CLEVELAND, April 28 — Officers from various state legislative boards of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division from around the U.S. will meet in Las Vegas May 6-7 for a first-ever Teamster Rail Conference Legislative Workshop.
“The workshop will offer a broad range of topics of benefit to our own BLET State Legislative Chairmen as well as the BMWED’s State Legislative Directors,” said BLET National Legislative Representative Raymond Holmes. “We see this as just another advantage merging with the Teamsters, which now includes the Maintenance of Way Employes. We will hold one combined meeting instead of two separate meetings, reducing our costs and accomplishing more than if we had met separately.”
Some of the meeting topics include Teamster and Rail Conference structures; political mobilization; IBT field resources, communications and grassroots lobbying; RLA and NRLA comparisons; FELA issues; state program overview; state issue panel discussion; a federal legislative panel discussion; and several hands-on group exercises.
The BLET expects a total of approximately 80 legislative representatives the BLET and BMWE to attend the join meeting.
“The topics we plan to cover will give the attendees information and added skills that they can put to use in their respective states and on Capitol Hill,” said John Tolman, BLET Political and Legislative Director. “I believe when the workshop has ended, the attendees will feel that it was more than worth their time to participate.”
“The state chairmen and legislative directors will have an opportunity to meet the people from the Teamsters offices in Washington, D.C., and interact with them during the two-day meeting,” Tolman said. “They will also get to know the other attendees, which can only strengthen the two organizations and the Rail Conference itself.”
There will also be officials from the national offices of the BLET and BMWED in attendance.
The legislative workshop will be a lead-in to the Teamsters’ Unity Conference, which takes place on May 8-9. Representatives from each of the Teamsters’ various constituent groups will attend the Unity Conference.
For more information about this meeting contact the BLET’s National Legislative Office in Washington, D.C.