After more than a century of thumbing their noses at other crafts and assuming that the tide of technological change would never reach the locomotive cab, the BLE claims to have finally seen the light. If you believe the recent BLE propaganda, the historical BLE as we have known it is dead and gone, and a new and improved BLE"T" is emerging.

No, the "T" is not for Teamsters. The "T" stands for Trainmen, because BLET says they have finally come to realize that their only hope for survival is to represent more than just one elite craft. BLET now proudly announces that they are ready to "welcome ground service employees with open arms" – a statement that would have set traditional BLE officers' skins crawling just a few years ago. It's really too bad they didn't come to this conclusion when all of the other railroad operating crafts joined forces in 1969, or in 2001 when the UTU membership approved a voluntary merger which was soundly rejected by BLE. And it is doubly regrettable that now, after finally realizing the folly of their elitist, separatist past, they have chosen to forge an alliance with truck drivers rather than with the one rail labor Organization that has demonstrated its commitment to represent all of the operating crafts collectively but autonomously for 35 years.

One thing about the "new" BLET is not new at all. They are still experts at going second. After vowing that they would never accept any national agreement that did not guarantee BLET ownership of remote control, and after months of criticizing UTU leadership over Trip Rates and Health and Welfare and just about every other aspect of the UTU National Agreement, the new and improved BLET has now signed and ratified yet another "me too" agreement, duplicating the UTU Agreement in all but the most obvious cosmetic details.

This Site will feature future articles about the BLET's perilous alliance with the Teamsters, and their impossible goal of attempting to serve two masters.