217.370.8505 cory@bletislb.org

Cory Martin

Illinois State Legislative Board Chairman

Illinois Primaries March 17th 2020!

The Illinois primaries are upon us! (Tues. March 17th 2020) It is vital that we encourage every member, every friend, neighbor and family member to VOTE! Please educate them about our union’s endorsements and why we have selected them. Our State Legislative Board’s...

National Voter Registration Day 9/24

National Voter Registration Day National Voter Registration Day is a national holiday celebrating our democracy. It was first observed in 2012 and has been growing in popularity every year since. Held on the fourth Tuesday of September, National Voter Registration Day...

SB24 Rail Safety Bill

Last week in Illinois House Transportation Roads and Bridges Committee SB24 was called. Myself, Bob Guy, (IL SMART Leg Director), and Mike Renkin (SMART) gave testimony in support.of the legislation. Seated in the hearing room from the BLET were ISLB 1st Vice Chris...

Support IL SB24 Call Now!

Tomorrow Wednesday March 20, 2019, SB24 "Two Person Freight Train" is scheduled to be heard in Senate Executive Committee at 2 pm. I have listed some of the members of the Executive Committee that need to hear from their constituents. "Please support SB24 and vote yes...

BNSF to pay $75 million to settle biometric privacy suit

BNSF to pay $75 million to settle biometric privacy suit CHICAGO — BNSF Railway will pay $75 million to settle a biometric privacy lawsuit in which it was originally assessed a $228 million penalty, only to have that award thrown out on appeal, Reuters reports. The...

STB Chair Oberman: NS takeover could be a ‘huge detriment’ to the rail industry

“It’s been a long-term struggle to try to get these railroads to rebuild. It’s a never-ending tension,” said Oberman. “Wall Street will always be there — which is fine, it’s part of our capitalist structure. But the activist investors, such as the ones that have surfaced now at Norfolk Southern, have a very short-term goal and it’s not constructive.”

While such activist investors are free to practice their approach in other industries, the rail industry is different, he said.

“Railroads are a regulated monopoly, and they have a common carrier obligation to the public interest and to the nation’s economy,” said Oberman. “Railroad management and owners are not just free to manipulate the business for short-term gain to drain the resources out of the railroads in the form of enormous stock buybacks and dividends to the determent of the railroads, … labor, and ultimately to the economy and the consumers.”

The Koch Network Is Killing Rail Safety

The Koch Network Is Killing Rail Safety One year after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, inspired bipartisan legislation that would have made the nation’s railways safer for everyone, the bill has been all but killed — largely thanks to a familiar...