<Li> Passed the Senate on September 2, 1916 (47 - 28) </Li> <Li> Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on September 3, 5, 1916 </Li> <P> The Adamson Act was a United States federal law passed in 1916 that established an eight - hour workday, with additional pay for overtime work, for interstate railroad workers . </P> <P> The terms that were embodied in the act were negotiated by a committee of the four railroad labor brotherhoods of engineers, firemen, brakemen and conductors, chaired by Austin B. Garretson . Garretson was the respected leader of the conductors' union . He had formerly been a member of the President's Commission on Industrial Relations, investigating the causes of industrial violence . Congress passed the Act in order to avoid a nationwide strike . </P>

How did the adamson act improve labor conditions in the united states