CLEVELAND, January 3 — The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the National Legislative Office and the National Association of State Legislative Board Chairmen (NASLBC), will conduct a workshop for BLET Division Legislative Representatives in Washington, D.C., from March 9-14, 2008.
“The BLET is conducting this workshop as part of our ongoing program to have the most highly educated and well-trained membership in the House of Labor,” said National Secretary-Treasurer Bill Walpert, Director of the BLET Education & Training Department.
The workshop will take place at Teamster headquarters in Washington, D.C., with classroom training beginning the evening of Sunday, March 9. All-day classroom training will follow on March 10, 11 and 12.
The workshop will cover the following topics:
• Computer skills (principles of letter writing and database management);
• Regulatory affairs (reporting and documenting important issues);
• Political affairs (the anatomy of elections, how a bill becomes a law, communications skills, and writing to politicians);
• Robert’s Rules of Order (conducting meetings); and
• Understanding individual State Legislative Board bylaws.
After completion of the classroom training, attendees will participate in a full day of lobbying on March 13 and a half-day on March 14. The afternoon of March 14 is scheduled for travel home.
Instructors for the class will include: Bill Walpert, National Secretary-Treasurer; John Tolman, Vice-President & National Legislative Representative; Ken Kroeger, BLET Special Representative & Coordinator of the Education & Training Department; Fred McCluckie, Teamsters’ Legislative Director; Cynthia Impala, Director of the Teamsters’ Department of Training & Development; Christy Bailey, Teamsters’ Director of Field Action; Tim Smith, California State Legislative Board Chairman and Chairman of the NASLBC; Tim Hanely, BLET Ohio State Legislative Board Chairman; Kathleen Policy, BLET Legislative, Political & Regulatory Coordinator; Tom Pontolillo, BLET Director of Regulatory Affairs; and other State Legislative Board Chairmen.
Participation in the workshop is limited to the first 24 who register, with a limit of two representatives from each state.
Those who successfully complete the classroom portion of the workshop will be eligible for a stipend of $109 per day ($436 total) from the North American Railway Foundation. The stipends will be paid directly to the State Legislative Board or Division Secretary-Treasurer.
NARF is a non-profit operating foundation formed by the Brotherhood’s Relief and Compensation Fund (BR&CF) to support rail history, education, safety, and technology in the United States and Canada. With initial funding and continued Board of Directors stewardship coming from the BR&CF, NARF has supported many non-political projects throughout the United States and Canada over the past 10 years. The primary focus of these efforts has been in support of organized rail labor — giving back to all of the men and women of the railroad community across North America.
Register for the class at https://www.ble-t.org/lr
After registering for the workshop, workshop attendees will receive an e-mail confirmation that will include hotel registration information.
If you have any questions, please contact the BLET National Legislative Office at (202) 624-8776.