INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEES

Historically, exclusion and segregation characterized nearly every aspect of the lives of African-Americans, including their participation as members of organized rail labor. The International Association of Railroad Employees arose in response to this set of circumstances.

Among those represented by the IARE were conductors, trainmen, engineers, shop mechanics, porters and maintenance-of-way employees who, effective Sept. 1, 1970, found themselves welcomed into the fold of the nascent United Transportation Union.