The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration, and mediation for strikes to resolve labor disputes.
In 1877, protests broke out in Martinsburg, West Virginia when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut worker pay for the third time in a year.
One notable paper recorded a striking worker's perspective that he "had might as well die by the bullet as to starve to death by inches."
A day after federal troops had restored order in Martinsburg, similar protests erupted in Maryland and spread to New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Missouri.
[4] The Erdman Act likewise provided for voluntary arbitration but made any award issued by the panel binding and enforceable in federal court.
However, Congress tried to preserve, the most successful features of the federal wartime administration, which were the adjustment boards, by creating a Railroad Labor Board (RLB) with the power to issue nonbinding proposals for the resolution of labor disputes, as part of the Esch–Cummins Act (Transportation Act of 1920).
The federal courts have the power to enjoin a strike over a major dispute if the union has not exhausted the RLA's negotiation and mediation procedures.
The court may, on the other hand, also require the employer to restore the status quo as a condition of any injunctive relief against a strike.
A union seeking to represent an unorganized group of employees must produce signed and dated authorization cards or other proof of support from at least 50% of the craft or class.
A party attempting to oust an incumbent union must produce evidence of support from a majority of the craft or class and then the NMB must conduct an election.
The NMB can order a rerun election if it determines that either an employer or union has interfered with employees' free choice.
At least one court has ruled that imposition of railroad contract terms does not violate the Constitution's prohibition in Article I, Section 9 against bills of attainder, because they are not a punishment for specific people.