§158 Agreement to arbitrate; form and contents; signatures and acknowledgment; revocation

Summary

Requires a written arbitration agreement that says it is under this law. It must say whether the arbitration panel will have three or six members. The agreement must be signed by the official representatives of the carriers and the employees, acknowledged before a notary public, a clerk of a U.S. district or appeals court, or a member of the Mediation Board, and filed with the Mediation Board. It must list the exact questions the panel will decide, and the panel must stick to those questions. Any question can be withdrawn if all the official representatives sign and notify the panel. It must say that a majority of the panel’s signatures make an award valid. The agreement must set a time to begin hearings after the panel is appointed and a time to issue and file the award after hearings start (the parties can extend this). It must state when the award takes effect and how long it lasts. The award and the record, certified by a majority of the arbitrators, must be filed in the clerk’s office of the U.S. district court for the named district; once filed they are the full record and are final and binding on facts and the merits. Disputes about the award’s meaning go back to the same panel or a subcommittee, and their ruling, if acknowledged and filed the same way, has the same force. Parties must carry out the award. Once properly signed and acknowledged, the agreement cannot be revoked by one party alone; it can only be canceled by a written agreement signed by both parties’ representatives and delivered to the Mediation Board or to the arbitration panel if it has been formed.