St. Louis Regional Meeting

Opening Speech

By Charles L. Little
UTU International President
June 14, 1999

Good morning, brothers and sisters. My name is Charlie Little and I'm here this morning to tell it like I see it.

In Los Angeles a few weeks ago, I spoke my mind and set the record straight.

Here in St. Louis, I intend to do the same thing.

Since we met in Los Angeles, there are several new developments that deserve comment. But before I do, I want to welcome all of you who have come to this year's second regional meeting.

Our meeting in Los Angeles was a big success with more than 600 people attending, and we expect this meeting in St. Louis to be even bigger. In fact, I'm told we have about 1,000 people here.

I also want to take a moment to thank all of those people who have helped organize this meeting, including Larry Foster, Norbert Shacklette, Ken and Carol Menges, Richard and Deanna Duley, Andrew and Linda Kinne, Donald and Annette Davis, Lyman Frank, Kerri Frank, and Leslie Prenger.

We appreciate your hard work and dedication to the UTU.

Now, as I did in Los Angeles, it's time to tell it like it is.

And there's only one place to start -- and that's with the BLE.

You need to know that the story we told in L.A. about the break-up of unification talks has been confirmed in a letter by the BLE First Vice President.

You know the story.

We learned by reading the BLE website on May 8 that their Advisory Board had announced they were withdrawing from unification.

At 4:15 p.m. on Monday May 10, BLE President Clarence Monin finally sent us a letter saying they were not going to unify because they were concerned about UTU finances.

Everyone now knows … and the BLE First Vice President has now confirmed… that it was a phony excuse.

In fact, the BLE First Vice President Ed Dubroski admits in his letter that BLE President Clarence Monin posted the resolution withdrawing from unification on their website knowing that this action "would provoke the UTU" into reacting exactly the way we did.

He said that President Monin deliberately "provoked the UTU into going back to the National Mediation Board."

He said that President Monin is "willing to risk all in his effort to keep his position."

Now, let me get back to the UTU's finances…

You have heard by now that on the morning of May 10, Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest and most-respected accounting firms, finished their final audit of UTU's 1998 finances.

They said the UTU's finances are strong and stable.

That report by Ernst & Young was the BLE and Monin's worst nightmare.

It popped the balloon on their cooked-up financial excuse.

The Ernst & Young Report also deflated the hot air coming from a handful of self-serving UTU politicians, who cooked the books to make us look bad to further for their own secret agenda.

Four years ago this union's finances were troubled.

Today, they are not.

But these few people think they know more than Ernst & Young and professional accountants.

You know what, I'll take Ernst & Young's word any day. I'll take their word over any one who would actively work with the BLE and "cook the books" to destroy unification and hurt the UTU.

Today, as the Ernst & Young report shows, the UTU has nearly $44 million dollars in the bank.

Today, the UTUIA has record assets of more than $221 million dollars and record reserves of about $35 million dollars.

But on May 8, the BLE said they were concerned about our finances, and that's why they called off the unification.

Well, Ernst & Young has no concerns -- and neither do we!

If anyone should be concerned about finances, it's the BLE.

In fact, in a recent article in the Daily Labor Reporter, the BLE's General Secretary and Treasurer admitted the BLE has been operating in the red for 30 of the last 34 months.

Now, there isn't a business, union or family that doesn't operate in the red in some months. But 30 out of 34 months? Something's wrong there. Especially since the BLE's International dues are 40 percent higher than the UTU's dues.

Even with higher dues, the BLE can't operate in the black. By their own admission, the BLE's general fund has been in the red for the last three years -- and its strike fund is nearly depleted with only about $32,000 dollars.

The BLE has not yet filed its 1998 LM financial report with the Department of Labor, which was due in March. What are they trying to hide?

In the real world, the BLE should be happy to unify with a financially strong partner like the UTU.

But, once again, it appears that the BLE's timing was way off.

They forgot we had Ernst & Young coming in on May 10.

They forgot we have money -- and that they don't.

I think they must use Serbia's public relations firm.

The Ernst & Young Report shows that the BLE's public excuse for pulling out of unification was a fraud. It was a cover story concocted to cover up much deeper problems in the BLE leadership in Cleveland and around North America.

No, the real reason the BLE dropped out of unification is because Clarence Monin and some other officers ran scared from a recall.

Monin chose to throw away unification because he couldn't take the heat and he didn't deal a straight hand. He couldn't stand up to a closed-minded BLE minority, and according to Ed Dubroski, he "misled and deceived" their officers and members.

