| Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers | |
| Founded | 1863 |
|---|---|
| Date dissolved | 2005 |
| Merged into | Teamsters |
| Members | 55,000 |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Affiliation | AFL-CIO, CLC |
| Website | www.ble.org |
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) was a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on May 8, 1863, as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. A year later, its name was changed to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of Engineers.[1] In 2004, the BLE became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).[2]
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History
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was North America's oldest rail labor union when it merged with the Teamsters in 2004.[2] It had members in the eastern half of the United States and parts of Canada.[citation needed] Conductors were able to enter, but the union was not specialized to deal with their issues.[citation needed]
The BLE was the first of the "Big Four" of railroad worker brotherhoods:
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE, 1864), organized as Brotherhood of the Footboard in 1863.
- Order of Railway Conductors (ORC, 1868).
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF, 1873), later the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (BLFE, 1904).
- Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen, (1883), later the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT).
In 1969, all except the BLE joined with the Switchmen's Union to become the United Transportation Union (UTU).
In the era after the founding of the Big Four, some sixteen other "brotherhoods" of railroad trades organized.[3] Membership qualifications across trades shifted, and the alliances among the brotherhoods (and their chapters) are not always clear.[4]
After 1877, the BLE was considered less militant than some other brotherhoods, as well as the Knights of Labor and the American Railway Union.[3][4]
References
- ^ Pennsylvania General Assembly (1878). Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877. L.S. Hart. pp. 509,902. http://books.google.com/books?id=ByYbAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
- ^ a b http://www.ble.org/about.asp
- ^ a b Paul Michel Taillon (2006). "Railroad Brotherhoods". in Eric Arnesen. Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-class History. p. 1165. ISBN 0415968267. http://books.google.com/books?id=zEWsZ81Bd3YC. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
- ^ a b Shelton Stromquist (2008). "'Our Rights as Workingmen'". in David O. Stowell. The Great Strikes of 1877. pp. 65–67. ISBN 0252032411. http://books.google.com/books?id=Gn_84uMlHSQC. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
See also
External links
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen official website
- BLET Websites Website Creation for BLET Divisions
- Teamsters official website
- History of Railroad Fraternities in Marin County, California
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