Thank you, Byron, for the very kind introduction. All of us appreciate everything you do for the UTU. Thank you, my friend.

Good Morning, Brothers and Sisters, my name is Charlie Little, and I am proud to stand here with you today in Birmingham, Alabama, as your International President.

I would like to thank the delegates who re-elected me last August in Miami Beach, and our members from coast-to-coast who have expressed their overwhelming support for what we are doing in this administration.

In Reno, Nevada, a few weeks ago I stood in front of about 1,400 of your Brothers and Sisters, and in front of cameras that webcast the "State of the UTU" speech over the Internet for the first time.

We made history that day as the first labor union to ever tell its story on the World Wide Web to any one in the world who cared to listen. And we have been told that many people listened -- and are still listening to what the UTU has to say.

In Reno, I touched on important issues facing the UTU and the transportation industry.

I talked about Railroad Retirement and how the BLE and BMWE are trying to scuttle the best improvements in a generation.

I talked about National Contract negotiations and our mission to end the two-tiered pay structure and entry rates.

I said that the National Contract is one of the main issues on the UTU’s radar screen, and that we are focused on getting you the results you deserve.

We plan to be the first union to reach a contract settlement with the carriers, but it must be the right contract or there will be no deal.

I spoke about why we left the AFL-CIO and suggested the Federation get its house in order.

And I talked about the strength of UTUIA and TPEL that make the UTU the Number One union in our industry by a country mile.

Everything I said is on the record, and you can read it or view it on the Internet or in this month’s UTU News. Everything I said is there, including when I called the BLE a "yellow-dog" union, because that is what they are, and said that the BLE’s self-destructive President is being manipulated like a puppet by the renegade president of the BMWE.

As I said, you can read all of that -- it’s on the record.

You know that Bear Bryant, the famous Alabama football coach, had his own special way of saying things. One of my favorites goes something like this, "What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight, but of the fight in the dog."

Well, this is one dog that still has a lot of fight still in him! And this dog isn’t yellow!

I must also point out that Bear Bryant left Texas A&M because he admitted that as long as he coached there he would never be the best coach in the state. He was proud to admit his friend and mentor, Wallace Wade, would always be the best. But in Alabama, Bear Bryant became for a time the best coach in all of college football.

Bear Bryant also once said, "Don't talk too much or too soon."

Today, I want to say what needs to be said at this time and in this special place. I’ll leave it to your judgement whether what I said was timely, and whether I talked too much.

This morning I want to spend my time here with you talking about the future. Your future … your job …and the future of the transportation industry.

And I want to talk about two very different visions for the future.

One, the vision of the UTU to create a dynamic, forward-thinking union for the 21st  century.

And the other, the vision of the BLE to remain trapped in an outdated, fragmented 19th century union structure.

When you leave this Regional Meeting, I want you to fully understand that the power to take charge of your future and your job rests squarely in your hands.

You are the leaders of this union. And you are the leaders on the job. It’s up to you to stand up and take charge, and keep focused on the prize.

It’s up to you to look in the mirror and realize that inside of you is the Power of One that can make you, your job, and your union better.

Bear Bryant also said, "The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards."

The same lesson applies equally to unionism as it does to football. Nothing is easy, but if you work hard and keep your eye on the prize, the rewards are well worth it.

Before I get rolling, I’d like to take a moment to recognize everyone from the local host committee who worked so hard to make this meeting a success.

Please stand and be recognized.

Now, I’d like a good friend and former UTU International Presidents to stand and be recognized. Thank you, Tom DuBose and Al Chesser for everything you have done, and for everything you continue to do for the UTU.

Last summer at about this time, we were holding our Regional Meeting in Washington, D.C. I wasn’t at that meeting because I had surgery for colon cancer. Well, I just had my one-year check-up and my doctor told me everything was A-Okay and that my health is excellent.

At that meeting in Washington, the UTU was the first major union to endorse Al Gore for President. You already know that the UTU was the first major union to endorse Bill Clinton for both his first and second terms. This union stands four-square behind Al Gore and keeping the Democrats in control of the White House…

American working men and women, and all American union members, must step up to the plate and take charge of the November elections. We must not only put Al Gore in the White House, but also elect a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

We’ve all seen the recent polls that have George W. Bush leading Al Gore. But there’s a lot of time between July 10 and the first Tuesday in November. Just nine months before Bill Clinton beat him for the Presidency, George Bush the First had a 90% approval rating right after the Gulf War. Yet he lost to Bill Clinton in November.

Just let me say that an acorn does not fall far from the tree. We must elect Al Gore in November.

I was told that before I get into the meat and potatoes of my comments this morning that I should give a few updates on important UTU issues.

First, National Contract talks.

