### Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

### Five-Year Strategic Plan

2001-2006

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### *September 30, 2000*

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### I. FMCS CHARTER

In the 1947 Taft-Hartley amendments to the National Labor Relations Act,
Congress declared it to be the policy of the United States that\-\--

-   sound and stable industrial peace and the advancement of the general
    welfare, health, and safety of the Nation and of the best interest
    of employers and employees can most satisfactorily be secured by the
    settlement of issues between employers and employees through the
    processes of conference and collective bargaining between employers
    and the representatives of their employees;

-   the settlement of issues between employers and employees through
    collective bargaining may be advanced by making available full and
    adequate governmental facilities for conciliation, mediation, and
    voluntary arbitration\... \[sec. 201.\]

Congress created FMCS "in order to prevent or minimize interruptions of
the free flow of commerce growing out of labor disputes, to assist
parties to labor disputes in industries affecting commerce to settle
such disputes through conciliation and mediation."[^1] Historically,
mediation of collective bargaining contract negotiations has been the
primary work of this agency.

From the beginning, FMCS has provided arbitration services by
maintaining a roster of private arbitrators. Inherent in this function
of roster provider is the need to establish standards in the areas of
credentialing, continuing education and ethics as well as providing a
customer complaint mechanism. Arbitration is used almost universally to
resolve disputes arising over collective bargaining contract
interpretation and provisions during its term. It is favored by national
labor policy, and arbitration provisions are treated as an implied
"no-strike" clause. Upon request from the parties, FMCS furnishes a list
of names from which they can choose an arbitrator to hear their case and
make a decision. Unlike mediators who rely on their powers of persuasion
to assist parties in settling disputes, arbitrators exercise the power
to render binding decisions.

Since 1947, FMCS charter has expanded. In 1974, Congress extended the
FMCS jurisdiction beyond "industries affecting commerce" to non-profit
health care institutions and, by 1999, health care institutions
represented 16.5 percent of our business. In 1978, Congress extended the
FMCS charter beyond the private sector to the federal government sector
and in 1979 to the U.S. Postal Service. Most recently, our work in the
federal sector was expanded by Executive Order 12871, issued by
President Clinton on October 1, 1993, which directed the formation of
labor-management partnerships in the federal government as a means to
reform government. By 1994, 11.2 percent of our caseload was in the
federal sector reflecting, in part, initial start-up activity of
labor-management partnerships. Despite an expected drop-off, federal
sector activity remains a significant 8.7% of caseload.

FMCS's charter was further enlarged by the 1978 Labor-Management
Cooperation Act which explicitly authorizes and directs the Agency to
\"encourage and support\" joint labor-management committees "which are
established for the purpose of improving labor management relationships,
job security and organizational effectiveness, enhancing economic
development or involving workers in decisions affecting their jobs
including improving communication with respect to subjects of mutual
interest and concern.\" \[section 205A(a)(1).\]

FMCS has from its creation engaged in preventive mediation efforts
designed to improve relations between management and labor. In recent
years, as many in labor and management have begun to explore new ways of
working together, preventive mediation work has grown to 32% of
mediation interventions. The increase in average length of contracts has
also created a demand for preventive mediation and dispute mediation
interventions between contracts.

The 1978 Act also authorized FMCS to provide grant funds to establish or
expand labor-management committees. Since 1981, FMCS has awarded more
than \$20,500,000 to more than 240 labor-management committee grant
applicants experimenting with innovative joint approaches to workplace
issues.

Outside the labor-management arena, FMCS has been involved in
"alternative dispute resolution" (ADR) since Congress asked former FMCS
Director William Simkin to mediate a land dispute between the Navajo and
Hopi Tribes in the 1970s. The Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of
1990 and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, and the Administrative
Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 which reauthorized the earlier Acts,
expanded FMCS's role as resource and provider of ADR services. Their
intent is to expand the use of alternative dispute resolution throughout
the federal government in order to reduce litigation costs and promote
better government decision-making. These statutes authorize FMCS to
provide consultation, training, dispute resolution systems design and
third party neutral services to all federal agencies (and to state and
local agencies where the federal government is involved) including the
facilitation of regulatory negotiations. FMCS has also responded to
requests for ADR services from its existing customer base. The demand
and interest from federal agencies, state agencies and the private
sector for FMCS ADR services has increased significantly.

The work of FMCS extends beyond the domestic border as well. FMCS plays
an important role in promoting collective bargaining and providing
people in other countries with information and skills in the uses of
mediation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. Our work in
the international arena is today a small but integral part of our
services. With the end of the Cold War, proliferation of trade pacts,
globalization of the

marketplace, and rapid technological advance, requests for our
assistance from abroad have increased significantly in the last five
years.

Our international activities, including training and assistance in
designing industrial relations designing conflict resolution systems,
and building mechanisms for social dialogue and consensus
decision-making, are supportive of U.S. foreign assistance policy. They
promote sustainable economic development, as well as peace and the
expansion of democratic institutions in other nations. Negotiating
skills and conflict resolution capabilities are critical for developing
peaceful and constructive labor-management relationships abroad, and for
promoting greater workplace democracy and solutions to human rights
problems. As the nations of the world struggle to compete effectively in
an increasingly integrated marketplace, many are re-examining the role
and structure of their labor relations systems and exploring workplace
governance issues. In addition, this international sharing of
information has enhanced our abilities to understand complex global
issues which effect everyday collective bargaining in the U.S. Labor
disputes are no longer limited to the borders of the United States and
this international interaction has enhanced FMCS's abilities to assist
our traditional customers in resolving disputes that have international
implications.

FMCS shares no crosscutting functions with other agencies.[^2]

# II. ISSUES AND DRIVERS

FMCS finds itself in a significantly different environment from that
which existed just a few years ago. Listed below is a summary of the
major trends impacting FMCS, our customers and our business that we must
acknowledge and respond to:

1.  Globalization of industry

The globalization of industry is a dynamic and on-going process. It has
been characterized by the inevitable integration of markets, and
technologies. Economies with free trade and competition have become
efficient and flourishing. Dramatic industry transforming innovations
are taking place today faster and faster aided by the defining
technologies are computerization, miniaturization, digitization,
satellite communications, fiber optics and the Internet. It is a force
that replaces security and stability with change. The workplace has
fewer certainties, an accelerated pace and the continual need for
innovation to survive. These characteristics have profound implications
for contract negotiations, cooperative relationships, and education and
training.

2.  Consolidation of unions

> As union membership has declined steadily and significantly from its
> peak in 1979, there has been a corresponding increase in union
> mergers. These mergers have made possible economies of scale by
> eliminating duplication of effort allowing the combined entity to
> increase financial and administrative resources as well as augment
> organizing and bargaining power. They have also reduced the diversity
> of policies, practices, and philosophy in the union ranks. There have
> been 133 mergers between 1956 and 1994, with over half of them coming
> after 1980.

3.  Increase in length of renegotiated collective bargaining agreements

> In 1994, 92% of all collective bargaining agreements were for three
> years of length or less. A full 25% were for two years or less. By
> 1999, the number of new collective bargaining agreements that exceeded
> three years had jumped from 8% to 22%. An additional 9.1% were for
> five years or longer, and there were twelve contracts that exceeded
> nine years in length. Such a trend portends a potential for increased
> labor-management stability resulting from fewer negotiations, but also
> the danger of more contentious negotiations when they do occur if
> issues accumulate unresolved for a greater period of time. What is
> certain is that there will be a significant shift in the locus of
> conflict between labor and management. In addition to increasing the
> complexity and time spent by mediators in dispute cases, this trend is
> also increasing the demand for our services during the contract's life
> to resolve the increased conflict now arising between more distant
> renegotiations. This has also increased the call to develop new
> mechanisms to foster cooperation and manage conflict during expanded
> periods of contract administration. Finally, we are working to develop
> the necessary changes in our reporting procedures to reflect the
> changes noted above in handling these mid-term interventions.

4.  Expected increase in labor market shortages

The American economy is currently experiencing a historical low
unemployment rate. Most analysts attribute this to strong economic
growth and high productivity gains together as the two causal factors.
Labor market shortages have implications at the bargaining table as well
as training and an impact on motivation for a cooperative working
relationship. The most recent labor market projections for the ten-year
period 1998 to 2008 show that a third influencing factor independent of
the two previously mentioned, will be the expected gap between labor
demand and supply. The current BLS projections are that employment
demand will increase by 14% while labor supply is being forecast at an
increase of only 12%. In absolute terms, there will be 20.2 million more
jobs in 2008 but only 16.9 million additional workers to fill them. The
3.1 million shortfall will be a force tending toward a continuation of
labor market shortages independent of productivity state of economy
factors.

5.  Changing workplace demographics (aging, diversity, etc)

The demographic composition of the work force will change significantly
because of changes to the population itself and because labor force
participation will change. Two significant factors stand out. First, the
baby-boom generation composed mostly of white males will move into the
later stages of work-life and increasingly move out of the workforce
into retirement. Second, the 3.1 million workforce shortfall will bring
about increased diversity to the extent immigration is used to fill the
gap. The net predicated impact is that by 2008, the workforce will be
increasingly older, Female, Hispanic, Asian, Black, and immigrant. These
changes have broad based implications for training, labor management
cooperation, and conflict management processes.

6.  Changing structure of workforce

> The Bureau of Labor Statistics in a November 30, 1999 press release
> predicated that in the ten-year period 1998-2008, the total workforce
> is expected to grow by 14%. Virtually all of these jobs will be in
> service-producing industries. Manufacturing's share of total jobs was
> predicated to decrease by 89,000 jobs. Expected productivity gains are
> anticipated to offset job loss so that manufacturing will maintain its
> share of total output. Further, health services are predicated, at a
> 67% gain, as the second fastest growing industry during that time
> frame. This structural sea change coupled with the increased emphasis
> placed on new organizing by organized labor portends a different
> composition in collective bargaining and first contract negotiations
> for the future.

7.  Increased acceptance of ADR as a way to resolve conflict

The use of Alternative Dispute Resolution is not a new sensation.
Mediation was commonplace in religious communities in colonial New
England, and arbitration has been in use for commercial disputes for
hundreds of years. What are relatively new are the breadth, volume, and
increasingly systematic use of ADR. Throughout our society, from family
disputes to neighborhood, environmental, intergovernmental, legal, and
workplace disputes, ADR is increasingly becoming the preferred first
choice in working toward settlement. A recent Internet search through
only one search engine found over 1,400 sites on ADR.

> With this explosion of ADR have come practitioners with widely varying
> skill levels, training and ability eager to serve as dispute neutrals.
>
> Whether caused by the diffusion of ADR in a variety of arenas, the
> variety of different ADR processes, or other factors, there currently
> does not exist an easy mechanism for consumers of ADR services to make
> intelligent choices regarding processes or practitioners. No consensus
> exists regarding standards about training, credentials, or ethics. Nor
> is there access to important information with which to make
> intelligent choices among different practitioners. There are also no
> mechanisms in place for complaints, ethical and otherwise, to be
> addressed, both for the benefit of consumers and the practice of ADR.

8.  Conflict/violence in schools

    Our nation was recently shaken by a series of high profile mass
    murders on school campuses. For decades, parents have lived with a
    fear that their children will come home from school under the
    effects of alcohol or other drugs. Now parents must wonder whether
    their children will live through the school day and come home alive.
    At a time when education is most critical to our country's future
    workforce, violence in schools contributes to the erosion of
    taxpayers' confidence in public education. A recent Gallup Poll
    conducted April 2000 through May 2000 found that 20% of American
    teenagers were involved in a physical fight in school during the
    preceding year.

**III. FMCS'S ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSE**

## A. Mission Statement, Values, and Customer Service Standards

FMCS's original mission \-- to bring about the peaceful resolution of
disputes between unions and employers \-- underlies the evolution of its
current Mission Statement. In 1975, FMCS developed its first Mission
Statement. This statement has been examined from time to time to reflect
additional tasks assigned to the agency. One modification, the
incorporation of a preamble and Values Statement, was recommend by a
mediator Task Force and approved, in 1995, by a strategic planning
committee. The current Mission Statement covers the agency's major
services, reflects its statutory charter, is results-oriented, and
clearly sets forth why the agency exists and what it does.

