LAS VEGAS, September 30 — Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall motivated BLET delegates with an energetic speech that was a highlight today of the BLET’s Third National Convention. Delegates enjoyed video messages from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown during Day 2 of the session.
Delegates were also read letters from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and from Rex Beatty, President of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).
To rally members behind the effort of getting out the vote this November, GST Hall urged the delegates, “You are the Union. Our members are the Union. We are all in this together and we have to get out to the polls and make sure that we do not let the anti-union, fat cats control our country.”
“If you are a non-union worker, you don’t have the strength to take on this fight. It’s our responsibility as the strongest union in America. We have to make sure that everyone votes. Let’s go fight back against corporate America.”
GST Hall also touched upon the issue of rail safety and two-person train crews.
“One of the greatest threats to rail safety is the carriers’ desire to cut crew size down to one person,” he said, noting that the BLET and Teamster Legislative Departments are closely tracking the progress of H.R. 3040 through the House and S. 2784 through the Senate, which are the BLET’s crew size bills that would mandate two-person operations.
Hall also encouraged BLET members to become actively involved in their unions and to vote in the upcoming elections.
“CEOs don’t move very many trains from their ivory towers, but you do,” Hall said. “CEOs should respect that. To earn that respect, you need to be active and involved. You need to vote.”
During her video presentation, Senator Warren praised BLET members specifically and the labor movement in general for standing up against corporate America and fighting for the Middle Class and working class families.
“The playing field is tilted against working families, and now more than ever Americans need a strong labor movement,” she said.
During his video presentation, Senator Brown thanked the BLET and Teamsters for holding the line against Corporate America’s attack on unions.
“For over a century and half, the BLET has been on the front lines in the fight for worker rights,” he said. “As every BLET member knows, collective bargaining is about more than wages but also for securing a safe work place. We can’t afford to remain silent and we can’t allow Corporate America to turn back the clock on worker rights.”
In his letter to BLET delegates, Senator Sanders talked about the importance of unions in the current political environment. Senator Sanders noted that while the average middle-class family makes $5,000 less than it did in 1999, after adjusting for inflation, the top 1% now owns 37% of the wealth in the nation.
“Thank you for all that you do for the working people of this country,” he said. “If ever there was a time for a political revolution — one that engages millions of Americans in the political process, and significantly increases voter participation — now is that time! We need to educate, organize and bring to the polls millions of workers and young people who otherwise might not vote.”
In his letter, TCRC President Beatty wrote: “At the 150th anniversary of the BLET in Detroit (in 2013) my speech referred to the movie ‘Lincoln’ and I again refer to such here. In a conversation between Lincoln and the character played by the actor Tommy Lee Jones President Lincoln says, in responding and referring to Mr. Jones’s reference to a compass: ‘What good is knowing true north if only to get bogged down in the swamps and mud along the way?’ It is with this statement in mind that I and the TCRC wish you a great Convention as the BLET not only knows the direction it needs to take in representing its membership but is strategically positioned to avoid the many ‘swamps and mud along the way.’ It is what makes the BLET a leader in the Union movement that we can all be proud of.”
Delegates also heard the report of the Legislative Committee, chaired by Terry Briggs, Division 530 and Chairman of the Texas State Legislative Board, and Committee Members B.J. Faulkner, Division 41, K.W. Kertesz, Division 263, P.S. Pfeifer, Division 388, and Committee Liaison V.G. Verna, who also serves as the BLET’s Director of Regulatory Affairs.
Throughout the remainder of the session, delegates debated and considered the resolutions and recommendations of the BLET Bylaws Committee.
Additional news updates, photos and videos will be made available on the BLET convention website (www.ble-t.org/convention) and the National Division Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BLETNational).