Monin chose to try to save his own skin by trading unification to keep his job. He and his cronies chose to betray the BLE membership to keep them from voting on a recall and on unification.

Tell me, what happened to the myth of the BLE democratic process?

Tell me, why did the BLE Advisory Board order their General Secretary and Treasurer not to send out the recall ballots he had ready to go on May 8?

What was the deal?

I think everyone in this room knows that answer.

In fact, it took a Federal judge in Cleveland to right that wrong. The judge denied Monin and the BLE's request for a temporary restraining order to stop the recall.

The judge said that the BLE membership should be allowed to vote on the recall, and that Monin and the BLE were wrong to stop it.

The BLE recall ballots have been sent out. They are due back by the end of July.

Right now it appears that the BLE is imploding from within. Their First Vice President said that their "Brotherhood is nearly paralyzed" and their "Constitutional process has broken down."

The BLE is engaged in a civil war. They are at war with each other. They are a house divided.

Now, we hear rumblings that the BLE and the BMWE are discussing merger -- again. In fact, the BLE's First Vice President wrote that the President of the BMWE tried to wedge in between the UTU and BLE just days before we signed the Statement of Principles.

Talk about strange bedfellows. The BLE didn't like it when we talked about the relationship between train and engine service.

What will their members say about the linking of engine service and maintenance of way? What will they say about the golden parachutes their officers and BMWE officers will guarantee each other?

I said it in Los Angeles, and let me repeat it here in St. Louis: The UTU is committed to operating unity.

We bent over backwards to accommodate the BLE and its culture. We knew the real condition of BLE finances. But we truly wanted to create a new union where democratic principles and historical craft autonomy was honored. We wanted to take advantage of the power of one union representing all operating employees during this time of change and growth in the rail industry.

We have wasted enough time working in good faith with the BLE and trying to do what is right for the future of operating rail employees. We have exhausted our efforts and our patience working inside the "House of Labor" to forge a meaningful and fair unification with the BLE.

The UTU has done everything the AFL-CIO asked us to do in working with the BLE to unify during the last year. President John Sweeney and Tom Donahue know that only one union should represent operating railroad employees.

They know we operated in good and open faith with the BLE. They know the UTU is sound financially. And they know we didn't kill unification…the BLE did.

They also know the real reasons. And those reasons are not UTU finances or what the dues would have been in the new union. Remember that our dues are 40 percent less than the BLE's International dues.

So, we have asked the National Mediation Board to sanction a winner-take-all representation election on the Union Pacific Railroad.

We believe it is the NMB's duty to let the future take its course and allow a democratic election on the nation's largest railroad. We believe the NMB has enough facts to order the U.P. election, and will have even more facts after hearings in early July.

Now you may have heard that the BLE is staging a rally in Washington, D.C., on July 6 to try to intimidate the NMB.

It has also come to light that the BLE's mobilization team is being called a "brownshirt army."

For anyone who remembers, the brownshirts operated in Germany in the 1930s. They were a contemptuous group and have no place in America or in the American labor movement. They are an affront and slap in the face to every World War II veteran and every American. Their formation by the BLE speaks to the lowest form of leadership and paranoia.

Regardless of the BLE brownshirts and their tactics in Washington, D.C., or elsewhere, we believe the NMB will make a decision by the end of August allowing a representation election on the Union Pacific.

And when we win the U.P. election.

And the next on CSX.

And the next on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

And the next one on the Norfolk Southern, and every other class 1 railroad, when union members have spoken in a free democratic election not stymied by paralyzing BLE politics, there will be only one operating rail and transportation union left standing. And it will be the UTU.

On that day, and let me repeat here what I said to your brothers and sisters in Los Angeles, the last words of BLE history will be written in the final chapter that began on May 8.

That was the day its leadership backed out of the best unification deal in rail labor history in order to save their own skins. And in the process, the BLE betrayed its members, and also every other union member in North America.

I'm a very easy person to understand.

I tell you what I'm going to do.

I tell you how I'm going to do it.

And then I set out to get it done.

Four years ago, when I was elected president of this great union, I told everyone what I was going to do.

I put together my Blueprint for a New Beginning, along with a talented team of UTU leaders, and I promised to get things done.

I didn't really care about making friends -- or creating enemies.

I cared about fixing what was wrong, and kicking this union up a few notches.

Along the way, I've made some new friends -- and some new enemies.

And you know something, I'm proud of both accomplishments…

But this union needed a New Beginning, and a new vision for the future.

We needed to fix our finances, and we did.

