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The primary purpose of this publication is to meet a demand for general information respecting the Railway Labor Act and the organization and function of, and procedure before, the National Mediation Board. It is intended to serve as an answer to the numerous requests from other Government agencies, labor and business groups, schools and colleges, students and libraries seeking information regarding the Railway Labor Act and the National Mediation Board.

The secondary purpose is to present a recapitulation of the operations of the National Mediation Board from July 21, 1934, the date it began to function, to June 30, 1970, which marks the end of its thirty-sixth fiscal year.

The principal duty of the National Mediation Board is to assist in the creation and maintenance of a sound mutual understanding between carriers and their employees covered by the Railway Labor Act. The first purpose of the act as stated therein is "to avoid interruption to commerce or to the operation of any carrier engaged therein." A mutual understanding of each other's problems is necessary before a successful solution can be reached in any dispute. It is, therefore, the duty of the National Mediation Board, through its members and staff of mediators, to bring about such an understanding and to promote and maintain peace and order in labor relations, as a means of avoiding interruptions to interstate commerce.

It is the desire of the National Mediation Board that this publication convey, to all those interested in the Railway Labor Act, a better understanding of the purposes of the act and of the functions of the Board created by the act.

Compiled and prepared under the supervision and direction of C. Robert Roadley, Assistant Executive Secretary.