The United States’ first municipally owned transit system started operating in 1912 as The San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). Over the next three years the Muni system grew considerably. In 1918 the Muni pioneered the use of motor buses for feeder service in areas where tracks had not yet been constructed. By 1929, Muni had 20 miles of track, 20 miles of motor coach routes and ten miles of trolley coach routes. It merged with the Market Street Railway in 1944, which consolidated transportation of San Francisco’s railway and motor-coach lines. 


The Market Street and Muni merger led to a difficult dispute that the Transport Workers Union finally solved in 1949. With the merger came a clash of union representation. Muni railway workers were represented by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electrical Railway Workers, AFL, Division 508. Market Street Railway workers were also members of AFL, but in Division 1004.


Market workers were now considered government employees and had to be blanketed into civil service status. The two companies also would have to find a way to create seniority tables. Both sides stubbornly refused to give in to several attempts at a compromise. 


Almost 800 Market employees were deemed ineligible for employment under the city charter that prohibited employment of people over 70 years of age, aliens, or those not residing within its boundaries, and those with less than one year of service. 


San Francisco Mayor Roger D. Lapham suspended these charter requirements in order to utilize all man power because of competition that came from the military and war industries. But the mayor’s proclamation also granted equal pay and equal seniority rights, such as preference in hours and runs based on lengths of service, regardless on which line the service had been worked.


Because the Civil Service Commission regarded Market Street carmen as new city employees, it decided to pay them the beginner’s rate. 


Division 508 challenged the seniority proposal, since many of the Market men had seniority for years before the Muni started operation in 1912. Division 508 suggested creating a man-for-man list with alternate names from each Division.


Division 1004 refused the proposal as well as 508’s suggestion to move to arbitration. Both divisions filed lawsuits; the Muni employees filed against the seniority proposals and the Market workers filed against the pay action. 


On April 1, 1945 the Amalgamated International ruled against 508, ordered both divisions’ charters revoked and issued a charter for 1380 to cover both divisions. Unhappy with the ruling, 508 refused to submit to arbitrary action and constituted themselves as the Municipal Carmen’s Union. 


The Transport Workers Union saw an opportunity to help the Muni workers and offered for them to affiliate with the TWU. The Municipal Carmen’s Union agreed and was issued a TWU charter on August 2, 1945. 


For the next four years a dispute raged over which organization should represent all Municipal Railway employees. Finally, in May 1949 a rank-and-file election committee, with members of each union, was named to conduct a winner-take-all election.


The AFL union instructed their members not to vote but most platform employees cast votes anyway and an unofficial tally showed TWU Local 250 to be the winner. 


Today, the TWU has three locals in San Francisco, 200, 210 and 250-A, whose members work at Muni, various city agencies and Mobility Plus Transportation.