To the BMWED

Instead of being focused on giving us a winning contract that would benefit the whole BMWED or further ensuring the protection of railroad retirement through law so that these thieving politicians don't even fathom taking it from us as our numbers nationwide dwindle. Mr. Simpson is investing his time in a stunt that sounds deceptively good. To make one agreement for us all to limit confusion, make things more efficient, consolidate all of our dues money, and save money by cutting down the number of officers.

Making one agreement would indeed make things easier for the company to contend with us as instead of company officials working around many agreements they just need to learn one. Unless we work on the Regional System Gangs, we all just work within our respective districts under our respective agreements. Different regions with different needs and different challenges. Tell me, has any broadly implemented law by our government ever really worked to our benefit? Like education reform? What works in Texas isn't necessarily going to work well with everybody else, even a neighbor like Louisiana. Education is a prime example of this, you can't hold Louisiana schools to the same standard as Texas schools and even within each state there are so many variances in the conditions for each school district, governing them all by a single standard is careless to say the least, especially when the problems usually run deeper than budgets and rules. Would it be any different for our system federations? The tracks in Texas are nothing like the tracks in Nebraska or the tracks and conditions of Montana for that matter. The tactics employed by the BNSF in California, are not exactly the same as the things we see in a neighboring state like Oklahoma. So lets say we have one agreement and one standard, which in most cases people set a minimum standard based on averages. The problem with that, like in our education system, is it sets you up for mediocrity and downward trends. People naturally seek to give as little as possible and seek maximum reward in a self-orientated society, so most people will settle for that minimum standard and also seek to lower it to make things “easier” at the cost of strength. You know that thing you gain from struggle, like at the gym. You don't get stronger doing the things you can do, you get stronger by pushing your limits and reaching a little higher every time. So what do you want? Do you want to strengthen this union? Or dilute it more? A new single agreement would most likely be formed within the confines of all of the old agreements which would lead to an average where some of us will lose out and in the end costing us all. As we are not negotiating with the company, we are working within confines of our own organization. Also, what would be the odds that the company would just welcome a new agreement with the best elements of all the agreements just thrown together?

If we all end up under a single agreement, there would be some definite immediate losers and winners from each system federation as far as making a new agreement. Even after the Frisco joined with the ATSF, not too long ago, there are still plenty of bitter people floating around about that little merger from guys in the old Frisco mostly, what do you think will happen if we multiply that many times over?

Another problem is representation, in our smaller system federations, our representatives have more of a chance to talk to one another and debate as they should during our system federation meetings. Which is quite unlike our national convention, where the sheer volume of people makes it near impossible to reach out to all of the delegates and what you find is people just aim for the big votes from the big lodges mostly. Should we reduce ourselves that kind of representation for our members too? We would only be reducing the voices of our smaller lodges and smaller federations even more, then they already are.

In one of Mr. Simpson's recent letters, he stated he would also like to pool all of our dues money together on a “per capita basis” or per person basis. So does that mean he intends to have all of our lodge funds consolidated with the system federation accounts too? Well, then the question is, should the lodge money my lodge members pay into be used to benefit others without their say so? I admit, my lodge is one of the better funded lodges and I understand smaller lodges have trouble attending multiple union events in a year whether it be a convention or officer training, because of lack of funds. But, I also understand what proactive leadership can do to help alleviate this without any top down guidance. It wouldn't be a problem if another lodge officer reached out to me asking for help in financial matters that would strengthen our union as a whole, as all I would have to do is bring it up in the next lodge meeting to get my lodge's consent to aid our fellow union members. There are other solutions that can happen at a system federation level, but to throw all of our money into one pot and let a single main office approve of things is something none of us likes when our government does similar things with our tax money. How many of you like having your tax money used to subsidize another state's bad policy decisions instead of having that tax money used to fix your state's roads, bridges, and the likes? How many of you like it when your tax money is used to bailout businesses making bad business decisions? Should we do the same with our lodge funds?

Then there is the other thing of cutting staff numbers by consolidation and most likely rezoning of responsibilities. Yes, there is merit this idea. But, once again, let that be the decision of each individual system federation to negotiate and work out amongst themselves. If our members really wanted it, than it would have happened a long time ago. Also, I understand a lot of people complain about the responsiveness of their union officers, but consider how many of them there are and how many of you there are. Consider how big our systems are and the amount of things that happen in the course of one day and then consider how long investigations could take. Many of you don't even attend your union meetings and very few of you even know what happens in your system federation offices daily yet you are so quick to judge what don't even know and gladly spout out all of the excuses under the sun on why you can't give one to four days out of your year to be proactive in the maintenance of YOUR union. Those are not even whole days, just hours out of those days. Not only that, many of you don't even want to lift a finger to download your agreements onto your phones or learn them to protect yourself. Instead you expect some magic union officer to protect you at all times like some people in our country expect some magical police officer to show up immediately to protect them at all times of trouble. It is lunacy.

Just like it is lunacy to believe it is a good thing to have top down legislation. If Mr. Simpson really wanted us to merge, why didn't he promote that over the years he has been in office through communicating with the members and coming to an understanding? Why push a sudden change toward the end of his career with us? When has that ever been an effective way of leading or governance in human history? I can name plenty of times letting the top dictate things has ultimately led to deplorable situations, heck just look at the results of Joseph Stalin's life and the millions that suffered or died under his rule, because of that top down style of leadership. Look at BNSF itself too and all of the extra suffering they cause from that style of leadership. Do you want that now with our union too? Needless suffering, that can be avoided through responsible leadership from the bottom up and communication, that thing nobody really does anymore in the most connected yet disconnected generations ever.