We needed to strengthen our organizing, and we did.

We needed to restructure and reinvigorate the international, and we did.

We needed to automate and computerize, and we did.

We needed to boost our political clout, and we did.

We needed to be proactive and set a positive agenda for the 21st century, and we did.

Four years ago, the 21st Century still seemed far away.

But now it's about six months away.

My goal has always been to prepare the UTU to be North America's Number One rail and transportation union in the 21st Century, and we have done that.

The UTU must be a union that represents 21st Century rail and transportation workers using leading edge techniques…

We cannot be held captive to 19th century thinking that seeks to preserve the past at the expense of your jobs and your family's future.

We care about preserving all of your jobs and crafts, not solely preserving a single craft.

That's why we will press on with our mission to unify all train and engine service employees under the UTU umbrella, and we will not stop until we win.

That's why we will continue to expand our organizing efforts at bus operations, regional airlines and shortlines!

That's why we plan to increase our political presence across the U.S. in preparation for the presidential elections in 2000.

And that's why we cannot stop the momentum that has resulted in so many positive results for our union.

As I stand before you today, I am proud to report that the UTU is prepared to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century. Our "New Beginning" has firmly taken root.

The UTU will begin the 21st Century as North America's leading transportation union.

Our finances are strong and stable.

Our membership is growing.

The UTUIA is at all-time highs.

We are Y2K ready.

And we are ready to take on the BLE in representation elections on the Union Pacific and across the U.S.

The UTU is not a house divided. We will stand, the BLE will not.

We are a union of Brothers and Sisters of many crafts who look out for each other and do what is right . We do not sell out our brothers and sisters to put a few more dollars in our back pockets by taking away another person's job.

Just ask those conductors on VIA Rail in Canada or the Montana Rail Link or the Soo Line about what the BLE did to their jobs.

I am proud to report that every International officer…except one…stands with us.

I am proud to report that every International officer…except one…has poured their hearts and souls into protecting your job and future in the rail industry.

I am proud to report that every International officer…except one…is working with your best interests at heart.

Eugene Debs' vision is within sight. The promise of unification will finally give operating employees the power of one to take on the mega-railroads.

Our accomplishments have taken the hard work of many fine people.

At the head of that list is Byron Boyd. Nobody works as hard as he does and covers as many miles as he does each year representing your interests.

Byron is the best Assistant President I can ever remember in UTU history. We share the same vision and principles. And, more importantly, we share the same passion to make a difference.

We vowed not to sit on our hands.

We said we would not suffer fools.

We said we wanted to make history, not become a part of history…

And that is what we are doing.

We also know that we need a strong team at the International and in other leadership positions. People like Dan Johnson, Paul Thompson, Bob Earley, Larry Davis, Mike Futhey, Al Smith, Bruce Wigent, Kim Thompson, Pete Patsouras, Rick Marceau, Guy Scarrow, and John Armstrong.

In the Bus Department, people like Bernie McNelis and Percy Palmer.

In the Yardmasters Department, old pro's like Don Carver.

At the International in Cleveland, we have many outstanding professionals working for you, including Clint Miller, Stu Collins, Bob McHenry, Paul Kalil, Gene Felling, John Fink and Eric Pack, and many more.

The UTU is also blessed with outstanding legislative leaders, like Larry Foster, Jim Stem, Jack Shaver, Joe Szabo, Bill Thompson, Ray Lineweber, Tom Dwyer, Larry Foster, Don Dunlevy, Dave Brickey, Pat Hendricks, and many others.

Then there's Tim Secord in Canada. Everybody who knows Tim Secord knows he has his own unique way to get results in Ottawa and around Canada.

Now, you're probably asking yourself, "What about Broken Rail?"

As you probably know, both Broken Rail and I are Texans. Now, you have to be pretty tough to be a unionist in Texas -- and pretty darn street smart.

Broken Rail's instinct, knowledge and "street smarts" about Washington and politics is of vital importance to Byron and me, and to everyone in this union. It is a major reason for our political success. It's a major reason why about 98 percent of UTU endorsed candidates won their races in the last elections.

In fact, TPEL is the Number One transportation PAC in the U.S. and has helped put us at par with the carriers in Washington.

Broken Rail knows how we made real history at the National Wage and Rules Panel with our landmark announcement this spring to eliminate serious work/rest issues.

Broken Rail and the other true leaders in this union know that the Wage and Rules Panel is our best hope for the best deal we can get on our major issues.

