RAILWAY BROTHERHOODS. Organiza tions of railway employees for the protection of their interests and the advancement of their condition in so far as dependent on them selves. The first five organizations described below are commonly referred to in the trade union world as 'the great railroad brother hoods;' and they are clearly distinguished from the other trades-unions of the country by unusual conservatism, a highly perfected form of government, and the great emphasis which they place upon the character of their members. While the railway brotherhoods are on an exceptionally friendly footing with the railway managers and have secured written con tracts with most of the railroads fixing wages and other conditions of employment. they regard themselves as preminently protective associa tions, and each maintains a large protective or strike fund. They also differ from the ordinary American union in the importance which they attach to the feature of mutual insurance. Affili ated with each of the brotherhoods is a Ladies' Auxiliary Society, who together maintain, with assistance from the brotherhoods themselves, a joint home for aged and disabled railroad em ployees at Highland, Illinois.
The railway brotherhoods are very simi lar in organization and government. The supreme powers are vested in a biennial national conven tion. The most striking feature which these brotherhoods have in common, however, is their system of legislative and adjustment boards. (1) The legislative board constitutes the lobby of the railway laborers. Whenever a majority of the divisons of any State or Province so desire, their representatives assemble at the State or Provin cial capital and effect a general organization, usually selecting one or two delegates—the chair man and secretary-treasurer--as a permanent legislative committee. A plan has now been de vised by which the chairmen of the legislative boards of the several organizations may combine in a Railroad Brotherhoods' Legislative Board, -1 and such boards now exist in several States. (2) The boards of adjustment, also known as pro tective boards, are charged with the investigation of grievances and the collective bargaining con cerning wages and other conditions of employ ment. In general, each division or local union
elects a local grievance committee or board of adjustment; and the chairmen of the local boards on each system of railways constitute a general board of adjustment for that system. Where two or more separate systems are controlled by a single syndicate, the Locomotive Engineers pro vide for a still higher board or executive com mittee of adjustment, covering all the roads in cluded in the syndicate. The adjustment system makes it extremely difficult to declare a strike.
The local grievance committee, the general board of adjustment, and the chief executive officer must all attempt to settle the grievance by peaceable negotiations with the railroad officials before a proposal to strike may be considered, and then, in most of the brotherhoods, it must be indorsed by the chief executive, the board of adjustment, and two•thirds of the members who will be involved.
With the exception of the Telegraphers and the International Association of Car Workers, the railroad organizations are not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and, notwith standing the essential similarity of their inter ests, the frequent attempts to create a general federation of railway employees have signally failed. The United Order of Railway Employees was formed in 1889, hut was dissolved in 1891. In 1893 the American Railway Union was organ ized with the object of bringing all railway em ployees under a single jurisdiction, but it received its death blow in the Chicago strike of 1894. In 1895 another alliance was formed, in accordance with what is known as the Cedar Rapids plan, between the five railway brotherhoods. This loose alliance was superseded in April, 1898, by a more centralized Federation of American Railway Employees, which in turn was dissolved February 1, 1900, leaving the Cedar Rapids agreement still in force. This agreement provides for united action among the five brotherhoods in settling grievances and conducting strikes.