While we came up short of our some of our goals, we will continue the fight for what we deserve. While this past year has had its share of disappointments, in many ways it has been no different than labor's history has always been. Labor's struggles have always been like marathon races. Our history has shown that for working people these types of struggles have always been a part of winning the gains workers deserve. Our gains have been won in the past because we were willing to continue the struggle.
Signalmen are in it for the long haul.
This year we struggled to improve benefits for widows and retires, we struggled for new rules to protect workers in mergers, and we struggled for wage and benefit improvements in national bargaining. While we didn't win these struggles this year, our fight is not over, and in some ways it has just begun. Signalmen will continue to fight for these issues. Our past shows that we struggled for Grade Crossing Regulations for over twenty years before we succeeded. Throughout the first half of the 20 th century, workers fought for a 40 hour work week.