(Credit: Trains Magazine)
DETROIT, May 8, 2013 — Leaders of both railroad labor and industry came together in Detroit today to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen, the oldest railroad labor union in the western world. Presidents of unions and railroads alike received standing ovations from the more than 300 attendees.
Union President Dennis R. Pierce led a day of more than twenty presentations by speakers that included officers from several national labor organizations, executives from four Class I railroads, politicians, and leaders of the American Association of Railroads and the Federal Railroad Administration.
Remarks highlighted the union’s history and accomplishments, underscored the challenges ahead for both labor and the industry, and stressed the need to work together on multiple levels, within the union, with other labor organizations, and between railroad labor and management.
BNSF Railway President and CEO Matt Rose congratulated the union on 150 years and received a mid-speech ovation from the crowd for his comments on Positive Train Control: “BNSF is focused on PTC, not just because of the [federal] mandate, but because we believe it will create a safer environment for our employees.”
While the event was a celebration of history and achievements, several leaders, including the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, stressed the need for continued action. “You think you’re doing enough politically?” Hoffa asks. “It’s never enough!”
AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger thanked the BLET for its help on setting new safety records for the industry in each of the past three years, to the point that today 99.98 percent of trains arrive at their destinations safely. He also thanked the union for its help and cooperation in passing Railroad Retirement Reform in 2001, stating, “When rail management and rail labor work together, we cannot be beaten.”
The union returned to its roots to celebrate 150 years, having begun as the Brotherhood of the Footboard on May 8, 1863, in Detroit. A year later, the name Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was adopted at the first national convention in Indianapolis. That name remained for 140 years, until the 2004 merger with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters led to the current name.
From its inception, the union has advocated for better working conditions for its members. Touchstones include the 1907 Hours of Service Act, which made illegal the 24-hour workday and established a 16-hour maximum; and the Adamson Act of 1916, which provided for the eight-hour day and was the first federal law to address overtime pay. The BLET also played key roles in the 1926 Railway Labor Act, which established a framework for resolving labor-management disputes; and the Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Act of 1937, which established the rail industry’s equivalent of the Social Security System. Recent incentives have addressed safety and efficiency within the industry, including PTC and 2008’s Railroad Safety Improvement Act.
The union has also had a leading role in labor journalism, launching a monthly journal in 1867. Today it publishes a monthly newsletter, Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen News, and a quarterly journal, Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Journal, as well as its website, www.ble-t.org.
The union’s commitment to journalism, history, and imagery were readily apparent at the 150th anniversary, which included a specially produced, 80-page book, The History of the BLET. Artifacts and photographs from the union’s archives were also on display, along with a photography exhibition on railroad workers, “Still a World Apart: 150 Years of Railroaders at Work,” prepared by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and sponsored by the North American Railway Foundation. The North American Railway Foundation also helped prepare a 30-minute video history of the union, shown in three parts during the meeting. The Center and the Foundation work together frequently on exhibitions and publications to tell the stories of the nation’s railroad workers.
Today, the union counts 55,000 active and retired members in more than 500 divisions throughout the U.S., and represents locomotive engineers on 98 percent of the nation’s rail trackage. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, it is the founding member of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Detroit also hosted the union’s 75th and 100th anniversaries, with all three events held at the 1924 neo-renaissance Book Cadillac Hotel.
(Article by Scott Lothes. Reproduced at www.ble-t.org thanks to the courtesy of Trains Magazine)