The Erdman Act of 1898 was a United States federal law regulating railroad labor disputes.
[1] The law provided arbitration for disputes between the interstate railroads and their workers organized into unions.
The most significant portion of the act prohibited a railroad company from demanding that a worker not join a union as a condition for employment (Section 10).
The Chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the United States Commissioner of Labor, acting in concert, made that choice under those circumstances.
The act made it unlawful to strike or fire a worker during the arbitration process; it also made it illegal to terminate the employment of a worker involved in the dispute while arbitration was pending, except for neglecting duty or inefficiency.