Hostetler v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen

For many years the appellants had been employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT). In September, 1951, the B. & *458O. and BRT entered into a union shop agreement, pursuant to the Railway Labor Act,1 requiring employees in the crafts represented by BRT to become, as a condition of continued employment, members of that or of another union national in scope and organized in accordance with the Act. At various times in the fall of 1952 these appellants stopped paying dues to the Brotherhood and joined a newly formed labor…