CLEVELAND, October 9 — 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 newly-elected BLET Division Legislative Representatives in Washington, D.C., from December 6-10, 2009.
The workshop will take place at Teamster headquarters in Washington, D.C., with classroom training beginning the evening of Sunday, December 6. All-day classroom training will follow on December 7, 8 and 9.
Veteran Legislative Representatives are also eligible to attend, but precedence will be given to newly-elected Legislative Representatives who were elected by acclamation at the triennial elections.
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 December 10. December 11 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 McLuckie, Teamsters Legislative Director; Bill Munger, Teamsters Department of Training & Development; 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; Gail Carson, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President & National Legislative Representative; and Steve Bruno, BLET Director of Regulatory Affairs.
Participation in the workshop is limited to the first 20 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 $116 per day from the North American Railway Foundation (NARF). 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. Attendees are responsible for their transportation costs, along with the cost of room and board.
For more information, please contact Ken Kroeger of the BLET Education & Training Dept. at (216) 272-0986 or kroeger@ble-t.org