It's up to you, the voter, to make sure that you have the answers you need from the candidates before you arrive at the polls and cast your vote. As a union member, you know how critical it is to elect candidates who support a pro-working families agenda. We know all too well what the consequences are if candidates with an anti-labor record get into office. As the phrase goes, "Been there, done that."

Now is the time to ask the candidates to tell you what they will really do to address the issues confronting today's working families. And you should not take simple rhetoric as an answer. This is the time to hold the candidates' feet to the fire.

As you know, the issues are not simple. Many have been at the center of political debate for years. Yet, the issues are critical to our future.

Take comp time. For years there have been various proposals debated in the halls of Congress to undermine a worker's right to overtime pay. Some were masked in worker friendly terms like the "Working Families Flexibility Act." Sounds pretty good, right? Well, while its proponents touted this legislation as a vehicle to give workers increased control over their working lives, the truth is that it would have resulted in a reduced pay check and standard of living for working families.

As a voter, when you hear the term comp time, ask the candidate what that means to him or her. Fair overtime compensation is a basic employee right. True flexibility can only exist when workers have a real right to choose how they'll be compensated. While we all want more flexibility and choice when it comes to balancing our work and family lives, we are concerned when that means losing needed income and worried about losing control over our schedules.

Let's look at another bill that sounds good, but you need to first know the facts. It's the Patients' Bill of Rights. Now, this is a good bill. But, it does depend on which bill your candidate is discussing. In its original form as supported by President Clinton and Vice President Gore, the bill puts health decisions in the hands of doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats, and gives patients the right to sue an HMO if they are denied the health care they need. The Republicans in Congress, however, have proposed another, weaker version which would let insurance companies make the decisions and deny people the right to sue. So, when a candidate says "I support the Patients' Bill of Rights," make sure you dig a little deeper to see what they mean and learn which version he or she supports.

You will also hear a lot in this campaign year about increasing the minimum wage. Some will say that a raise in the minimum wage will mean a decline in jobs. It's the same cry opponents of an increase have made throughout this decade and yet the nation is enjoying the strongest economy in decades. And every time there is a wage increase, the opponents are proven wrong. According to the Economic Policy Institute, "no evidence exists that shows teenagers or adults without a high school education lost work as the result of the 1996-1997 minimum wage increases. Historically, analyses of the minimum wage's impact on young workers have never shown the projected large job loss."

The labor movement supports legislation introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative David Bonior that would increase the minimum wage by one dollar an hour over two years. Earlier this year, Congress passed legislation increasing the minimum wage a paltry 33 cents an hour, and included huge tax breaks for Big Business and the wealthy. President Clinton has threatened to veto these bills. Again, the question to candidates is not whether they support a minimum wage hike but rather "what bill do you support?"

As the world we live in changes and our economy becomes globalized, it is increasingly important to demand from politicians the type of trade policies that benefit all workers around the world, not launch a worldwide race to the bottom in wages, benefits and workers' rights. If you had a chance to tour, for example, a Mexico-based U.S. manufacturer you would find a high-tech 21st Century plant with 19th Century human conditions for Mexican workers who lack clean running water and sewers and live in environmental disaster zones. Meanwhile, workers in the U.S. have seen tens of thousands of good jobs disappear as multi-national corporations wage a war of exploitation against workers around the globe.

This can stop if we demand more from our elected officials and, more importantly, ask the right questions. No one, including the labor movement, is against selling our goods abroad as members of both political parties talk about the good jobs supported by growing trade. The real question is not if you support trade, but if you support fair trade that demands basic worker and human rights be a part of all trade agreements? We in the BMWE must care about globalization issues because the day may come when the railroads will try to replace maintenance of way workers with low-wage foreign workers as the trucking industry has tried to do under NAFTA to our Teamsters brothers and sisters.

Retirement security is also on the minds of working families. That is why this issue is being talked about by politicians who want everyone to believe they have all the answers. For BMWE members and all railroad employees, few issues are more important than safeguarding Railroad Retirement.

No politician will ever tell you that they are against the security of your pension or our Social Security system. But they won't tell you what their plan is unless you ask them. Thus, the question to politicians isn't whether they support a secure retirement and a strong Railroad Retirement system, but whether they will support maintaining these crucial programs and will oppose risky privatization schemes.

These are just some of the important issues that need to be addressed by candidates for office between now and Election Day. Now's the time to question the candidates and learn more about where they stand on questions facing working families. And, come November 7th, make sure you use what you have learned and go to the polls and vote.