Rail Labor's Challenge for the 21st Century

by Mac A. Fleming
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes

BMWE is currently in the process of considering voluntary affiliation/merger/federation with several unions. Thus far we have met with the BRS, TWU, the Boilermakers and IAM. By the time you read this, we will have met jointly with the BLE, ATDD and, for a second time, TWU. In the near future we will meet with TCU. The purpose of these discussions is to pick the best partners and move forward.

As many of you are aware, the current structure of Rail Labor makes no sense. Although each rail union has provided tremendous benefits for their members, there are currently under 200,000 active railroad workers from ALL crafts working for Class 1 carriers in the U.S. This is much less than half of the number who were working for Class 1 carriers in 1980. And although there has been a reduction in the number of unions representing railroad workers since the 1950s (there were 23 rail unions at that time), reality dictates that we must merge together in order to continue to provide good contracts and legislative benefits for our members.

This is a difficult problem on several levels. First, we all come from proud craft unions, many of which have fought each other over the years. We all have proud organizations, most of which are over a century old.

Secondly, we have to honestly evaluate how we get the most for the members. Currently, virtually all of our legislated benefits are federal in nature - Railroad Retirement, FELA, Railway Labor Act, FRA just to name a few. Yet our numbers have dwindled so greatly, we are less and less of a political force. Unfortunately, this means that we must fight harder to defend ourselves and go on a legislative offensive.

The second point has a less obvious problem attached to it: mergers among rail crafts alone is not enough. If we all went into one union tomorrow, there would be under 250,000 workers in that union, leaving us as a mid-sized union at best. Given the current division within rail labor, it is unlikely that a voluntary merger of all of them would occur anyway.

To properly represent our members, we will probably need two cycles of mergers, the first combining willing unions that represent railroad workers within the transportation industry. The second cycle involves the resulting union merging with one of the larger unions. First, we sort out the internal rail matters and create a united operation, and then we strengthen a larger union with a cohesive, powerful rail division supported by the numbers, resources and commitment of that larger union.

There are several lessons that we must learn from all of this if we are to improve our members standards of living.

• Thinking strictly along craft lines is a recipe for providing diminishing returns for our members - we must become powerful enough to provide our members the best results while maintaining craft autonomy. Craft lines are essential in the rail industry and must be maintained and protected because of the nature of railroad work and the history of Rail Labor. Mergers must take place among rail unions willing to merge and between rail unions and non-rail unions to achieve the numbers necessary to be effective.
• The larger union with which a rail union merges must guarantee autonomy and provide the rail component support, because rail unions function under a federal scheme of laws and regulations that differ substantially from those of non-rail unions and require the full backing of the large union. Otherwise there is no reason to merge.
  
• Third, the larger and more diverse a merged union including railroad workers is during the first cycle, the better able it will be to guarantee autonomy when it merges into a larger union during the second cycle.
• Mergers must be voluntary, not forced. Forced mergers can only lead to incessant intra-union battles in the new organization, and will make it difficult to properly protect legitimate craft lines. During the first cycle, separate, craft-oriented unions learn to work with each other in a way that emphasizes craft autonomy on the one hand, while having a broader view on the other. During the second cycle, the merged union with railroad workers in it becomes part of a larger union that looks at the rail component as one of many groups of workers it must effectively support.

BMWE believes that a merger/affiliation/federation between our union and BLE is a perfect scenario in the near future during the first cycle. We are both old craft unions with long traditions of pride and accomplishment. Neither faces impending elimination by technology. BMWE work has changed geometrically over the past 25 years and is highly skilled work. The merger/affiliation/federation of an operating union - one that is highly skilled and not destined for elimination - with a non-operating rail union threatens the autonomy of neither and strengthens both, politically and within the industry. It becomes the largest rail union in North America, preserves the complete autonomy of the crafts, and provides upward mobility for highly-skilled, dedicated rail workers. Additionally, both unions are in excellent financial condition and the newly merged union would not be required to bail out one of its components.

Adding the TWU to the merged railroad union brings in another skilled non-operating union - a shop craft - while simultaneously expanding us into the aviation and transit components of the transportation industry. A BLE/TWU/BMWE affiliation/merger/federation would create a 200,000 person union critically located in nearly all essential modes of the transportation industry, while simultaneously guaranteeing craft integrity and autonomy.

We believe this would be a dramatic leap from proud, small craft unions to a modern, mid-sized union ready to thrive in a 21st Century environment and serves as a platform to evaluate and federate/affiliate/merge with a large union. It would provide for such a large union a powerful transportation component, which would be critical to the economy and independent and strong enough not to be simply absorbed by the other Best of all, it would be voluntary and comprised of components with similar philosophies.

BMWE and TWU have been aggressive in our opposition to the UTU raid on the BLE membership - but constructively aggressive. Both support BLE not simply because we are looking to merge/federate/affiliate with it, but because of philosophical compatibility with BLE and commitment to provisions in the AFL-CIO's constitution and by-laws against raiding. BMWE will support BLE in its fight and has been there with BLE since the UTU petition was filed - assisting BLE at every point.

We want to work out whatever problems there would be to such a federation/affiliation/merger and proceed to accomplish it. The livelihoods and working conditions of the members of all of our unions will improve and it can be done voluntarily - without guns held to any of our heads. All we need is the intelligence, courage, mutual respect, and commitment to our members, coupled with a confidence in the principles of unionism and our own abilities, to make it happen. Let's make it happen. Solidarity forever.

© 1999 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers