BLE Focus

Over 100 years ago, a locomotive engineer by the name of Casey Jones caught the attention of the entire world through his act of heroism. In the years that followed, the "brave engineer" became America's symbol of the dedicated men and women who worked proudly in the craft of locomotive engineer.

But most Americans at that time did not know the real world of Casey Jones, one of thousands of locomotive engineers struggling every day with long work hours and dangerous working conditions.

In some ways, not much has changed for today's Casey Jones. It is still a dangerous job and the work hours are unpredictable. And in the overall picture, the Casey Jones of the past and present still have one more thing in common - locomotive engineers have a huge impact on our nation's economy and perform an intrinsic role in the day to day operations of North America's railroads.

In Casey's day, railroads provided the most expedient means of transporting goods and people across the continent because there were few other overland transportation options. Automobiles were still just an idea in the workshop of Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers had not taken flight. Railroads ruled the countryside and people marveled at their speed and efficiency.

Today, there are many forms of transportation that compete with railroads in the movement of people and goods. These newer forms of transportation have lessened the impact of the rails on the movement of passengers throughout the North American continent, but railroads still rule when it comes to moving goods effectively. And it is the locomotive engineer who makes this possible.

Government control

"The railroads have become as necessary to the life and health and comfort of the people of this country as are the arteries of the human body," declared William H. Taft, shortly after his 1891 appointment as a district court judge in Ohio.

The future President of the United States was not the only one to recognize the value of railroads to North America. Indeed, the U.S. government soon realized the importance of locomotive engineers and the economic impact their work stoppages had on the entire continent.

Railway employees were, and still are, of such great importance to the economy that a distinct set of government laws were created for them.

Even before the legend of Casey Jones took hold, there were laws created that have served to prevent large scale strikes like the one in July 1877, in which railroad workers paralyzed two-thirds of the rail mileage in the U.S.

The first of these laws was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The original intent of this legislation was to prevent companies from creating monopolies, but various railroads realized that they could use the law in order to receive injunctions to stop strikes from occurring. The economic impact of the strikes was so great that they functioned as a sort of monopoly with one group controlling the movement of goods.

Railroads also used the commerce clause of the Constitution in much the same way they utilized the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to prevent the stoppage of interstate commerce resulting from strikes.

While these laws were not enacted for the express purpose of preventing strikes, the carriers quickly learned to use them against rail unions.

Later, the government felt the need to enact specific legislation that would serve to prevent strikes among railroad operating employees. These laws were the forerunners of the Railway Labor Act of 1926, among these were the Erdman Act, the Newlands Act and the Adamson Act. In 1926, the government wanted to refine these laws and enacted the Railway Labor Act.

The intent of the Railway Labor Act was to minimize the interference in the movement of interstate commerce caused by railway labor disputes. It was the first comprehensive piece of federal labor legislation. The Act not only spells out the form which labor negotiations take, it also provides for the rights of railroad workers to join a union. The law keeps employees on the job during negotiations because the contracts run in perpetuity and are only amended in negotiations.

The government also realized differences between railroad employees and other workers in the early 1900s and chose to form several government agencies to oversee the railroad industry, including the Interstate Commerce Commission (later the Surface Transportation Board), the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Mediation Board.

The Federal Railroad Administration places locomotive engineers above all other railroad employees in a class by themselves. The FRA has established special guidelines for the licensing of locomotive engineers. Only airline pilots adhere to such strict licensing requirements.

The locomotive engineer remains the only craft allowed to operate a locomotive in today's railroad industry. In other words, trains don't move without locomotive engineers.

Continued on Page 6

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© 2002 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers