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- From: ACTIV-L via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
- Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.environment,alt.president.clinton
- Subject: INFO: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Telegram to Bill Clinton
- Followup-To: talk.environment,alt.president.clinton
- Date: 20 Nov 1992 02:09:51 GMT
- Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
- Lines: 80
- Message-ID: <ACTIV-L.19Nov1992.1809@naughty-peahen>
- References: <ACTIV-L.19Nov1992.1808@naughty-peahen>
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- [Also Posted to misc.activism.progressive (by Somebody Else)]
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- => Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- => From: Nigel Allen <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
- => Subject: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Telegram to Clinton
-
- Here is a press release from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
-
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Telegram to President-Elect Clinton
- To: National Desk, Political and Labor writers
- ontact: Stephen W. FitzGerald of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
- Engineers, 216-241-2630, ext. 251
-
- CLEVELAND, Nov. 6 -- The president of the nation's senior labor
- union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), sent the
- following telegram today to President-elect Bill Clinton. The BLE
- represents 52,000 railroad employees:
-
- Dear President-elect Bill Clinton,
-
- On behalf of the men and women represented by the Brotherhood of
- Locomotive Engineers and in respect to the hundreds of thousands of
- others employed on our nation's railroads, I extend my heartfelt
- congratulations to you on your victory.
- Your presidential election victory is especially gratifying to the
- BLE because, as you know, this is the first time ever in the BLE's
- 129-year history that it has officially endorsed, vigorously promoted
- and financially supported a presidential candidate. I am proud that
- it happened under my stewardship. I am proud of your issues-focused
- campaign and even more proud of your decisive victory to put people
- first.
- In you, we have a president who believes that people who work by
- the rules and negotiate according to our nation's laws should be
- treated with fairness and respect. You have said that working people
- should be treated as equal partners in the labor-management equation.
- We railroad employees, especially, know it is impossible to
- separate our job safety, wages and health benefits -- traditional
- collective bargaining processes -- from the political and legislative
- processes. We now know that these processes will be fair from now
- on.
- You have promised to deal rightly with the export of American jobs
- and industries. As you have said, jobs are more important at home,
- not overseas.
- You have promised to put balance and incentive back into the
- collective bargaining processes by signing workplace fairness
- legislation, so that employees will no longer be intimidated by
- threats that they will be permanently replaced if they exercise their
- legal rights to strike when they are not bargained with in good faith
- by employers. I am absolutely convinced this legislation will lead
- to many more agreements reached more quickly. It will also guarantee
- fewer union strikes and management lockouts.
- You have promised a serious look at our nation's under-used rail
- system as an alternative to the urban gridlock, energy inefficiencies
- and environmental damage of other transport modes. As you know,
- railroads are more than three times as energy efficient as trucks.
- And compared to all other passenger transportation, higher speed rail
- is less damaging to our environment and safer for employees and the
- public -- foreign bullet trains have proven it for years.
- Your hope and the hope of every American is to bring our nation up
- to speed with our toughest challengers in the global economy,
- including Germany and Japan -- which have unionized work forces twice
- that of America's.
- As you have said, it takes courage to change. Now we must invest
- our priorities and tax dollars wisely. If we do, we will reap the
- benefits for this and many generations to come. You will have given
- opportunity to all and put the faith of our nation back into its
- government. We are here to help you.
- Again, congratulations on receiving a mandate from the American
- people. The members and families of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
- Engineers are proud to have responded to your call for "a new
- beginning."
-
- Respectfully,
-
- /s/ Ronald P. McLaughlin
- International President
- -30-
- --
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