Winter 2001
Volume 108 - No. 4
Winter 2001
Volume 108 - No. 4
BLE Focus
Convention 2001
A new administration for a new millenium
At the Seventh Quinquennial Convention in Miami Beach, delegates made key constitutional changes and elected a new administration for a new millenium.
Held the week of September 24-28 at the Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla., delegates spent many long days and nights planning the future of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. More than 600 delegates were present at the roll call vote on Monday morning, September 24.
A full-slate of Brotherhood business - amending
and updating the BLE's governing document, the Constitution & Bylaws
- kept delegates in session from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, while regional
caucusses and candidate campaigning kept them busy at night.
It was one of the most closely contested series of elections in the 138-year history of the Brotherhood, in which the winners of nine races were decided in run-off elections. In the end, delegates wiped the slate clean and elected three new officers to the Brotherhood's top three offices - Don M. Hahs to the office of International President; Edward W. Rodzwicz to the office of First Vice-President & Alternate President; and William C. Walpert to the office of General Secretary-Treasurer.
During the week-long convention, delegates were treated to speeches by labor and political dignitaries, including Cecil E. Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA); Mick Rix and Martin Samways, the top two officers of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), the BLE's equivalent union in Great Britain; and Warren Tolman, Gubernatorial candidate for the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
All dignitaries were given warm ovations by the delegates, but it was Cecil Roberts - one of the labor movement's most stirring speakers - who brought delegates to their feet several times.
As with the 1996 convention in Detroit, in which BLE delegates donated $20,000 to the newspaper worker strike fund, delegates in 2001 also proved their generosity. Delegates donated more than $15,000 to three emergency and disaster relief funds.
With the national tragedies of September 11 fresh in their minds, delegates dug deep into their pockets and donated $8,207 to the New York City Disaster Relief Fund and $500 to the Red Cross Liberty Fund.
After the stirring speech by Brother Roberts, in which he explained how 13 coal miners in Alabama were killed in a cave-in on September 23, delegates donated $6,355 to help the families of the victims.
With a new slate of officers and a revised Constitution & Bylaws, delegates have successfully plotted a course for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to follow over the next five years.
Photo caption: President Don M. Hahs, shortly after his election victory on September 27.
© 2001 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers