The trade union is composed of Railway Workers' Union (Open Lines) (Urdu: ریلوے ورکرز یونین اوپن لائن کی) and Railway Workers' Union (Workshops). Current office bearers in the trade union are:[1]
The Railway Workers' Union was founded in 1948 by Pakistani trade union leader Mirza Mohammad Ibrahim. The poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz was elected as first Office Secretary.
In October 1967, RWU went on strike in Lahore against price hikes and the unavailability of wheat. Together with a student movement, the union also protested against the dictatorship of Ayub Khan. RWU shut down rail service completely for 13 days. Hundreds of its workers and leaders were arrested in response.[3][4] In the 1970s, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced the separation of railway unions into open line and workshop sections. According to RWU's general secretary Muhammad Naseem Rao, this broke the unity of the workers.[4]Mohammed Yousaf Baloch joined RWU in this period.[5] In 1993, Moeen Qureshi declared the open line section of the railway an essential service, prohibiting its workers from striking. Under Pervez Musharraf, labour activity in the railway sector was again completely banned.[4]