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In the 1870's, Switchmen employed on railroads in the Chicago area worked 12 hour days for $1.75 a day, seven days a week, Helpless in bargaining with their employers individually, In 1877 they met in Chicago and formed the Switchmens Mutual Aid Association, but a disastrous strike in 1888 on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ended the Association in July of 1894. Later that year, however, a meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, led to the establishment of the Switchmens Union of North America. By the time of its merger into the United Transportation Union in 1969, the single Chicago labor organization of 1877 had grown to international status with 275 lodges in the United States and Canada having a combined membership of 12,000.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was founded on December 1, 1873 at Jervis, New York, to provide mutual support for railroad firemen. The Brotherhood early on emphasized insurance, although in the late nineteenth century it became involved in labor/management relations. By the turn of the century, the organization also had changed its name to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, thereby permitting locomotive engineers to hold membership. In 1969, it joined with the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and the Switchmen's Union of North America to form the United Transportation Union.

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