After our Reno, Nevada, meeting, Byron Boyd led our negotiating team in another round of long talks with the carriers. It is fair to say that we had substantial discussions on our key issues and made progress, including on the central issue of getting rid of the two-tiered pay system and entry rates. And once again, we believe that the November elections are pushing both sides to agree earlier than usual.

As I said in Reno, if we do not have the contract we want before the November polls, then it may become a long, drawn-out process. We remain optimistic that will not be the case.

The UTU also still stands in solidarity and is working closely with 10 other AFL-CIO unions to pass a major Railroad Retirement bill this year. When it comes to representing your interests, we still work closely with Federation unions who know the UTU is the power in our industry.

However, I’m still saddened to report that the BLE and its BMWE master are still trying to sabotage this legislation.

This bill is not perfect, because no bill before Congress is ever perfect. But it is a very big improvement on what we now have and fixes some old wrongs.

While Social Security is increasing the retirement age to 67, we can lower it to age 60 from age 62 with 30 years of service, and we can provide health coverage beginning at age 60.

We can lower the vesting requirement for younger workers from 10 years to 5 years, and we can finally fix the widow and widower benefit to bring a full pension payment to grieving spouses.

Yet, the BLE and the BMWE still oppose all of this and are still spewing out misinformation to union members and to Congress.

They are still choosing isolation from all of rail labor instead of solidarity on one of our most vital issues.

The only reasonable question to ask is: Are Ed Dubroski and Mac Fleming plumb crazy?

I think every reasonable person in rail labor knows that answer!

As long as BLE President Ed Dubroski allows the BMWE to make BLE Railroad Retirement policy, everyone knows that answer.

As long as BLE President Ed Dubroski permits BMWE President Mac Fleming to keep pulling his strings and put words in his mouth, everyone knows that answer.

What do Fleming and his puppet Dubroski plan to tell the widows if they kill this legislation?

What do Fleming and his puppet Dubroski plan to tell all of the new hires who would have to wait 5 more years to be vested in the retirement plan?

Is that the kind of representation new workers get for cheap entry-rate dues?

What do Fleming and Dubroski plan to tell the thousands of old hands who will benefit from a lower retirement age?

Do not let the BLE and BMWE hold your retirement hostage.

Tell them what you think. And tell them where to get off!

And then tell your Congressperson and Senators to support this legislation.

This whole Railroad Retirement issue is one very big reason why it makes real sense for operating rail employees to be represented by the UTU and the Power of One union.

Now, I’m going to say a few more things about the BLE.

First, I want to tell all BLE members that we welcome you as true Brothers and Sisters. We have a great deal in common, including protecting the historical craft of locomotive engineer, as well as the other historical crafts.

We urge you to crossover and join the UTU.

Our dispute is not with you, but it is with your rogue leadership that hijacked your union last summer in a suspicious recall election.

Our dispute is with your pretender President who won by only 16 votes earning himself the nickname "Landslide Eddie."

Our dispute is not with BLE members, most of whom understand the value of combining all of the operating crafts.

Our dispute is with BLE leaders who were found guilty of colluding with VIA Rail in Canada to destroy the craft of conductor and put 300 men and women out of work, and who now have publicly said they will to do the same thing in Pennsylvania by agreeing with SEPTA to get rid of conductor’s on a major new commuter rail route between Reading and Philadelphia.

Our dispute is with the current BLE President who signed his name to a unification document and then broke his word after concocting some bogus reasons that have proven to have no basis in reality.

Time has shown that there is no merit to the BLE’s phony excuses to back out of unification.

Time has shown that Dubroski and his cronies cooked up all kinds of foul smelling stew in order to steal the BLE presidency from Clarence Monin and the BLE from its members.

Time always has a way of getting to the truth -- and biting yellow dogs in the tail.

I told you that the UTU had one vision and the BLE the opposite vision. This is as good a time as any to spell out those competing visions very clearly. It’s up to you to decide which union wears the white hat and which union wears the black hat. Or which union is less gray than the other.

If you listen to the BLE President, I wear a black hat with devil’s horns.

If you listen to the BLE President, all of you should rise up and smite this administration and flock to the warmth and security of the BLE tent.

But so far the Red Sea hasn’t parted, and UTU members are not returning to Egypt.

Let me say this, I am proud to wear a black hat if it means I am in favor of Railroad Retirement legislation that provides for an earlier retirement with health benefits, fixing the widow’s pension, and lowering the vesting requirement.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means ending the two-tiered wage system and entry rates.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means making an historic deal to end cramdown for UTU members in future rail mergers.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means unifying the historical rail operating crafts in one strong union where we all watch out for each other.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means having the Number One Political Action Committee in rail labor --TPEL -- to watch out for our interests in Washington, D.C. and around the country.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means providing the best deal in Job Benefit Income Protection Insurance in the rail industry.