Based on this Mission and Values Statement, and in keeping with
Vice-President Gore's National Performance Review, FMCS articulated a
public commitment to certain standards of service. Our agency's
performance can be measured against them by our customers and by
ourselves.

**PREAMBLE**

> Reflecting our commitment to a strong and viable collective bargaining
> system as a foundation for society's well being and economic growth,
> and our belief in the benefit to the public of effective conflict
> resolution processes, we adopt this Mission and Values Statement:

**MISSION**

-   Promoting the development of sound and stable labor management
    relationships,

-   Preventing or minimizing work stoppages by assisting labor and
    management to settle their disputes through mediation,

-   Advocating collective bargaining, mediation and voluntary
    arbitration as the preferred processes for settling issues between
    employers and representatives of employees,

-   Developing and advocating the art, science and practice of conflict
    resolution through the use of ADR,

-   Assisting parties in conflict through the provision of conflict
    resolution services.

-   And fostering the establishment and maintenance of constructive
    joint processes to improve labor-management relationships,
    employment security and organizational effectiveness.

**VALUES**

-   Meeting our customers' needs with timely and quality service.

-   Providing innovative approaches in collective bargaining and other
    dispute resolution processes.

-   Recognizing that employees are key to FMCS's effectiveness and
    ability to excel. Promoting continuous individual development,
    leadership***,*** and teamwork.

-   Ensuring absolute neutrality, confidentiality and acceptability to
    customers.

-   Dedicating ourselves to effective, honest, and open communication.

**Customer Service Standards**

> **Quality:** We shall provide our customers with the most skillful
> services, processes and training possible in dispute mediation,
> preventive mediation, conflict resolution and all other areas of
> agency responsibility. We shall strive to improve and expand our
> knowledge and skills in collective bargaining, labor-management
> relations and conflict resolution so that our customers receive the
> highest quality service possible.
>
> **Neutrality:** We are committed to the process of collective
> bargaining and other conflict resolution processes and shall at all
> times conduct ourselves consistent with the principle of
> neutrality***.***
>
> **Confidentiality:** Confidentiality is, like neutrality, a
> cornerstone of mediation. We are dedicated to the preservation of
> confidential information.
>
> **Responsiveness:** We will provide prompt response to our customers'
> needs and questions. We shall do everything possible to address
> concerns and maintain customers confidence.
>
> **Consideration*:*** We shall provide thoughtful, individualized
> attention to our customers' needs.
>
> **Environment:** We shall provide our customers with the highest
> possible quality facilities, equipment, technology, and materials.

B. FMCS General (Strategic) Goals and Objectives

Best Practices for Conflict Management and Resolution

Adopted by a Broad Range of Organizations

in the Private, Public and Federal Sectors

**⇑**

Collective Bargaining, Mediation, and Other Mechanisms

for Resolving Conflict and Strengthening Relationships

Used by Assisted Organizations

Our primary goal is to assist those labor, business and industry, and
government organizations who are our customers in settling collective
bargaining disputes or resolving conflict by providing third party
neutral assistance and thereby avoid or reduce the effects of work
stoppages, litigation, violence, or other less constructive means of
resolving problems.

Our broader goal is that our work with our customers -- a subset of the
universe of private, public, and federal organizations -- will have a
radiating sphere of influence which will enable our work to have wider
societal impact. In other words, "best practices" of labor-management
relations or conflict resolution generally will be diffused and
eventually adopted by an increasingly wider group of organizations. Over
time, the goal is for organizations to begin to shift their approach to
conflict management and resolution and adopt "best practices" as their
standard practice.

FMCS strategic goals are based on our statutory authority and directly
reflect our mission. They are premised on the underlying assumption that
peaceful methods of resolving conflict are essential in a healthy,
stable, democratic society and to a sound, competitive economy. Whether
conflicts involve labor and management, government and citizens, or
other organizations with competing or differing interest, society
benefits from reducing tensions between organizations or groups of
people, from finding ways other than strikes, litigation or violence to
resolve differences, and from exploring constructive means of jointly
solving problems and finding common ground.

Although there has been a steady and significant decline in strikes,
those that do occur are longer, more bitter, and with wider
ramifications than in the past as exampled by:

###### Boeing --SPEEA Negotiations

The re-negotiation of this collective bargaining agreement between the
Boeing Co and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in
Aerospace (SPEEA) turned into the longest and largest white-collar labor
dispute in the Aerospace industry, involving 17,000 employees. Before it
ended, this 40 day strike in addition to the lost wages of 17,000
employees to the local economy, saw delays in defense projects, missed
airplane delivery dates, cancellation of scheduled airline flights, and
a significant drop in the company stock. The end to this dispute came
about only when intensified mediation by the FMCS Director were
employed, resulting in a three year agreement.

The magnitude of this dispute in economic terms is belied by the fact
that, according to BLS, unions only represent 2.5% of white-collar
workers.

###### Seattle Times -- Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild

This 45-day strike of 900 employees was settled even in the shadow of
permanent replacements being hired. These negotiations required marathon
mediation sessions in Washington, D.C. and the appearance of the
Agency's Director at the union ratification meeting. The resulting 6 yr
agreement provides the parties an opportunity to re-build their
relationship in addition to saving the jobs of long-service workers.

Paradoxically, there has been an increase in large-scale cooperative
bargaining efforts with resulting gains for both parties and the
economy. FMCS efforts and involvement in promoting and aiding this trend
have included:

###### Kaiser Hospitals -- 6 International Unions

Kaiser Hospitals and six of their International unions decided to use
Interest Based Bargaining in their most recent re-negotiations both for
the master agreement and covered local supplement agreements. FMCS was
called on to assist in the training and facilitation of 37 separate
negotiations covering 65,000 employees. This required the efforts of 21
different mediators at various times over a 6-month time span. The
agreements were all successfully concluded peacefully despite an
industry fraught with large-scale issues and unpredictable change.

###### Levi-Strauss-UNITE

This renegotiation was another example of parties utilizing cooperative
bargaining on a large scale for the first time; for a master agreement
and local supplements. FMCS provided both training and facilitation for
5600 employees in nine facilities spread throughout the South and
Southwest.

