General Information

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 28 — Open Enrollment for the BLET’s Short Term Disability Enhanced-Plan (underwritten by Sun Life Financial) ends Friday, January 31, 2020. Those who meet the deadline will have their coverage take effect on February 1, 2020. The Enhanced-Plan coverage gives participants an additional $102 weekly benefit on top of the $300 Base-Plan benefit. Enhanced-Plan coverage is voluntary…

(Source: Palestine Herald-Press, January 21, 2020) PALESTINE, Texas — State, city, and county representatives, along with U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell), met Monday with Union Pacific officials in an effort to keep the railroad, and its dozens of local jobs, in Palestine. The two sides, however, remained deadlocked – nor did they agree to meet…

(Source: Politico, January 21, 2020) WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was a rough weekend for the railroad, which came under fire from a senator and other high-profile figures for two incidents that went viral. Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, tweeted on Friday that she had been asked to leave her seat…

(Source: Television station KHOU 11, January 21, 2020) HOUSTON — Attorney and environmental activist Erin Brockovich was invited to a community meeting in Houston 20 years after Julia Roberts played her in a namesake motion picture. She joined the chorus of concern regarding elevated cancer rates around a former creosote processing facility in Houston’s Fifth…

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, January 22 — Each year, the BLET National Division compiles a list of scholarship opportunities available to the children of BLET members. Numerous financial aid opportunities are published here in the 2020 BLET Scholarship Directory. The scholarship opportunities vary widely. The following comprehensive list provides members and their families with contact information for…