I am proud to wear a black hat if it means providing all of the benefits and services of UTUIA, our Insurance Association, to tens of thousands of union members.

Now let’s look under the BLE hat. You pick the color.

The BLE is against fixing the widow’s benefit and keeping them at a 50% survivor’s pension.

The BLE is against lowering the retirement age from 62 to 60 with healthcare benefits after 30 years of service.

They are against allowing younger workers to be vested with only five years of service, and wants to keep it at 10 years and make new hires work five years more.

The BLE is now working with SEPTA in Philadelphia to get rid of the craft of conductor just as they colluded with VIA Rail and succeeded in getting rid of hundreds of our Canadian conductors.

The BLE has made back-door deals with the Pacific Harbor Line and Montana Rail Link for remote control operations that will cost scores of job.

And they have made a deal with the Canadian National and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads -- along, of course, with the BMWE -- to support the dangerous scheme to merge the two railroads that could cost thousands of jobs and more disruptions and meltdowns across the U.S. and Canada.

In agreeing to support the CN-BNSF merger, the BLE and BMWE have agreed to so-called "minor" layoffs and selling jobs that will make the railroad more dangerous and hurt the careers of younger employees.

Listen to what I just said: The BLE and BMWE have agreed to let the CN-BNSF layoff workers and close out jobs.

How can a union agree to any layoffs as a pre-merger condition?

A layoff is a layoff -- and minor or major makes no difference to the Brother or Sister being laid off.

Yet, the BLE and BMWE have agreed to layoffs in exchange for a few more coins of silver for older workers.

The BLE and BMWE are saying that they think it’s just fine to drop another merger bomb in the middle of the rail industry right now.

The UTU says it’s not.

So, if being against the merger of the CN and BNSF means that I’m wearing a black hat, then I am glad.

But now you tell me: What color hat is the BLE wearing?

I wish the world were as simple as white and black hats. Sadly, it isn’t.

But I think you get the idea. The UTU is for building the best union for today and tomorrow. The BLE is about protecting an out-of-date union and choking progress.

The whole merger issue is a great example of the different visions of the UTU and the BLE. The BLE is hoping against hope to keep its piece of an ever-shrinking pie at everyone else’s expense. But the UTU is trying to make the pie bigger so everyone gets a larger slice.

We are the most productive railroad workers in the world, and we deserve our fair share. We don’t believe in taking from pre-85 employees and giving to post-85ers. That’s what the BLE is doing by supporting the CN-BNSF merger. We believe in making the pie bigger for us all, and we believe in saving jobs and crafts so there are more of us around to share in the bigger pie.

As you know, the UTU strongly opposes the CN-BNSF merger and we fully support the STB’s 15-month moratorium on rail mergers. That moratorium is the right thing and it has come at the right time.

But with the case being expedited by a Federal Court, anything can happen. The last thing we need at this time is a merger between CN and BNSF that will trigger what many say will become the final and biggest round of railroad mergers in history.

In fact, just recently Wall Street raider Carl Icahn announced he intended to purchase 15% of CSX. A man like Icahn doesn’t say he’s buying 15% of a company unless he has plans for it. His track record at TWA could be one example of what he will do. And I’m sure that many of you here, who have weathered the CSX and Norfolk Southern acquisition of Conrail, have a few thoughts about this turn of events.

So tell me, do we need the final round of North American rail mergers now? Do we need CN to merge with BNSF now?

This merger doesn’t benefit anybody other than a few railroad executives. Do we need more major disruptions again?

Should we simply believe the Presidents of the CN and BNSF when they say this time it will be different than the UP and SP merger or the Conrail buyout by NS and CSX?

We’re heard it all before. The story has grown old and worn. No matter what the railroad presidents and their high-priced lawyers and lobbyists say, the reality is that whatever could go wrong does go wrong in a modern rail merger. That’s our recent history lesson learned the hard way on the UP and SP, and at Conrail, CSX and NS.

So the wise thing to do is to take some time and get our house in order before what seems inevitable happens.

Nobody can stand in the way of change, but we sure can use the next 15 months getting better prepared and positioned to manage change better. That’s the UTU’s position -- being ready to take on the challenges we are facing in these first years of the 21st Century.

A central part of that challenge means doing everything we can to position the UTU to have the Power to represent the historical rail operating crafts. We agree with the experts and Wall Street analysts who say that North America’s major railroads will inevitably merge into virtual government-sanctioned monopolies.

So in order to compete against these powerhouses, the UTU must be bigger and stronger, too. We believe that to survive and thrive in the 21st century against the power of monopoly railroads that we can no longer support an ineffective and fragmented 19th century rail labor structure. We can no longer afford a fragmented representation system in the rail industry if we are to avoid a race to the bottom.