C. FMCS Services

The achievement of our broad goals depends upon the full range of FMCS
services. The FMCS "strategic enterprise" consists of five service
areas, each of which has clear performance objectives (outputs) that are
described in detail in our annual performance plans. These outputs are
linked to and support the FMCS broad goals and objectives described
above.

Together, FMCS services directly ensure that the lowest step in the
hierarchy of our objectives -- collective bargaining, mediation and
other mechanisms for strengthening relationships and resolving conflicts
used by assisted organizations -- is achieved.

**COLLECTIVE BARGAINING INTERVENTIONS (DM, PM, EAO)**

It is through collective bargaining interventions that FMCS fulfills its
responsibilities toward "sound and stable industrial peace". FMCS
mediation is a voluntary intervention by a trained third-party neutral
to assist management and union officials reach agreements. Mediation
involves skills and processes aimed at resolving, reducing or preventing
conflict in the labor-management relationship. There are three integral
and frequently linked components of FMCS Collective Bargaining
Interventions: Dispute Mediation, Preventive Mediation, and Education,
Advocacy and Outreach.

While each component has distinct performance goals and indicators to
help measure progress toward those goals, they are, in fact and in
practice, one unified service, all parts of the same set of processes.
All FMCS mediators are trained in and required to attain proficiency in
all aspects of FMCS mediation, including the ability to provide the
appropriate intervention in a particular situation.

The component parts of FMCS Collective Bargaining Interventions and
performance goals are as follows:

**Dispute Mediation** - This is a voluntary process, which occurs when a
mediator assists labor and management in reaching agreement in
collective bargaining negotiations. These include initial contract
negotiations involving an employer and a newly-certified union, renewal
and mid-term contract negotiations, as well as some grievances that
arise during the term of an agreement. Dispute mediation has been the
primary focus and most visible service of this agency for 53 years, with
mediators working to avert or reduce the duration of work stoppages.

**Preventive Mediation** - In the changing workplace and economic
environment, labor-management relations range from very antagonistic to
very cooperative. With parties experimenting with new ways of working
together, the role of mediators is evolving, as well. Beyond the
traditional crisis intervention in contract disputes, mediators are
becoming purveyors of best practices and "catalysts for change."
Mediators are able to assist, train, motivate and encourage labor and
management to transform their relationship, to become more
participative, collaborative and creative.

Mediators help the parties develop and implement joint problem-solving
and innovative conflict resolution methods (e.g., assistance in setting
up labor-management committees, employee participation processes), more
constructive ways of bargaining (e.g., training in interest-based
bargaining techniques), better ways to communicate and relate (e.g.,
supervisor and steward training), even help or encourage them to explore
high-performance workplace strategies. Our preventive mediation services
range from the very basic to the highly innovative.

The demand for these services is driven by the necessity to improve
competitive economic productivity and performance in the workplaces of
America, to increase the standard of living of all American citizens -
to create profits and good jobs*.*

**Education, Advocacy and Outreach** - In FMCS National Customer
Surveys, respondents frequently stated that the agency needed to do a
better job of publicizing its services. This viewpoint has also been
raised consistently in customer feedback sessions throughout the
country. Customer outreach is now part of every mediator's job. Both our
Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plans include this process:

-   to inform the nation's collective bargaining community about the
    full range of services available,

-   to gather valuable feedback about how FMCS can improve it services
    and

-   to promote wider understanding, acceptance and proper use of the
    collective bargaining process and third-party assistance in the
    prevention and constructive resolution of labor-management and other
    disputes in the public arena.

    Additionally, mediators lecture at educational institutions,
    showcase FMCS services at professional conferences, work with local
    labor-management committees and other community organizations, and
    meet one-on-one with members of the collective bargaining community.
    Through outreach and strategic alliances with other practitioners
    and organizations, we leverage our resources and thereby extend our
    reach. This will directly promote achievement of our impact goal,
    the diffusion of "best practices" beyond those we serve directly.

**ARBITRATION SERVICES**

Today, virtually all collective bargaining agreements contain grievance
and arbitration provisions. From the beginning, FMCS has provided
arbitration services by maintaining a roster of private arbitrators.
Inherent in this function of roster provider is the need to establish
standards in the areas of credentialing, continuing education and
ethics, as well as providing a customer complaint mechanism.

Arbitration is used almost universally to resolve disputes arising over
collective bargaining contract interpretation and provisions during its
term. It is favored by national labor policy, and arbitration provisions
are treated as an implied "no-strike" clause. Upon request from the
parties, FMCS furnishes a list of names from which they can choose an
arbitrator to hear their case and make a decision. Unlike mediators who
rely on their powers of persuasion to assist parties in settling
disputes, arbitrators exercise the power to render binding decisions.

There are approximately 1,400 professional arbitrators on our roster.

**ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION/INTERNATIONAL SERVICES**

[Domestic (ADR)]{.underline}

FMCS has provided to United States government agencies, under authority
of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1990 and the Negotiated
Rulemaking Act of 1990 (both permanently reauthorized in the
Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996) a variety of Alternative
Dispute Resolution (ADR) services, outside the collective bargaining
arena. These conflict resolution services are aimed at helping
government avoid costly and time-consuming litigation to settle disputes
by assisting in the creation of an ADR structure and processes within
the agency. Other ADR services offered by FMCS provide government with a
more open and inclusive, less adversarial alternative to traditional
government rule and policymaking. ADR services include:

-   Consultation---Initial assessment of the customer-agency's needs

-   Systems Design---Analysis of existing mechanisms and design of
    appropriate methods and strategies to establish or improve conflict
    resolution processes within the customer-agency.

-   Education/Training---Programs to educate ADR users and
    practitioners, including training in mediation skills for potential
    customer-agency mediators, and mentoring of mediator-trainees
    through active ADR cases.

-   Mediation/Facilitation and Convening--FMCS professional staff serve
    as mediators and facilitators in the settlement of disputes, or
    conduct fact-finding or convening processes.

