Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
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|
| Founded | June 1883 |
|---|---|
| Date dissolved | 1 January 1969 |
| United Transportation Union | |
| Office location | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Country | International |
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was a labor organization for railroad employees founded in 1883. It was originally called the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. Its purpose was to negotiate contracts with railroad management and to provide insurance for members. The BRT grew to become the largest brotherhood of operating railroad employees. In 1969 it merged with three other unions to form the United Transportation Union.
The Brotherhood was organized into lodges. Its executive was elected every four years at the Grand Lodge Convention, including the president. There were four governing boards: the Board of Directors, Board of Trustees and Insurance, Board of Appeals, and Executive Board. Members in rail service included conductors and their assistants, dining car stewards, ticket collectors, train baggagemen, brakemen, and train flagmen. Member in yard service included yardmasters, yard conductors, switchtenders, foremen, flagmen, brakemen, switchmen, car tenders, operators, hump riders, and car operators.
The Brotherhood was founded on 23 September 1883 in Oneonta, New York by eight brakemen in Delaware and Hudson Railway Caboose No. 10. The original name was the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. At the time, wages were just over $1 a day. The work was dangerous, with 33% of brakemen being injured in the year of foundation. The Brotherhood offered death coverage of up to $300, and was the only way members could obtain insurance. The Brotherhood's insurance department was established in 1885 and maximum death benefits raised to $600. The union restricted membership to whites.
In 1885 the first Canadian lodge was established in Moncton, New Brunswick. That year Stephen E. Wilkinson (1850-1901) became the first Grand Master of the Brotherhood, which now had 4,500 members. By 1886 there were 8,000 members in 244 local lodges. Maximum death benefits were raised again, to $800. By 1898 the railways employed over 800,000 workers, 5% of the total labor force in the United States. Brotherhoods organized by craft represented Locomotive Engineers, Conductors, Firemen, Trackmen, Switchmen, Carmen and Telegraphers. The brotherhoods provided social and educational benefits, insurance and relief, and helped resolve disputes between members and employees. Generally, they were very cautious about resorting to strikes. An 1887 publication by the BRT laid out its goals:
Railway managers and superintendents recognize in the Brotherhood a school for the mental, moral and physical improvement of its members, and consequently a better and more desirable class of men, who can be depended upon at all times, and into whose care and watchfulness thousands of lives and millions of dollars worth of property can be safely entrusted.
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