But that is the announced policy of the BLE.

They will sell out tens of thousands of good union jobs just in order to ensure that their organization may be the last one standing.

Through his words and deeds, the BLE President is doing everything he can to stop progress and play right into the carriers’ hands at the expense of new employees. The BLE President’s self-destructive path, and his broken signed pledge to unify, threatens everyone in the rail industry.

I said it in Reno, and I am saying it here again. The UTU is committed to the Power of One union for the long haul. We are committed to bringing all historical rail operating crafts under the banner of the Power of One union.

That union is the UTU.

We believe our appeal of last winter’s labor panel ruling in the Union Pacific case will prevail. We never said this would be an easy or quick campaign.

As Bear Bryant once said, "You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load."

Well, we know how this horse will pull. And he will pull strong and steady until all of the operating crafts are unified under the UTU.

This is not a sprint; it is crusade.

This is the question you must ask yourself when you look in the mirror: Is your job worth fighting for? What will you do to protect your family and your income?

In the next five years, there will be a massive turnover of workers in the rail industry. Some labor experts predict that more than 25% of the workers will be new employees with only a few years or less of experience.

So this message is for all of you newer hires. What kind of future do you want? What kind of union do you want in the future?

It is very clear that rail labor cannot continue down the same archaic path of splintered union representation that benefits nobody other than the railroads. It is equally clear that rail labor cannot keep fighting among itself. So it must change and come together; it can’t stay frozen in the past, as the BLE wants.

What’s really at stake is continuing a way of life on the railroad that pays well for tens of thousands of union workers who accept hard and dangerous work.

What’s really at stake is your future survival as an operating employee making a good wage … regardless of craft!

Will two of you be replaced by one of you, as the BLE wants? And, if so, which one of you?

Or will both of you be replaced by a black box? And which one of you – if either of you – will operate it?

That’s why the UTU is so committed to unifying all historical crafts under one union banner where each craft will maintain true autonomy and help protect the other against unsafe technology.

The evolution of the operating workforce with employees who are dually qualified as a conductor and locomotive engineer has made it clear that either the UTU and BLE put aside past rivalry in favor of unification -- or fight it out to the finish.

The BLE President has made it very clear he wants a fight to the finish.

Split organizations mean continual fights over seniority and flowback rights. Only by joining together as one union, as we tried to do with the BLE under the direction of the AFL-CIO, can we hope to avoid assisting the railroads in their efforts to whipsaw the UTU and BLE into bidding against each other, and performing the remaining work for the lowest possible wage and with the fewest possible people.

Cheap dues paid to an ineffective union cannot protect you from this fate.

That’s why all younger operating employees, including all locomotive engineers, should stand with the only union that has both the power and the experience to fight the "divide and conquer" tactics of the railroads. That union is the UTU.

I urge all of you attend Dan Johnson’s and Artie Martin’s seminar on "The Race to the Bottom."

You will learn how that race has already begun and what we can do to stop it now. The answer is simple: We can stop the Race to the Bottom by creating the Power of One union to stand up against the carriers in the 21st Century.

Now is the time for all operating rail employees and transportation workers to join together under the Power of One union under the umbrella of the UTU for increased bargaining power and political strength.

I am proud to stand here with you today as the President of a union focused on stability, solidarity, and growth and with a strong vision for the future.

I am proud to say that the UTU continues to be financially strong and that our membership continues to grow from year to year.

I am proud to say that each year more and more transportation workers seek out the UTU to represent them, including more airline pilots, bus operators, and van drivers.

I am proud that the UTU is the only union in our industry that offers quality insurance to union employees through its own insurance company. A company, the UTUIA, with more than $695 million of insurance in force covering the lives of tens of thousands of union members and their families.

Only the UTUIA has more than $219 million in assets and $34 million in reserves and last year paid more than $18 million in benefits, and every year provides more than $60,000 in college scholarships to the children and grandchildren of UTU members.

The BLE doesn’t have anything like this. And they don’t have anything like TPEL. I am proud that TPEL is larger than the next five rail PACs combined, including the BLE, and TPEL is 3 ½ times bigger than the BLE’s PAC.

I am proud that we continue in our position of influence and respect in Washington and among our peers in transportation labor.

I am proud that the UTU is acknowledged to have the most-influential website in our industry and that we were the first to use the Internet to reach out to our members and the public.

When it comes down to it, when you look in the mirror at the end of the day, or when you are shaving in the morning and ask yourself which union will do the best job for me … and which union will do more to protect my job and family… and which union is focused on the future… there is only one answer.

And that answer is The United Transportation Union. Thank you. Thank you all.

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