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On Friday, the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Virginia denied Norfolk Southern Railway’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) in connection with the union’s brief strike against NS, according to the BRS.

On June 16, BRS-represented workers walked off the job because NS is outsourcing signal work to contractors on a line between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn., union officials claim. The union issued the strike because negotiations to resolve the dispute broke down. However, NS officials claimed they were still negotiating a new labor contract with union leaders.

The court determined the union had promised in a written declaration that it would take no further job action pending arbitration of its dispute with NS. Before the strike, the two parties reached a tentative agreement, but NS reneged on the deal, BRS officials said in a prepared statement. The court scheduled a status conference July 29 to prompt the arbitration process.

“We made several offers to resolve these disputes before and after the strike,” said BRS International President W. Dan Pickett. “Now that this legal battle is behind us, we look forward to sitting down with NS and settling these issues either through negotiations or arbitration as quickly as possible.”