-   Regulatory Negotiation/Public Policy Dialog---When a government
    agency must draft a rule, regulation or public policy, FMCS is
    available to conduct a regulatory negotiation, or "reg neg." The
    process brings together the government regulators and those who will
    be affected by regulations to formulate the proposed rules by
    consensus. By formulating rules in a public negotiating process,
    potential or actual antagonists can be motivated to

> participate, and become invested in helping the agency solve a
> regulatory problem. The likelihood of subsequent challenges to a new
> regulation is
>
> greatly reduced, and the rule or policy that results is generally
> superior because more points of view have been considered.

-   Private Sector Alternative Dispute Resolution---This is the
    value-added expansion of services to our legislatively-mandated
    customers, helping resolve disputes and controversies not directly
    related to collective bargaining. This involves the application of
    ADR processes to conflicts away from the negotiating table, such as
    the facilitation of disputes within a corporate or union board,
    patent or trademark disputes, or the mediation of issues surrounding
    voluntary recognition of a bargaining unit by an employer.

#### International Labor Education and Training

FMCS has become a major resource for friendly foreign nations in
training and technical assistance in industrial relations practices,
cooperative labor-management relations and conflict resolution
techniques. With the globalization of marketplaces, proliferation of
trade pacts and rapid technological advances, more countries are
recognizing that industrial relations and conflict resolution systems
are means of securing economic growth and competitiveness. In still
others, particularly those regions with developing economies, such as
Eastern and Central Europe and many nations in Central and South
America, industrial relations and conflict resolution systems and
institutions have not previously existed. As a result, federal mediators
conduct briefings and training programs for foreign labor, management
and government leaders in the United States and overseas. FMCS
International Labor and Training services include:

-   Consultation on dispute resolution systems.

-   Negotiation skills training.

-   Training in the collective bargaining process.

-   Training in dispute resolution skills.

-   Mediator skills training in the improvement of labor-management
    relations.

-   Creation of labor-management committees at the national, regional,
    industry or enterprise levels.

-   Introduction to advanced labor-management relations (demonstration
    projects) at specific company-union sites.

-   Administration of mediation services.

-   Introduction and use of alternative dispute resolution systems.

    [International Dispute Resolution (ADR)]{.underline}

    The conflict resolution needs of other nations have continued to
    evolve. Countries are increasingly seeking FMCS expertise in areas
    of their societies outside their industrial relations sectors.
    Federal mediators are now prepared to provide many of the same ADR
    processes and training, which have proved so effective with
    government agencies in the United States to other countries and
    regions.

    The potential arenas for application of FMCS conflict resolution
    skills and expertise through its International ADR services continue
    to develop. They include:

-   Facilitation of consensus building dialogues related to economic
    growth and legal/institutional reform in developing countries.

-   Mediation/negotiation skills-building for employees of regional
    organizations.

-   Negotiation/conflict resolution training for police forces in
    post-conflict societies.

-   Sponsorship or co-sponsorship of best practices seminars in the use
    of conflict resolution in topic specific conflicts, such as
    investment and trade, public policy and environmental disputes.

-   Consultation and assistance in establishing international centers of
    dispute resolution, similar to FMCS activities in Panama.

**FMCS INSTITUTE FOR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT**

The FMCS Institute For Conflict Management creates an avenue for a
variety of skills training and education in conflict management and
resolution, all aimed at improving relationships between labor and
management worldwide. It also provides an umbrella, under which FMCS can
create unlimited creative initiatives with academic partners and
research organizations, to maintain its leadership in the field of
collaborative problem solving in the workplace and society in general.

The Institute was established to respond to the changing needs of modern
collective bargaining, providing essential training in meeting the
challenges of labor-management relations, organizational change and
corporate culture.

Education and training in labor relations and conflict resolution are
nothing new to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. It has
been an integral part of the agency's mission for more than a half
century to provide joint skills training to the nation's collective
bargaining community. Such training has usually been worksite-based and
designed for employees and managers in a particular facility.

However, FMCS customers have asked for a different kind of training,
more accessible to individuals and small groups of employees and
managers. Additionally, many subjects can be handled more effectively in
a classroom atmosphere, away from the pressures of the shop or office
floor and the communication barriers and inhibitions inherent in the
roles of supervisors and employees.

The FMCS Institute offers training in practical conflict resolution
skills, and provides participants the opportunity to interact with, and
learn from, experienced practitioners who use these skills every day,
putting theory into practice.

**LABOR-MANAGEMENT GRANTS**

The Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978 authorized FMCS to provide
grants and technical assistance for the establishment and operation of
plant, area, industry-wide, and public sector labor-management
committees. In awarding grants, FMCS looks for innovative approaches to
collaborative labor-management relations and problem-solving. Committees
funded under this grants program have addressed a wide array of issues,
from health care cost containment to total quality management and
industry competitiveness issues.

Since 1981, the first year Congress appropriated funds for the grants
program, FMCS has awarded 20.5 million dollars in funds to over 270
labor-management committees experimenting with creative joint approaches
to workplace issues. While the statute authorizes a funding level of
\$10 million, actual funding has never exceeded \$1.5 million annually.

##### TECHNOLOGY ASSISTED GROUP SOLUTIONS

TAGS -- Technology Assisted Group Solutions -- is a powerful network of
computers and customized software that skilled FMCS mediators use to
accomplish the mission of FMCS. Early experience shows that TAGS-enabled
events produce high quality results and are accomplished in less time
than using conventional methods. FMCS uses TAGS to help groups solve
problems more effectively, make better decisions, implement decisions
more successfully, and conduct successful remote meetings from anyplace
a browser connects to the Internet. TAGS can be highly effective in
interest based and traditional bargaining, surveys via the Internet,
strategic planning, remote meetings, and collaborative processes like
labor-management committees and partnership initiatives. TAGS can also
improve FMCS delivery of complex alternative dispute resolution services
such as negotiated rulemaking and the mediation of public policy
disputes, especially when used to bring large groups of people together
via the Internet*.*

D. Strategies to Achieve Organizational Goals and Objectives

FMCS will pursue a range of specific agency-wide strategies over the
next five years as we strive to meet our mission, goals, and objectives.
These strategies are in response to the issues and drivers imposed by
the external environment, the direction our customers are moving in, and
delineate where we must focus our energy and resources.

