Railroad Clerks Union 1937

A large blue C sits right in the center on a white background. In the center of the C is a blue X symbol made of railroad spikes and smaller letters in blue colored text.  Around the C are blue letters in a circle formation on red background.

The Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees (BRSCFHESE) was organized in 1899 as the Order of Railroad Clerks of America in central Missouri. The union name on this button was adopted in 1919. Since 1987, the union has been called the Transportation Communications International Union. BRSCFHESE was a large organization with lodges throughout North and Central America. It was open to any railway industry clerical worker with at least three months on the job. The union's size and influence worked to increase wages and improve work conditions industry wide after the Railroad Control Act of 1918. The Act, passed in March, placed all railroad under government control until the end of WWI (11 November 1918) and for up to twenty-one months after a peace treaty was signed. The Act's authority was dissolved in March 1920.