Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union - Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen

Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen

In 1861, seven years after the official opening of Victoria's first railway, the Locomotive Engine Drivers' Association was formed in an attempt to maintain some standards of employment for these skilled workers. Comprising roughly twenty members, the Association grew to include firemen in 1872, prompting a change of name to the Locomotive Engine Drivers & Firemens' Association. In October 1899 representatives of the Railway Locomotive Enginemen's Associations of New South Wales, South Australia Queensland and Victoria met in Melbourne and voted in favour of forming the Federated Railway Locomotive Enginemens' Association of Australia.

The Federated Railway Locomotive Enginemens' Association of Australia met yearly at Conference, but did not set up a Federal Division until 1920. In that year a decision of the High Court made it possible for unions covering employees in state instrumentalities to have access to the Federal Arbitration Court. In February 1921, the newly named Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen was the first such union to gain federal registration with the Court.

In 1922-1923, following Federal registration, successful steps were taken for the AFULE to gain coverage of Locomotive Enginemen working for Commonwealth railways, and the Union became truly Australia wide.

In 1924, the AFULE decided to file a separate log of claims on each of the state employers, but the decision of the Australian Railways Union to try to establish one federal award for all railwaymen precipitated the Locomotive Enginemen into a similar case before the Federal Arbitration Court. The AFULE presented a mass of detailed evidence resulting by April 1925 in its first Federal Award binding on State instrumentalities and bringing its four Union Divisions into line industrially.

By 1926 the union changed its name to the Australian Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, only to change it back to the Australian Federated Union of Enginemen in 1927. After 1970, membership swelled as a result of the inclusion of members from the deregistered Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, Commonwealth Division.

The Queensland division of AFULE voted initially to amalgamate then subsequently not to merge with the RTBU. It still operates as a separate union, registered in both the Qld and Federal industrial systems. Following a court decision the AFULEQ was federally registered but restricted to operating in Queensland after agreeing to amend its previously broad ranging application.