While the fight for an earlier retirement appears to have been lost, the fight for a better contract continues. The 2000 round of bargaining, which officially opened on November 1, 1999, with the serving of the BMWE's Section 6 Notice (contract demands), continues to suffer delays by the National Mediation Board.  Updates on both these struggles appear in this JOURNAL as well as month by month summaries. 

Focusing on safety is always one of the BMWE's top priorities as it continually strives to insure that each day members leave the job at least as healthy as they came to it. See Focus on Safety for an overview of the BMWE's safety efforts this year.

The strange and confusing events connected with the election of a new President and Congress are still ongoing as this is being written the middle of November. See BMWE President Mac A. Fleming's President's Perspective where he discusses why Labor cannot allow a clearly tainted election to determine the next president of the United States. And while the majority was narrowed significantly in both the House and Senate, Republicans still maintain control of Congress. This casts a long shadow on hope for greater success in the BMWE's struggles in the legislative arena, where many of the battles for railroad workers are fought.

And along with other articles connected with the BMWE's legislative struggles, we have a wide sampling of some activities and events BMWE members have been involved in this year as they continue to build the way in the new millennium.