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During the first decade, from 1863 to 1873, much of the energy of the Brotherhood was spent in organizing itself into a working unit and in resolving internal problems present at the time of organization. It also had to make itself felt among employees and the public as a responsible and effective labor organization. This it had accomplished to a great degree, and the number of members (9,500) and divisions (172) by 1873 attested to its continued growth.
But working conditions were still far from good for the engineers. Grand Chief Wilson, commenting on the subject at the 1869 convention stated: "I am not familiar with the system of running on the Erie road, but on many of the roads it is no uncommon thing for an engineer to go for nearly a week without sleep except what he obtained while waiting on a branch . . . or for a short period in the enginehouse while his engine is being made ready for a return trip."
Before leaving those early days of setting up the means with which to battle for improved conditions, it is worth noting that the minutes of the Sixth Annual Session of the Grand International Division held in 1869 contained the first reference to a firemen's organization. That was four years before the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen came into existence. The resolution reads as follows:
"RESOLVED that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers recognize the Locomotive Firemen's Union, and will use all means in their power to promote their interests; and should one of their members apply for assistance in obtaining a situation, we will always give them the preference."
The engineers did not stop with resolutions. The Firemen had only been organized a year when the engineers were helping them organize lodges by donations of Bibles and other necessary paraphernalia. Occasionally engineers even paid part of the incidental costs associated with the opening of new lodges. The thought was that the two organizations would stand side by side in the battle for better working conditions.
ECONOMIC TROUBLES CONTINUED
Dark clouds soon gathered as the year 1873 advanced. By September, a fullfledged economic panic had broken out. Over a million workers lost their jobs within the next three years. And a strike was called by engineers on the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern R.R. But because it was not sanctioned by the Grand Office, Grand Chief Engineer Wilson denounced it. His public denunciation angered the rankand-file members to the extent that at the convention that year his resignation was demanded and received. He was succeeded in office by P. M. Arthur. In his inaugural address at the 1874 convention, Arthur remarked: "The highest wages paid engineers at the present time is $4.00 per day, and they are on duty 15 to 18 hours; and the average wages paid is $3.50 for a 100 miles run. No allowance made for the hours consumed in running the 100 miles."
In 1875 an agreement between the BLE and the New York Central, dated January 26, provided: "For all passenger and freight engineers 3-1/2 cents per mile run, actual mileage, excepting when the run is under 100 miles, for which $3.50 per day will be paid. For all engineers of switch and work trains $3.50 per day, including Sunday, and when required to report for duty." Small gains were being made through the efforts of the Brotherhood but decent working conditions throughout the railroads were yet to be obtained.
"SHOOT THE STRIKE TO PIECES"
The year 1877 was one of strikes and labor unrest in various parts of the country. Engineers walked out on the Boston & Maine, the Philadelphia & Reading, Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Grand Trunk, the St. Louis & Cairo Narrow Gauge, and the Georgia Road. Worst of all was the strike against the Baltimore & Ohio in which Federal troops were called out. The soldiers fired on the strikers, killing and wounding several of them. In Reading, Pa., 10 were killed and 40 wounded. In Pittsburgh, shots were fired into hostile crowds and the result was 21 killed and 29 wounded, among them women and children. And now the slogan was adopted by the railroads: "Shoot the strike to pieces;" and this the troops did effectively.
Labor warfare in the 1870s was climaxed by a strike on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The strikers, who suffered three cuts in pay, fought against strike-breakers and the violence spread to nine states before President Rutherford B. Hayes declared a state of emergency and authorized the use of federal troops to put down the strike.
President Rutherford B. Hayes stepped in and declared martial law so that trains could be run, and the country was in an uproar. But despite the attacks of its enemies, the Brotherhood continued to advance. The turbulence of the events of 1876 and 1877 tended to obscure other advances made by the Brotherhood on roads where relations remained amicable during the depression and the Great Strike. The depression lifted and more favorable contracts were being written.
The following year Grand Chief Engineer P. M. Arthur made an effort to set the public record straight.
"Our laws require," he said, "that every honorable effort shall be exhausted before a strike is resorted to, and we have invariably adhered to the rules." At the 22nd annual convention in 1885 he spoke further on the subject in order to clear up any popular misconception: "The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is not a union of despotic, ignorant men, to defeat and ruin the ends of capital, but an association of as intelligent men as one meets in money circles."
