Last November, the Biden administration halted a strike of more than one hundred thousand railway workers following nearly two years of contract negotiations. Then, on December 2, President Biden signed a joint resolution from Congress binding railway workers to an agreement with the railroad corporations — a contract that excluded the core demands made by workers, key among them paid sick leave.

Among the twelve unions participating in negotiations was the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the longest-standing union of railroad workers in the country. Despite a near unanimous vote in favor of a strike by the union membership in June, its leadership ultimately capitulated. In the subsequent leadership elections, incumbent Dennis Pierce was ousted by Eddie Hall, who won the presidency with 53 percent of the vote.

It’s not the first time the union has acted as a reliable partner of the US government. Under its previous name, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), it has played a critical role in shaping the trajectory of the American railroad industry since the mid-nineteenth century.

Formed as a fraternal society in 1863, the BLE shunned strike activity in favor of a “respectable” unionism; among other things, this meant excluding women, people of color, immigrants, and precarious workers from the ranks of its members. After the crushing of the American Railroad Union (ARU) with the Pullman strike in 1894, the BLE emerged as the federal government’s foremost ally, aiding in the construction of legislation from the 1888 Arbitration Acts to the Railway Labor Act of 1926 and beyond. Alongside five other craft associations for railway workers (commonly referred to as the Brotherhoods), the union’s interventions in the labor movement fostered a dependence on government legitimation, mediation, and corroboration which continues to haunt the labor movement today.

Origins

The aftermath of the Civil War saw the proliferation of cross-class mutual benefit societies known as fraternal organizations. Widely accepted among elites, these societies incorporated ritual practices and social activities with voluntary insurance provision against sickness, death, and other unforeseen ills.

Though it did expand somewhat during the mid-nineteenth century, the insurance feature of these organizations remained largely unaffordable for working-class members, of whom railroad workers constituted a growing part. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Trainmen (one year later to become the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) was established as a secret fraternal society explicitly catering to the interests of railway workers.

Between 1863 and the 1870s, the society offered a growing benefit feature, which by 1867 included life and health insurance, as well as funds for disabled members, widows, and orphans. In combining these elements, the brotherhood was a pioneer in the formation of the voluntarist craft identity that came to characterize the American labor movement in following decades.