CLEVELAND, October 27 — By a 76 percent majority, members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees today voted in favor of merging with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The BMWE now joins the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen as a member of the Teamsters’ Rail Conference.
“On behalf of the 55,000 members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, I welcome our Brothers and Sisters of the BMWE into the Rail Conference,” BLET National President Don Hahs said. “I look forward to working together with the BMWE and IBT in a successful partnership.”
With the addition of the BMWE, more than 40 percent of rail labor is now organized under the Teamster umbrella.
“I’m ecstatic about the possibilities for the future with the BLET and BMWE in the same house,” BMWE President Freddie N. Simpson said. “The possibilities are limitless.”
The Teamsters Rail Conference was established in January 2004. In the beginning of the year, the BLET became the first division of the Rail Conference when its members overwhelmingly approved its merger with the Teamsters. With the addition of the BMWE division, the Teamsters Rail Conference now represents almost 70,000 rail members. BMWE members build, maintain, inspect, and repair the railroad tracks, bridges, and related structures throughout North America.