The origins of the union can be traced to August 1870 when a local switchmen's mutual aid association was formed in Chicago.

[2] Although blacks were widely employed by the railroads after the American Civil War, particularly in the south, they were generally excluded from the higher-paying jobs of engineers, switchmen and conductors.

As the Houston Daily Post noted, the railroad owned slaves before emancipation, and continued to employ negroes afterward.

The strike collapsed after two weeks when 8,000 state militia entered the town and other unions refused to support the workers.

[2] On October 13, 1894, delegates from several lodges of the former association met in Kansas City, Missouri and formed the Switchmen's Union of North America.

It was incorporated in Buffalo, New York on January 9, 1902, covering the United States and Canada, and representing yard workers: yardmasters, switchmen, switch tenders, towermen and interlocking men.

It was open to any white male person of good character working in the railway yards in one of the defined occupations.

[2] Discussions about a merger of train movement unions started in 1929 with the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order of Railway Conductors, but became bogged down.

When the railroad owners rejected this John R. Steelman, the President's representative, defined a proposed settlement that included wage increases and cost of living adjustments.