THE GIA: A HELPMATE TO THEIR MEN
Growth for the Engineers continued. By 1887 there were 372 divisions and 25,000 members in the organization. At the same time a new organization appeared: the Grand International Auxiliary to the BLE, composed of the wives of engineermembers. The G.I.A. came into existence through the services rendered by the committee of ladies assisting the committee on arrangements for the 1887 convention. Many weeks of association brought out the suggestion for
such a group, and Division 1 with 10 charter members was organized in Chicago on October 16, 1887.
The social, beneficent, and charitable possibilities of such an order were recognized, and its growth was steady from the start. Today there are many G.I.A. divisions throughout the United States and Canada.
1888: A YEAR OF CRISIS FOR THE BROTHERHOOD
The year 1888 brought a serious crisis to the Engineers. For some time a conflict had been brewing between the employees of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the management. The dispute got out of hand and a strike of engineers, firemen, and finally of switchmen, was called. It began on February 27, 1888, and did not end officially until January 4, 1889. In many respects this was the most significant strike in which the Brotherhood has ever been engaged. Indeed, so far as workers are concerned, it still stands as one of the most historic struggles in the long battle for the rights of labor.
As one Congressional investigator of the time put it, "the significance of the Burlington engineers' strike of 1888 lay partly in the fact that the conquest of this strong company would settle once and for all throughout the West the rights of the men to negotiate their schedules collectively."
The strike started after the carrier violated its agreement with the Brotherhood over the following rule: "No engineer will be dismissed or suspended from the service of this company without just cause. The right to regular runs when merit and ability are equal will be governed by seniority and no fines will be assessed against engineers." The recognition of seniority and the abandonment of the principle of fining engineers were most important considerations.
During the strike of 1888 the CB&Q, using Pinkerton men armed with rifles, finally ran some trains. The first suburban train out of Chicago Union Station is shown here manned by a scab crew and viewed by people who were sympathetic to the strike.
This was agreed to on April 1, 1886. After repeated violations and unsuccessful attempts by the Brotherhood to sit down and reason with management, the strike finally began.
On February 27, 1888 at 4:00 a.m., engineers and firemen on their own motion terminated their connection with the CB&Q. All trains in transit were delivered to the nearest terminal, regardless of the hour, and 2,000 locomotive engineers and firemen stepped out of their cabs. This had not been done, however, until the men had exhausted every possible recourse in order to avoid striking.
It was one of the most bitterly contested disputes ever to be placed before the American public. The Burlington did everything within its power to break the strike. It had newspaper advertisements printed in English papers offering jobs to "500 to 1,000 first class engineers." The railroad hired deputy sheriffs and organized them as thug gangs. Pinkerton detectives were armed with repeating rifles, and the courts were called upon to protect the rights of property. Some of the strikers were arrested and hauled before biased judges. Several engineers were set upon by thugs and killed. Another carrier promised to help by sending 300 engineers as strikebreakers. Individual engineers were subjected to plots, frameups, and accused of dynamiting bridges.
The fabricated accusations, which received wide notoriety at the time, were later proved to have been sponsored by the management.
The entire picture was not black, however. Engineers on the Wabash and Santa Fe started sympathy strikes and refused to handle Burlington freight.
The result of the strike was that (1) the Burlington lost more than $6,000,000 in one year; (2) the company did keep trains running; (3) the Brotherhood was brought to its knees financially; and (4) the engineers capitulated, finally, to the following settlement, which would be utterly unthinkable with today's powerful organization:
The company agreed to blacklist only those engineers found to be guilty of violence. The carrier would give letters of introduction to assist in finding employment, and the carrier insisted that its first duty was to the strikebreakers who were hired after the strike in order to keep the trains running. The Burlington was allowed to give preference "in promotions and by every other means in the carrier's power" to the strikebreaking engineers.
It was, indeed, a dark page in the annals of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Each member was assessed $5 per month to assist his striking brothers, and a lump sum of many thousands of dollars was given outright to the organization of firemen involved. More than $1,000,000 was paid to strikers who never got their jobs back.
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