Almost the Last "Independent" Rail Union Merges

I noted a Fox News "streamer" reporting that the 40,000 member Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) has chosen to merge with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).

BMWE holds the contract for Amtrak employees within the MofW crafts.

I believe this was the final "all rail' labor organazation out there. There are of course "predominately rail" organizations such as the UTU and the TCIU; however both hold contracts for employees away from the railroad industry.

Somehow, I thought the BLE would "never die", when it did (also merged with the IBT) well I thought there is still the BMWE. Now they too as an entity will be gone.

Some of my eleven year railroad career was in Labor Relations. The BMW General Chairmen I had reason to know always appeared to be fair and reasonable people. The carrier may have had an issue but then so did the employees; "let's work it through"

Sic Transit Gloria.

I can't resist some comments on this one.
The teamsters is a huge organization that has had the spirit of its members up front each and every negiotation that they have been
involved in. They have members in all fields of transportation.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) has been in battle with the United Transportation Union (UTU) for many years and the UTU has
made many efforts to either take over the BLE or to attempt to take over
representation of engineers on various railroads.
There have been a number of needless representation elections over the
past few years involving the BLE and UTU.
The leaderships of the BLE and UTU agreed at lest in principle to merge a
few years ago only to have it voted down by the BLE members by a huge
margin in a vote at that time.
I am not going to go into detail on the reasons that the engineer members
did not/do not want to merge with the UTU but they are very legitimate
and real.
Continued pressure on the part of the UTU and the situation regarding
remote control locomotives made it somewhat important that the BLE
consider a merger with a larger union with much more resources and
power.
I consider the BLE merger into the teamsters as a huge positive for all
engineers and eventually probably all operating crews as well.
With the engineers, dispatchers and now the track people all under the
wrap of the Teamsters, I think it will work out well for everybody.
I would not be at all surprised if quite a few of the other railroad unions
would embrace the Teamsters as well.
I guess this is what we could call a "win win" situation.
Noel Weaver

What will the Union Dues be now? What were they prior merger? Does a worker have to join in a right to work state if he crosses state lines into a non r-t-w state while running the normal routine of the trian? How will this affect Amtraks Upper management? I'm very new to unions and would like more info.

I am not too sure that I can answer your interesting questions but I will
tell you this, when I retired in the fall of 1997 the dues for my BLE division
were a little over $75.00 a month. I would suspect that they are some-
what higher now.
Florida is a right to work state and I would wonder just like you where
someone would stand if they were to cross a state line into Alabama or
Georgia. I have no idea whether either Alabama or Georgia are also right
to work states too.
I originally came off the old New Haven Railroad and back in the New Haven years, the engineers did NOT have a union shop agreement. We
actually had two "no bills" on the engineer's roster of over 150 engineers
who chose not to pay union dues.
I can't imagine any engineer or other railroad worker for that matter
either who would choose not to have a union behind them. It is easy
enough to get into trouble on any railroad related job and the union will be
there when you need representation at a company investigation that well
could result in the loss of your railroad job forever.
I never considered union dues as a waste of my money or something to
be avoided.
If you every get an opportunity to work for a railroad where the employees are represented by a union, count yourself very fortunate.
My pay and benefits always covered my union dues.
Noel Weaver

What about the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen? I thought they were still around.

BRC merged with BRAC into the TCIU I noted above.

Here is all I can presently find on the BMWE-IBT merger.

The ATDA is a stand alone rail union. We used to be part of the BLE, however, we did not merge with the Teamsters. Now, we are a stand alone rail union, again.

HAPPY to stand corrected on that one, Mr Trainwreck

Regretably, I must ask, for how much longer?

On that same note, I THINK (but I must recognize I have been away from the industry now 24 years) the clerical employees represented by BRAC went to the UTU, but the Telegraphers (BRAC-TC) chose to stay with the TCIU.

I respectfully note Mr. Weaver's comments; from reading the postings of a guy who has "been there done that", he apparently believes the IBT can do more for the employees represented, i.e. more bang for the dues' buck, than could the former BLE. Well, that's competition, and the Taft Hartley as well as the Landrum Griffin Acts ensure that will be the case for employees seeking representation regardless of industry.

Well, I guess at times I can be a traditionalist; for when I joined the industry during 1970, almost every craft had a Labor Organization (Union) to represent their employees on the property - and that Union only represent railroad employees. At that time, only the "Shop Crafts" were the exception, as IBEW and IAM represented employees from many an industry.

Dosen't the Teamsters representing railroad workers represent a conflict of interest?

Jersey_Mike wrote:Dosen't the Teamsters representing railroad workers represent a conflict of interest?

Not really, they have represented various crafts in the railroad industry
for quite some time. They also represent various airline employees as
well as many other occupations.
That is what has made them so strong over the years. The B.L.E just
can't stand by itself any longer in my opinion.
I personally believe the Teamsters made much more sense for the B.L.E.
than the U.T.U. would have.
Noel Weaver

I'll stand corrected if need be, but the Federation Of Police, an organization exclusively representing Police Officers, lost a representation election to the Teamsters on the Amtrak property during the 70's.

Amtrak really did not have a police force i.e. sworn peace officers in their employ until acquiring the Corridor after C-Day.

I fail to see any conflict whatever having a Union long associated with trucking representing rail workers. It is not a rail v. highway adverserial relationship; it is management v. labor