Strategy #1: Understand and exceed the needs of our customers

-   Continue to gather customer feedback (surveys, focus groups, etc.)
    and use it to continuously improve our products and services.

    1.  In FY 2002, conduct the next in a series of customer surveys to
        monitor and determine customer needs and field trends.

    2.  Hold one focus group in each region with both customers and
        potential customers who have not made use of our services to
        feed back survey results and facilitate development of
        additional information from focus group participants.

        1.  Feed results back to professional staff in regional and
            national educational seminars.

        2.  Use feedback at senior management level in development of
            future Annual Performance Plans.

    3.  Hold focus group meetings in strategic industries (food,
        trucking, etc) where the concentration of unionized jobs has
        domino effects throughout the industry.

    4.  Develop additional mechanisms for early capture of trends,
        contract terms, bargaining issues, and problems in key
        industries

-   Respond to changing customer needs

    1.  Proffer midterm intervention assistance to parties reaching new,
        or extraordinarily long, collective bargaining agreements.

    2.  Continue education and outreach efforts to fully inform
        customers of the availability and use of grievance mediation.

    3.  Use yearly regional performance planning to make adjustments
        responding to changing customer needs

-   Develop statistical reports to provide useful trend information
    measures.

    1.  Provide product and service markers on mediator reports to
        identify discrete services performed.

    2.  Identify, in advance, major contract expirations by region.

1.  Other

    1.  Develop and implement Customer Survey on Arbitration Services.

Strategy #2: Provide outstanding products and services in each service
area

-   Collective Bargaining Interventions:

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-   Closely monitor ongoing negotiations by assigned mediator for early
    intervention when needed.

-   Provide coordinated mediation through assigned manager in
    multi-plant negotiations.

-   Regional management oversight and monitoring of all significant
    cases and use of significant case reports.

-   Early assignment of significant cases and historically troubled
    negotiations.

-   Augment protracted mediated cases through paneling or escalate with
    appropriate manager.

-   Proffer preventative mediation when active dispute mediation
    indicates need for service.

-   Work with individual employers and unions to restructure their
    labor-management relationships.

-   Follow-up concluded negotiations with parties by assessing midterm
    intervention needs.

-   Inform the nation's collective bargaining community of the full
    range of FMCS services available.

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-   Alternative Dispute Resolution/International Services

    -   Domestic ADR- reimbursed through interagency agreements.

        1.  Mediate ADR cases for government agencies - providing
            consultation, systems design, training, mentoring, mediation
            and facilitation, follow-up and evaluation services.

        2.  Provide mediation services to the Congressional Office of
            Compliance.

        3.  Convene and conduct regulatory negotiations and public
            policy negotiations

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    -   International

        1.  Respond to requests for conflict resolution services with
            reimbursement through interagency agreements.

        2.  Respond to requests for International Labor training and
            technical

> assistance.

3.  Provide briefings and training for Foreign Service officers assigned
    overseas to serve as United States labor attaches.

-   FMCS Institute - where Federal mediators go far beyond theory in the
    classroom through a series of courses including the following:

    -   Labor Arbitrator Training (providing the tools to become an
        arbitrator)

    -   Labor Arbitration for Advocates (training in presenting a
        successful case for each side while scrupulously maintaining
        FMCS neutrality)

    -   Labor Arbitration Symposium (discussion regarding how
        arbitrators make their decisions and what they find persuasive
        in ruling on a case)

    -   Cross-Cultural Competencies (understanding diversity
        considerations in conflict, especially regarding EEO matters)

    -   Negotiation Tools (what one needs to be a successful negotiator,
        in labor relations and beyond, running the gamut from
        adversarial to collaborative styles)

    -   Mediation Skills for Workplace Disputes (skill enhancement in
        managing workplace disputes)

-   Labor-Management Grants- Provide information on grants program at
    FMCS seminars and workshops.

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-   Arbitration Services

    -   Development a mechanism to update FMCS arbitrators and customers
        on procedural changes affecting them.

    -   Increase accuracy and quality of arbitration panels supplied.

    -   Develop capacity for arbitrators to produce bios electronically.

    -   Streamline the arbitrator application process.

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-   Other

    -   Continue bi-annual National Labor Management Conference.

Strategy #3: Provide new products and services

-   Technology Assisted Group Solutions (TAGS)

    1.  TAGS Description:

        In a well-run traditional meeting, participants individually
        voice ideas while a facilitator tries to capture them on a flip
        chart, one-by-one. In a TAGS meeting, participants
        simultaneously contribute ideas with our easy-to-use software on
        a network of computers. All ideas immediately post to an
        electronic flip chart displayed on each person\'s computer and
        on a large screen at the front of the room. Participants build
        on others\' ideas and continue to offer new ideas in their own
        words and with complete anonymity.

        Using a mixture of group discussion and TAGS tools, participants
        can categorize and prioritize ideas, use electronic \"ballots\"
        to anonymously indicate their level of support for each idea,
        view tabulated results on-screen, and discuss results in an
        effort to reach consensus.

        This technology does not replace expert mediation skills and
        human interaction among participants in a face-to-face meeting.
        Instead, the FMCS mediator uses this new technology tool to
        enhance participant interaction and outcome.

        Once agreement is reached, participants can use TAGS to assign
        tasks with completion targets and implementation timelines. The
        mediator can print out complete meeting notes before
        participants leave the meeting and archive meeting data for
        future use (or shred the information to ensure confidentiality).

    -   Strategies:

        1.  Create ECC Centers in each Region

        2.  Train mediation staff in utilization of TAGS system

        3.  Continue Special Assistant role for:

            1.  Development of new applications

            2.  Refinement of existing applications

            3.  Training of staff/customers

            4.  Acquisition of hardware/software

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-   Collective Bargaining Interventions

    -   Continue development of the following alternate cooperative
        bargaining models:

        -   Modified Traditional Bargaining

        -   Enhanced Conventional Negotiations

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    -   Create additional alternative models between Traditional
        Bargaining and Interest Based Bargaining.

    -   Address the need for a program to assist parties recovering from
        protracted strike/lockout.