First of all, the Wage and Rules Panel, contrary to what a few misinformed politicians may think, is where we can get real results -- like we did on work/rest issues.

We have implemented many pilot projects to test different solutions at many different places. They are just that -- pilot projects.

Rest assured that there will be no implementation of any agreements without the ratification procedures in our Constitution being followed to the letter.

The UTU is driving the agenda at the Wage and Rules Panel. Now that the BLE has dropped out of unification, we believe we will be able to accomplish even more.

We are working to end the entry-rate pay and dual basis of pay for post-1985 members.

We intend to make sure that the most productive rail workers in the world are paid accordingly.

Finally, after decades of declining railroad employment, thousands of new operating employees are being hired.

We have been successful in organizing Renzenberger van drivers in California and in other places.

We are on the upswing again.

Since 1997, Byron and I have attended 17 general committee meetings and answered every question asked. Over the course of this administration, we have had question-and-answer "shoot-outs" in Chicago, Memphis, Seattle, North Platte, Des Moines, Cheyenne, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville, Jacksonville, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Roseville, Massillon, Ohio, and three in Cleveland.

The drumbeat we are hearing is to continue going down the same track.

From every corner of the union, we are being told to take on the BLE for the last and final time.

From every corner of the union, we are hearing that our work in getting CSX and U.P. to enact new disciplinary programs are right on track.

We are hearing that Membership I is making a big impact wherever it goes and is worth every cent.

We are hearing that members are looking forward to more healthcare choices when Blue Cross Blue Shield comes on line January 1.

I have said that we would like to get the national freight-handling contract finished as quickly as possible.

I believe we can do that now that the BLE will no longer slow us down.

You must understand this: I do not believe in being confrontational with the carriers -- unless they offer no other alternative.

I believe in beating them with facts and figures, and good hard negotiating.

I believe in seeking common ground where we can agree on issues that are good for you and good for your employers.

We are very fortunate this time. The economy is booming and railroads need tens of thousands of new workers to compete.

They need us more than at any other time in the last 30 years. They need us because if the Conrail carve-up fails - and right now there are many trouble spots -- the railroad industry will be re-regulated to death by Congress.

As I said, there already are problems popping up with this merger. Let me assure you, we are watching CSX and Norfolk Southern very carefully.

We know what's going on in Elkhart and Cleveland. We know what's happening in Toledo and Harrisburg and Chicago. We know what's happening in Buffalo and other places. We have been to this party before.

We have told Norfolk Southern in particular to fix their problems. We have told them that we will not tolerate another U.P. situation for very long.

They know it can be a long, hot summer if they don't get their act together.

They also know the news media is watching. They know they don't have much time to turn things around.

The Union Pacific learned how much they needed the UTU to climb out of its service crisis. We -- you -- saved that railroad.

The carriers know that they need our expertise to keep pace with truckers and other forms of transportation.

The carriers know they need professional union operating employees to compete in the 21st Century.

They know they need the "new" UTU…

Now, Norfolk Southern and CSX need the UTU - and you - more than ever. Once again, it will be UTU members who will save their hides.

But what we are doing is protecting our jobs, and making the case once again that UTU members are the best union rail employees in North America.

That is why the time is now for the UTU!

The 21st Century will be our time to carry forward the torch of proactive unionism.

By the end of this year, we will be in heavy negotiations on a new national contract.

By the end of this century we will have beaten the BLE on the U.P. -- and probably other railroads.

As the 21st Century begins, we will be the undisputed rail-and-transportation union in North America dedicated to representing our members with true grit and determination.

Tim Smith and the members of Local 1391 in Lorain, Ohio, know about grit and determination. They also know what the UTU did to help them in their fight to keep the 104-year-old Lake Terminal Railroad operating at the steel mill. Ask them what we did to help them.

Ask Ken Fillipiak in Chicago what the UTU did to get him his job back at the Chicago Belt when he was fired for witnessing a fatal accident and not saying what the railroad wanted him to say.

As long as I stand here as your president, I will fight for the Ken Fillipiaks.

I will fight for the small locals like Local 1391 in Lorain.

I will fight other unions who want to steal your jobs.

And I will fight the carriers -- at the negotiating table and in Washington -- to do what is right for you.

I am not concerned about saving my skin, unlike some other rail union presidents.

I am not concerned about making friends and being liked by the carriers -- or other union leaders.

I have only one concern -- and that is to give you everything this union can.

So you make a good living.

Have a good life.

Raise your families in security.

And feel pride in who you are and what you do at your job.

Thank you and God bless you.

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