needed to make these determinations.
Finally, of course, the Delegates will elect the team that will execute the game plan that is laid out for the upcoming term.
However, in picking the best possible group of leaders, the Delegates should avoid viewing things from the "political horse race" perspective that always seems to infect American and Canadian government elections. Instead, the focus should be on performance and promise.
Does the candidate - whether an incumbent or a challenger - work as hard as he or she can to advance the BLE agenda? Does the candidate inform the membership of his or her activities, to the best of their ability? Does the candidate call it the way he or she sees it, rather than simply stating what the members want to hear? Is the candidate a team player, who understands that - when the debate is done - it is time for unified action?
Although these tough choices ultimately fall to the men and women who have been elected as Delegates to the International Division, there is a role and a responsibility for each and every BLE member in this Convention year.
The members who actively participate in their Division's affairs will pass initial judgment on the vast majority of constitutional resolutions, as they literally are drafted at the grass-roots level. Those same members will decide on what questions their Delegate will be instructed, binding the Delegate to a vote on those issues. And - in a world of limited resources - those members will provide needed direction to the Delegates as to what services constitute enough of a priority to make responsible funding commitments.
It is my goal that this year's International Convention will be a serious process of democratic agenda creation, rather than a political showcase. Hitting that target begins with the rank and file membership, who in the coming months can set the tone. For that reason, we are devoting this issue of the Journal to the convention process, so that you may be informed on the ways to make the International Division responsive to your needs.
Democracy is the most powerful political tool of all, if used in an intelligent and responsible way. I ask all BLE members to make wise use of our internal democratic process to advance the development of the BLE, so that we remain Rail Labor's leader in the 21st Century.
© 2001 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers