Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees (1899-)

<br>History</br>
<p>The Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees was organized in 1899, and was affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Union name variants were the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, AFL-CIO; the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks; and the Railway Clerks of America, Order. It was the largest single railroad organization for employees who devoted a majority of their time to clerical work of any description including chief clerks, foremen, train announcers, gatemen, checkers; parcel, baggage, and storeroom employees; dock and pier workers; train and engine crew callers; timekeepers; paymasters; freight inspectors; rate and tariff compilers; weigh masters; ticket clerks and sellers; operators of all office and station equipment devices; telephone and switchboard operators; and all employees occupying or performing duties similar to those mentioned. Males and females of good moral character with at least three months of experience in clerical work were eligible for membership. During the period of government control of the railroads, the union secured increases in wages and better working conditions.</p>

<p>The Grand Lodge was the legislative and judicial head of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. It had jurisdiction in the United States, Central America, and Canada. No lodge, system, division, board of adjustment, or federation could be formed or continue to exist without the Grand Lodge's sanction. It had the sole right and power of granting and suspending charters, of receiving appeals, and of addressing grievances. The Grand Lodge executive officers included one grand president, seven vice grand presidents, and a grand secretary-treasurer. These officials also comprised the Grand Council. The grand president exercises general supervision over all lodges, system divisions, boards of adjustment, and federations of the Brotherhood, and over the Benefit Association. The grand vice presidents assisted the president in the discharge of his duties, performed others assigned to them, and provided a full written report at each regular convention. The grand secretary-treasurer was responsible for keeping a record of the proceedings of all conventions and furnishing a printed report of it to all lodges and system divisions in good standing, and to their members upon request. Other duties included making a report of all monetary and other transactions of his office to each convention, keeping records of all members, issues, notices of dues and assessments, and preparing and making available a semiannual report of the condition of the Brotherhood to all lodges and system divisions in good standing. Every lodge and subordinate organization had to report to the grand secretary-treasurer quarterly.</p>

<p>Union guidelines and regulations were described in the constitution, bylaws, statutes, and protective laws of the Grand Lodge. Subordinate lodges, divisions, and systems within the organization had similar documents stating their purpose and operations. To ensure uniformity in the union's administration, the Grand Lodge furnished charters, rituals, membership cards, and other forms throughout the United States> and abroad. It also made the constitution d pertinent documents available in French, Spanish, and other languages in addition to English. By 1919, each lodge was to have one hundred members or less and systems divisions were supposed to hold meetings at least once a month. In contrast, the Grand Lodge convened once annually in a regular session on the first Monday in May. Fees and dues of the Lodges or system divisions were not to be less than three dollars for initiation. The amount of dues was determined by each lodge and subdivision and was not to be under six dollars per year.</p>

<p>In addition to the lodges, systems, and divisions, the union provided its members with other benefits. For example, all union members contributed to the Protective Fund. It helped to defray the expenses of conducting authorized strikes and of rendering financial assistance to those dismissed from service. There were also a General Fund and a Convention Fund. Another benefit was The Railway Clerk, the official publication of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. It was intended to be published at least monthly to promote the general welfare of the union and the moral and intellectual character of its members. Notices, instructions, and information of interest to the membership were included. The annual subscription rate was fifty cents.</p>

Historical Background
<p>In December 1899, the Order of Railway Clerks was organized in Sedalia, Missouri. Initially the Order affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The Order's first convention, however, severed this connection in 1901 and it was not resumed for many years. The name of the organization was changed to the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks in 1904, and two years later it became involved in its first strike against the Southern Pacific.</p>

<p>The Brotherhood expanded in 1908 to include freight handlers, and over the next ten years other classes of workers joined as well. The 1919 convention adopted the name Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees. Airline clerks and employees were added in 1945, although the word "airline" did not appear in the official union name until 1967.</p>

<p>The Transportation Communications Union (TCU) is the successor to the union formerly known as the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks and includes within it many other organizations, including the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, that have merged with it since 1969.</p>

Renaming itself
<p>The union was founded in 1899 by 33 railroad clerks meeting in Sedalia, Missouri, who formed an organization named the "Order of Railroad Clerks of America". The organization renamed itself the "Brotherhood of Railway Clerks", in line with other railway "brotherhoods" of the time. With that name, it took part in the Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911.</p>

<p>In 1919, it renamed itself the "Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes" to reflect its broadened jurisdiction. From 1928 to 1963, George McGregor Harrison served as its Grand President. In 1967, it changed names again to the "Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes", commonly known as BRAC. Finally, in 1987, after absorbing members from a half dozen other unions that merged with BRAC, the organization adopted its current name.</p>