    -   Update preventative mediation curriculums on a systematic basis.

    -   Provide training for parties in the use of grievance mediation.

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-   Arbitration Services

    -   Develop the capacity for on-line arbitration panel requests and
        filing of notices.

Strategy #4: Continue to develop our capabilities to meet customer needs

-   Maintain the following mediator core competencies:

1)  Expertise in Collective Bargaining and Labor-Management Relations;

2)  Assistance to the Parties in the Negotiation of Collective
    Bargaining Agreements;

3)  Processes to Improve Labor-Management Relationships;

4)  Facilitation and Problem Solving;

5)  Processes to Improve Organizational Effectiveness;

6)  Design and Implementation of Conflict Resolution Systems;

7)  Education, Advocacy and Outreach;

8)  Knowledge, Skill and Ability in Information Systems.

-   Continue development of full service capability:

    1.  Through on-going professional development activities headed by
        Directors of Mediation Service;

    2.  Use of periodic mediator assessment through continued
        application of core competency inventory;

    3.  Bi-annual Regional educational seminars;

    4.  Bi-annual National Professional Development Seminar;

    5.  Continue refinement and use of multi-week sequence of new
        mediator professional training;

    6.  Strengthen hiring criteria for new mediators based on core
        competencies.

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-   New skills -- language, technical knowledge, etc.

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-   Develop & maintain training materials in languages as needed for
    customers.

-   Promote bi-lingual capability of mediators through professional
    development process.

-   Develop and offer small group short week "courses" in new processes
    and techniques through Training Department.

-   Increase user-friendliness of intra-net resource center.

-   Conduct professional development for ADR department mediators in new
    techniques in both domestic and international dispute resolution.

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-   Build skills in using a variety of technologies

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-   Develop or purchase new curriculum in identified areas of need.

1.  Expansion of Web site

    -   Expand access to forms/publications

    -   Provide on-line request ability for each applicable service area

    -   Showcase:

        1.  "Best practices"

        2.  FMCS accomplishments

-   Other

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-   Development of an internal credentialed roster.

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-   An initiative to establish a higher standard for the mediation
    profession.

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-   Provide a source for quality conflict resolution services.

Strategy #5: Use technology to expand our internal and external service
capabilities-- not just a face-to-face meeting, for example, and also
using technology to manage "the business" more efficiently.

1.  Field Based Technologies

    1.  Provide ready access to LCD projection equipment and laptop
        computers for quality interventions.

    2.  Develop capability to electronically transfer whiteboard and
        flip chart work to computer documents.

    3.  Develop multimedia presentation capability.

2.  TAGS

> The TAGS Internet server functions as a virtual conference center.
> Participants logon and go directly to a prescribed topic, or enter a
> secure, virtual conference room and select a topic. The topic could be
> a \"live\" remote meeting, a survey, an asynchronous brainstorming
> session, an opportunity to assess ideas, a chance to view results, an
> action planning session or one of several other online TAGS functions.
> In some cases, participants can complete entire tasks online that
> before required multiple face-to-face meetings. At other times, the
> online work is designed to shorten and better focus the time spent
> face-to-face.

Building on our Congressionally authorized Peer Mediation Project, FMCS
developed a special version of its new TAGS system to help communities
more effectively address school violence issues. Young people, parents,
school and community leaders can use TAGS to simultaneously and
anonymously brainstorm, prioritize ideas, use electronic ballots to
indicate support of an idea, view results, create action plans and
monitor results of school violence prevention initiatives.

The TAGS system was used at Northeast High School in the Fort Lauderdale
Florida area in Spring 2000 to survey almost 300 students concerning
gangs, violence, race, rumors and use of profanity. Students responded
during a 72-hour period and results were tabulated instantly. Northeast
High School leaders indicated that they will take action based upon the
findings.

> A developing project involves working with an association of educators
> to help students, school staff, parents and community members to
> brainstorm, categorize, prioritize and develop action plans around
> areas of particular concern.

3.  "Virtual" delivery of services

    1.  Develop capability for remote conferencing for interventions.

4.  Monitoring service quality levels.

5.  Arbitration Services

    -   Initiate a capital improvement of the arbitration information
        system to realize the full capabilities of a LAN based system.

Strategy #6: Take a leadership role in identifying and disseminating
"best practices"

1.  Outreach Activities of Mediators

    1.  Re-package existing "best practice" case studies in format
        suitable for use in outreach activities.

2.  Grants Program- Incorporate successful grants in best practice case
    studies.

3.  Partnerships and coalitions

    1.  Northeastern University cooperative agreement to develop a third
        party web-based resource kit of best practice tools and
        techniques.

    2.  Alliance for Research and Education in Conflict Resolution - a
        confederation of universities, colleges, and professional
        organizations.

4.  Publication of six completed "Best Practices" case studies.

5.  Others

    1.  Participation in federal inter-agency group meetings through the
        FMCS Institute as a conduit to examine federal conflict
        resolution concerns.

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IV. **RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS**

A. Resources: Human

**Staff:** Today, FMCS employs about 292 employees. This includes 201
mediators located in the National Office in Washington, DC, and 71
additional cities around the nation, organized in five geographic
regions. (Attachment A: Organizational Chart) An increasing percentage
of the total FMCS workforce employed is now in the direct delivery of
FMCS services. The ratio of mediators to FMCS total employees has risen
from 68% in 1995 to 74% in 2001. Mediators are expected to deliver all
Collective Bargaining Interventions \-- dispute and preventive mediation
services, and education, advocacy and outreach activities. They must be
able to assist labor and management in the design and creation of new
strategies for transforming their relationship. Their skills and
capabilities must be able to extend to the evolving alternative dispute
resolution assistance to public agencies and the international arena.

The National Office management and professional support staff includes
the Director, one Deputy Director, the program offices of Arbitration,
Grants, Alternative Dispute Resolution/International Services and the
FMCS Institute. Budget and finance, education and training, human
resources, legal and legislation, notice processing, administration and
ADP support functions are all included in the FTE level of 62. We
continue to take advantage of modern technologies to automate work
processes that are labor-intensive and technology dependent in efforts
to achieve greater efficiencies, costs savings, and greater internal and
external customer satisfaction.

