As we move forward together in our next 125 years of service to our members, let us remember that we will need both the depth of our convictions and the courage to confront those who would keep us from achieving our goals.

We live in a difficult time for labor. Not only do we face those in government and corporate board rooms who challenge the very existence of labor unions and try to undermine us at every turn, but we also face the split within organized labor itself.

With the departure of several large unions from the AFL-CIO and the Building and Construction Trades Department, we are now faced with the challenges from those who would see organized labor's history cut short. And from those who would place our trophy head upon their archive walls.

Whether our challenges come from political conservatives who place the representation of multinational corporations above the representation of working men and women or whether our challenges come from predator unions who resort to raiding other unions in their quest to build their own ranks, our challenges going forward are many. The challenges we face on the political front have ramifications for each of us.

Our government's unwillingness to address spiraling health care costs affects the lives of all Boilermakers. Increased insurance costs are eating up the wage increases we negotiate. Your International union has also incurred substantial increases in the cost of health care over the past five years as I have outlined in my written report to this Convention.

Our government's unwillingness to address multiemployer pension law reform has put funding for our multiemployer pension plans — both the Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Plan and our Officers and Employees Pension Plan — into a more precarious state, though we have effectively addressed both problems.

Free trade policies promoted by the U.S. and Canadian governments have contributed to a loss of over 9,000 members in the past five years. The loss of those members has a direct impact on the financial health of your union. Add to that a reduction of, on average, approximately 10 million construction man hours, per year, for the last three years, with the resulting loss of field dues. And you will see that the financial challenges this International has faced during this period have been significant.

But I am confident our union will do as we have done for 125 years. We will endure, we will meet our challenges head on and we will achieve our goals.