Its merger partners
<p>The Order of Railroad Telegraphers was founded in June 1886 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1965, the ORT changed its name to the Transportation Communications Employees Union. It merged with BRAC in 1969.</p>

<p>The Railway Patrolmen's International Union represented rail police officers on a number of railroads. RPIU merged with BRAC in 1969 and is now incorporated in its Allied Services Division.</p>

<p>The United Transport Services Employees Union was founded in 1937 as the International Brotherhood of Red Caps, representing baggage handlers at railroad stations. A largely African-American union, it was founded with the support of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. It changed its name to UTSE in 1940 and joined the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1942. The Red Cap and Sky Cap members of UTSE merged with BRAC in 1972 and are also part of its Allied Services Division.</p>

<p>The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters became a part of BRAC in 1978. Founded in 1925 by A. Philip Randolph, the Porters organized for twelve years—largely in secret and in the hostile racial climate of those years—before winning a collective bargaining agreement with the anti-union Pullman Company. BSCP members, including Edgar Nixon, played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement in the decades that followed. When the Porters merged with BRAC, they formed the Sleeping Car Porters System Division. Today, these and other on-board Amtrak workers are represented by System Division 250.</p>

<p>The American Railway Supervisors Association, later renamed the American Railway and Airway Supervisors Association, was founded on November 14, 1934, by a group of supervisors on the Chicago and North Western Railway. ARASA merged with BRAC in 1980 and continues as a separate Supervisors' Division, operating under its own by-laws, within TCU.</p>

<p>The Western Railway Supervisors Association was founded by a group of Southern Pacific yardmasters who originally organized in 1938, then after joining and splitting from several other yardmasters unions, merged with BRAC in 1983. Its members now constitute System Board 555 and, like other groups within the union, operate under their own by-laws.</p>

History: The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen
<p>The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen was founded on September 9, 1890, in Topeka, Kansas, by railroad employees engaged in the repair and inspection of railroad cars. In the years before merging with TCU, the brotherhood remained active in the realm of organized rail labor. Their main achievement during this era was the amendment of the Railway Retirement Act of 1937, which was signed by President Roosevelt and established a railroad retirement system, separate from the social security program.[1] This act provided an increase in wage of $0.05 an hour, and restored pay rates on Canadian railroads, among other favorable changes.[2]</p>

<p>The union has merged with other railway unions several times. The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen is a division of the Transportation Communications Union. In 1986, the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen voted to merge with the TCU, and members of this craft in the present day are considered a part of the TCU's Carmen Division, which operates by its own by-laws.[3] The most recent merger occurred on January 1, 2012, in which the TCU merged with the International Association of Machinists, after a TCU member vote in July 2005.[4]</p>

<p>The official site of the TCU claims that it all began when seven carmen met at a standing coach at a shop track in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on October 27, 1888, to form the first lodge in the brotherhood. The carmen had grown weary of working seven days a week, 12 hours per day, for $0.10 per hour with no benefits and no representation. The early name of the organization was called the Brotherhood of Railway Car Repairers of North America. The First Annual Convention of the Brotherhood was held in Topeka, Kansas on September 9, 1890. This is where the delegates first drafted its first declaration of principles of the brotherhood and declared that the intent and purpose of the union was to promote friendship, unity, and true brotherly love among its members. At this same convention, the delegates elected William H. Ronemus as Grand Chief Carman (General President), W.S. Missemer as Vice Grand Chief Carman, as well as the first Grand Executive Board.[5]</p>

<p>The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen's objects in the 1930s included "to advance the moral, material, and industrial well-being of its members" and "to secure for our members a just remuneration in exchange for their labor... to shorten the hours of labor as economic development and progress will warrant, eight hours per day is the workday desired, and 44 hours per week, in order that our members may have more opportunities for intellectual development, social enjoyment, and industrial education."[6] In 2013, the Brotherhood Division continues to advocate for similar changes. In the By-Laws of the Division, section six of the preamble states,"... [we unite] to shorten the hours of labor as economic developments and progress will warrant. Six (6) hours per day is the work day desired, and five (5) days per week, thirty (30) days annual vacation, in order that our members may have more opportunities for intellectual development, social enjoyment and industrial education."[7]</p>

<p>Brotherhood groups in the United States have been prominent and widespread throughout the history of labor organizations. Other important societies include the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trackmen, the Switchmen's Union of North America, and the Order of Railroad Telegraphers. These brotherhoods have similar objects which are partly social and educational. Their chief aim is the improvement of the industrial status of their members and the promotion of their economic interests as employees. They arrange wage schedules, and make arrangements about overtime, and they secure both life and disability insurance.[8]</p>