RAILWAY LABOR ORGANIZA TIONS, or RAILWAY BROTHER HOODS, labor unions formed by the em ployees of railways to advance their interests and promote their social, moral and intellectual welfare. The larger and more typical railway labor organizations are distinguished for their generally conservative attitude, their large mu tual benefit and insurance funds and their organization of grievance committees for ar ranging differences between their members and employers and avoiding strikes. As a rule they maintain pleasant relations with employers and have been instrumental in obtaining increased wages and general improvement in the condi tion of railway labor. The five most prominent organizations are the Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Or der of Railroad Conductors, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Railroad Telegraphers. These five have the same general form of organization, with the supreme power in the central representative body called the Grand Lodge or Grand Division, meeting in convention every two years, and the executive power vested in a chief executive (grand master or grand president) and an executive board. Their subordinate divisions include locals and section divisions, the latter made up of the employees of one railway line or system. Their provisions for dealing with grievances against employers are as follows: Any member or members having a grievance against an employer are to report the same to their local organization, which, in case the ma jority vote to sustain the grievance, shall refer it to a local grievance committee. This com mittee is to deal with the local management, and should no satisfactory settlement be made, refer the grievance to the general grievance committee of the section, who shall confer with the general manager of the railway system. Then, if no adjustment be made, the matter is to be referred to the chief executive of the union who shall make another attempt to adjust the matter with the employers, and, if he fail, he and the general committee shall have nower to sanction a strike, provided a strike is agreed upon by two-thirds of the members involved. In some cases a board of adjustment is formed by the chairmen of three or more general com mittees, in which case the matter is to be referred to this board before going to the chief executive. It will be seen that this arrange ment makes a strike difficult to bring about and prevents strikes for trivial causes, yet all of these unions have established large protective or strike funds for the benefit of members when on strike. Another feature of these organiza tions is the legislative board, organized in each State by representatives from each local for the consideration of questions of legislation affect ing their unions; and these boards have power to appoint one or two members to remain at the State capital for securing desired legislation.
A ladies' auxiliary is affiliated with each brother hood. A home is maintained at Highland, Ill., for aged and disabled railroad employees.
The Five Larger Brotherhoods.—(1) The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was or ganized in 1863. The locals have sick and death benefit funds and the Brotherhood has a fund for pensioning widows and children of the de ceased. The insurance is under the manage ment of an affiliated organization known as the Locomotive Engineers Mutual Life and Acci dent Insurance Association. The Brotherhood number 73,800 members in over 600 locals. The official journal is the Journal of the Brother hood of Locomotive Engineers, published monthly. It ranks among the most important and labor organizations of the United States and is noted for its conservatism. (2) The Order of Railway Conductors was organ ized in 1868 as the Conductors' Brotherhood, was threatened with serious difficulty on account of its prohibition of strikes and a rival union started which had a policy, the Order adopted the same policy, established its 'protective) fund, and the two organizations were united under the present name. It has a mutual benefit fund and the strike fund pro vides for payment to strikers for not over three months. The official journal is the Railway Conductor, published monthly. The member ship is 49,100 in about 500 locals. (3) The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was or ganized in 1873, was involved in the great strike of 1877 and seriously crippled; for a time it adopted the policy of 'ignoring) strikes, but in 1885 returned to its original policy and methods in dealing with strikes; and a few years later conducted a large strike on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Strikers are paid for three months or less. The official journal is the Locomotive Firemen's Magazine. The membership is 86,800. (4) The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen was organ ized in September 1883 and admits to member ship conductors, baggagemen, yardmasters and switchmen besides trainmen. They have a sick and death benefit fund and a strike fund, pro viding for a payment to strikers for three months or less. It has 126,100 members; its official organ is the Railroad Trainmen's Jour nal. (5) The Order of Railroad Telegraphers was organized in 1886; its membership includes telegraphers, line repairers, levermen and inter lockers. Its mutual benefit fund was estab lished in 1898; it has never held quite the same position of importance as the other four broth erhoods, as at the first it grew more slowly be cause the telegraphers are scattered and it is difficult to get any number together, but since 1900 has grown rapidly. It numbers about 30,000; its official journal is the Railroad Teleg rapher.