| Full name | Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1863 |
| Members | 55,000 |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Affiliation | International Brotherhood of Teamsters |
| Website | http://www.ble-t.org/ |
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) is a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on May 8, 1863, as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. A year later, its name was changed to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of Engineers.[1] In 2004, the BLE became the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).[2]
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The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was North America's oldest rail labor union when it merged with the Teamsters in 2004.[2] It had members in the eastern half of the United States and parts of Canada. Conductors were able to enter, but the union was not specialized to deal with their issues.
The BLE was the first of the "Big Four" of railroad worker brotherhoods:
In 1969, all except the BLE joined with the Switchmen's Union to become the United Transportation Union (UTU).
In the era after the founding of the Big Four, some sixteen other "brotherhoods" of railroad trades organized.[3] Membership qualifications across trades shifted, and the alliances among the brotherhoods (and their chapters) are not always clear.[4]
After 1877, the BLE was considered less militant than some other brotherhoods, as well as the Knights of Labor and the American Railway Union.[3][4]