J. Alan Holdcraft is National Vice President of the 51,500-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was elected by acclamation to his second term of office at the BLET’s Fifth National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 12, 2022, having won election by acclamation to his first term at the union’s Fourth National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 3, 2018.
Immediately prior to his 2018 election, Vice President Holdcraft served the BLET as General Chairman of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (former AT&SF) General Committee of Adjustment (BNSF-ATSF GCA), representing nearly 3,150 members from 35 different BLET Divisions.
Vice President Holdcraft began his railroad career on June 1, 1977, when he hired out as a trainman with the Santa Fe Railroad in Galveston, Texas. He began engineer training in November of 1977 and earned promotion to locomotive engineer on May 6, 1978. He has held continuous membership in BLET Division 776 (Galveston, Texas) since initiating into the Brotherhood on February 1, 1980.
Vice President Holdcraft is a dedicated union leader who has served the Brotherhood in numerous elected offices over the years. From 2002-2008, he served as Local Chairman of Division 776. From 2008-2011, he served as Vice General Chairman of the BLET’s BNSF-ATSF GCA. He was elected BNSF-ATSF General Chairman in 2012, and was reelected by acclamation in 2014 and 2018.
From 2012-2016, Brother Holdcraft served as Secretary-Treasurer of the BLET’s Western General Chairman’s Association, and was elected to serve as its Chairman in 2017. In 2014, Brother Holdcraft was elected Seventh Alternate Vice President at the BLET’s Third National Convention in Las Vegas.
Vice President Holdcraft served on the BLET’s National Wage Committee during the round of contract talks that concluded in 2017, which resulted in more than 88 percent of the voting BLET members ratifying the agreement. He has also served on the Rail Safety Advisory Committee’s (RSAC) Inward/Outward-Facing Recording Device Working Group.