The answer to most of our problems in our union and in our society is dignity and honor. A series of choices that you can make everyday shooting for the best possible you at all times. You don't even need any laws, rules, government, or money to make that happen. Each of you are literally one choice away from a better tomorrow in your lives and the lives of the people around you. Yet, so many of you cower away from those better times as you may incur a little discomfort choosing it. I'm not even talking about doing bigger things like confronting agitators spreading historically bad ideas within our communities or confronting our crooked government; I'm talking just trying to maintain your own dignity and honor or your neighbors by doing something as small as being respectable/respectful. We make weak excuses measuring ourselves to weaker people creating a direction of poor behavior, instead measuring ourselves to the best whether a historical figure or current strong individuals and even just a better version of you. Many of you expect that of others, but not yourselves. My what a different world we would live in today if that simple change was made by individuals everywhere daily and it is not a far fetched idea either.

Think about how a organization, a nation, or anything the likes is made. It takes a collective will towards that, a choice by a group of people. It is the cycle of tribes, nations, and empires. A group fights or struggles to reach a level of prominence, but as time goes on their descendants who live in and only know of the blessings created by the sacrifices of previous generations lose sight of what it took to make it all happen and things start to fall apart. They become lazy, ungrateful, and weak causing suffering, death, and violence that they gladly ignore for their own selfish reasons. Like most of America ignored the pleas/protests of their fellow Americans after NAFTA was signed and people were losing their jobs, nobody cared and look at us now. What family, group, or nation can stand when all seek for themselves? It could be the death of a squad or more on the field of battle if just one chose to seek for self instead of standing and working as a team. The same is happening to us now as an organization and a country as we dance this endless waltz of war, peace, and revolution. Do things have to be this way? No, history shows what we must do, but will you have the courage to do it? Will you find the power in yourselves to at least help forge a new path for all of us? Will you contribute to the solution? Or continue to be part of the problem? Will you continue to pawn off responsibility for yourselves and your communities onto others? And that is the main problem in our society and our union, ultimate freedom is a dictatorship and none of us are the top dogs so universal suffering for everybody else besides the ones on top is abound. Freedom without dignity and honor, freedom without compassion and understanding, freedom without responsibility and selflessness is the lonely, slow, and dreadful path to the death of a people.

Ultimately, I don't necessarily entirely disagree with Mr. Simpson's goals, but the way he is going about it is wrong in my opinion and I will not stand for it based on my experiences in life. Any action that threatens the future representation of some of our members is a threat to us all. Any action that forces us to make a hurried decision when so much is at stake should bring all of you pause, as it is such situations that get many killed in the field of battle. I implore each of you to at least become part of the conversation. Even though I come from one of the larger lodges in Texas and such a change as Mr. Simpson wants historically benefits the larger and more influential...what kind of brother would I be if I did not consider the smaller lodges and system federations amongst us. These are not the days to sit idle, these are the times for all of us to fight. Agree or disagree, let us have dialogue, let us take our fences down a few notches, let us have courage to self-examine and hear what others observe, and let us become responsible for the future.

It is only through each of your individual choices that we can change ourselves, our families, our communities, this union, and this country. All you have to do is research “real” heroes and you will see that better days are a struggle away and it is worth it in the end. Heroes like many of our Congressional Medal of Honor recipients like William Harvey Carney, Tibor Rubin, and Roy P. Benavidez are prime examples of human excellence against amazing odds and continued excellence in life. We can even look around the world at the likes of the lone viking that influenced history at Stamford Bridge keeping back an advancing army or the steadfast resolve of Admiral Yi Sun-sin while others coward against the invading Japanese letting their emotions get the better of them; Yi Sun-sin stood like a mountain eventually breaking the invasion.

Face the darkness, quit waiting, quit running, quit ignoring...face it now when we can have many lights standing together rather than a few or none. Some make the excuse that there will always be darkness when there is light, sure that is true, but would you rather live in complete darkness? And if you have enough lights contributing everywhere how much darkness is there really? Is it not better to able to see the vastness of the world and the infinite possibilities around you in the light or would you rather stumble around in the darkness. Quit with the weak excuses, quit being irresponsible for the future. When you walk in the darkness what is your point of aim? What is your destination? What is your purpose? Irresponsible and easily deceived into beliefs of safety in shadows...falling in dark holes, stumbling constantly, easily caught chained and shackled by the beasts of darkness. Choose the light, become the light. No it is not “easy” and can't be handed to you. You have to find the fuel for the fire in the night, gather the materials to start it, and get going in the uncertain darkness. It takes effort to maintain a fire too, but once you establish your system, it gets easier. Your actions and in-actions, your character to drive a better future or a worse one based on what is in you and how you use it. Get strong and overcome as countless people before us have. First, let us fight to protect our union from ourselves and our own by empowering our members with knowledge and community. Let's protect our representation and protect the voices and the capacity of all our brother and sisters to contribute to the future by not only listening to them, but projecting those voices unto others and keeping their struggles close to your heart. Then let us fight to make this union better, through opening communication across our organization, choosing to build and having the courage to let your ideas in the open to be scrutinized and examined. Let us forge new ideas for victory, as the old ones have left us stagnant and slowly withering. Next, when we get to the point our new ideas, paths, initiatives, are clear and burn bright...let's fight to win our states and even our country back for our people. May our struggle echo through history that we were the generation that turned the times, that we were the ones that decided enough passing the buck, enough destroying opportunities for future generations, letting things fall apart around us. Choose the victory, choose to build, choose to fight, learn from the past and help guide the future. You are the one, each of you are needed more than ever to change the future and while the rest of the country's wages are diminished through further taxation and inflation that will cripple us all eventually and our capacity to change the times....we must fight now, before all chances of courage fade away.