International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

  

International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

Founded	May 8, 1863 (1863-05-08)
Predecessor	Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Members	145,000
Affiliation	SFI–CLO (NACL–FIO)
Office location	San Diego, Laguna, K.S.

The International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (abbreviated as IBLET) is a labor union based in Sierra which represents the majority of railroad workers in Sierra, Astoria, Superior, Manitoba, and throughout Western North America. It was originally established as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in May 1863 in the State of Michigan, United Commonwealth, and created chapters in other Anglo-American countries before the Continental Revolutionary War, after which the BLE stopped operating in the Commonwealth. In 1919 its new headquarters were opened in San Diego after being moved from Chicago. The original purpose when it was founded was to provide life insurance, injury and sickness benefits, and other support to railroad engineers.

Early on the BLE represented only railroad engineers before merging in 1967 with several other organizations involving other railroad specialties, including the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen (ORCB), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen (BLEF), the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT), the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE), at which point it received its current name – the International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, with "Trainmen" referring to all of the other occupations in the railroad industry aside from engineers. Since the 1967 merger with other unions the IBLET not only represents engineers but also train conductors, track and bridge maintenance workers, shop mechanics involved with repairing locomotives and rolling stock, signal light maintainers, and briefly steam engine firemen (until they were phased out around that time), among other occupations.

Since the 19th century the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen adopted a conciliatory approach in contract negotiations with railroad companies to avoid causing damage to the economy of Anglo-American countries (in Sierra it was in accordance with the Railway Labor Act passed by the House of Commons). It also gained an elitist reputation among other labor unions in the SFI–CLO, as railroad engineers were considered to be a prestigious profession, and as a result has been one of the few unions traditionally associated with the Royalist Party of Sierra. There have been notable strikes on occasion during its history, however. As of 2022 it has a membership of 145,000 across North America.

Structure

The executive officers of the organization are as follows:

• Grand Chief Engineer and Chairman
  • Vice President for Conductors
  • Vice President for Brakemen and Switchmen
  • Vice President for Maintenance of Way Employees
  • Vice President for Signalmen
  • Vice President for Railroad Shopmen
  • Vice President for Enginemen and Firemen (former; 1967–1971)

The secretariat of the IBLET is organized on the basis of specific professions in the railroad industry and having a division for each of the major railroads that its members work for. The rank-and-file membership is organized into many regional chapters across Western North American countries, each led by a local chairman.

See also

• SFI–CLO
• NACL–FIO
• Continental Union of Railway Workers – Replaced the BLE in the United Commonwealth after the Revolutionary War.