The five geographic regions are each lead by a regional director
supported by two directors of mediation services. The directors of
mediation services each work with about twenty mediators, concentrating
on their development, delivery of services, performance and evaluation.
Each three-person regional team is responsible for achieving the results
targeted in annual performance plans and managing budgets consistent
with these plans. The field managers and mediators, located in 71 field
stations, are directly supported by 14 field administrative staff.

To carry out our goals during 2001-2006, FMCS will need, at least, to
maintain existing staffing levels. While the agency is currently not
asking for additional FTE, an increase in staffing levels for mediators
would enable us to provide a broader range of conflict resolution
services to both traditional and new customers and to explore new and
innovative arenas for our services. In the last five years, mediator
activity is rapidly approaching a saturation level.

**Education and Training:** Over the past five years, education and
training of our entire workforce has taken on unprecedented emphasis. We
realize that our greatest asset is our people and are persuaded by the
examples of leading-edge companies that find up-front investment in
human capital through education and training, as well as information
technology, reaps tremendous return on investment. We therefore have a
policy, supported by appropriation language, to dedicate all funds
collected from fees for arbitration services to continuously educate,
train and develop our workforce. Our yearly goal is to fund our
professional development at three percent of the salary cost of each
annual budget. To respond to our customers' needs in a dramatically
changing environment, FMCS must hire, train and retain the most
qualified workforce possible, because the quality of our service is
totally dependent on the knowledge and skills of our personnel. A major
priority has been and will continue to be the education and training of
new mediators, as well as the continuing education of experienced
mediators.

Our initial Strategic Plan 1997-2002 made continuous improvement part of
every employee's job; professional development an expectation of
employment for every member of the FMCS staff. We have carried out a
comprehensive and systematic education, training and professional
development initiative aimed at mediators, support staff and agency
leadership and designed to assure achievement of the agency core
competencies.

In 2001 through 2006, education, training and continuous improvement
will remain an integral part of every employee's job. We will continue
to upgrade skills, knowledge and conflict resolution techniques to keep
pace with rapid workplace and technology changes. We will use customer
survey data and evaluations to assess whether our training approaches
have been appropriate. A major goal will be to broaden our thus far
fairly traditional learning approach (geared to upgrading skills) to
create a systemic learning organization environment, one in which we are
constantly learning from each other. With the basic foundation in place,
we will strive to progress to a more expansive level of continuous
improvement and innovation.

# B. Resources: Monetary

**Appropriations:** Funding for FMCS activities come largely through
appropriated funds. In FY 2001, FMCS anticipates receiving \$38,200,000
in appropriated funding. This amount includes a funding level of \$1.5
million for grants to assist labor-management cooperation initiatives.
Payroll and related costs account for 74 per cent of the agency's total
budget, funding 286 FTEs. The strategic goals outlined in this Plan
assume that at least equivalent resources will be available for the
length of the Plan.

**Reimbursable Income:** FMCS receives no appropriations for our
ADR/International activities, federal partnership work or the training
conducted by the FMCS Institute. Accordingly, all such work is performed
under interagency agreements or reimbursable contracts. In Fiscal Year
2000, FMCS provided over 1.4 million dollars worth of reimbursable
services. Over the last few years, these reimbursable activities have
increased at a fairly steady rate, demonstrating growing interest in
these forms of dispute resolution assistance. For Fiscal Years
2001-2006, we are projecting the reimbursable workload will at least
maintain at this level. Reimbursable income funds 6 FTEs.

**Fees-for-Service:** As authorized by Congress, FMCS began to provide
arbitration services on October 1, 1997, on a fee-for-service basis. All
revenue generated is dedicated exclusively to the continuing education,
training and professional development of the FMCS workforce. The current
level of funding generated from the Arbitration Services is
approximately \$700,000 annually. This amount currently meets the agency
goal of funding the professional development plan of our workforce at
three percent of the agency's annual salary cost.

# C. Resources: Information

**Resource Center:** The Resource Center is located on the FMCS Intranet
and provides electronic access for all FMCS employees to books,
articles, preventive mediation training materials, and videos on labor
relations and collective bargaining, labor-management partnerships,
conflict resolution, negotiated rulemaking and, resolution of EEO and
ADA disputes. Over the next five years we plan to improve both the
electronic search capabilities of the center and improve the quantity of
tools available to assist mediators in their work. We will use the
outcomes of two projects with Northeastern University to create and post
a mediator resource kit. This kit will include, documentation on joint
labor-management process mission statements, examples of
labor-management education programs, exercises for facilitating
meetings, a rich array of case studies and case study summaries, an
assortment of assessment and evaluation tools used in joint
labor-management programs, joint process contract language, and
materials on alternative bargaining processes and alternative dispute
mechanisms.

**V. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY**

**ARCHITECTURE**

In 1995 FMCS operated a small, centralized ADP operation that captured
information mainly from a multitude of paper based systems and
communicated outputs from those discrete systems back into paper. Today
we operate with a technology and communications system that receives,
transmits, processes and stores information completely electronically.
Our headquarters offices operate on a local area network (LAN). Our
field offices and field employees access this network through an
efficient, cost-effective dial-up communications system.

Our primary information technology (IT) objective is to provide
integration of needed information and communications in the most
productive and cost effective manner. To accomplish this we make maximum
use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software to meet
common administrative systems requirements. Our LAN, servers,
communications hardware and software, databases and PC's are all COTS
products. Our notice processing, arbitration services and procurement
systems are legacy applications that we continuously evaluate for
suitability and efficiency and possible upgrade and/or replacement.

The personnel/payroll output IT operations are cross-serviced with the
National Finance Center. The agency financial management system,
off-the-shelf, JFMIP certified, is currently in-house. We continue to
monitor and evaluate for a possible cross-servicing alternative.

FMCS employees have access to all appropriate information systems either
directly or through the FMCS Intranet. As part of this intranet,
employees have access to an automated travel voucher application that
allows for electronic filing, processing, and payment of all employee
travel vouchers. The agency also provides information and access to the
public through our Internet web site. This site has received accolades
for its design and usefulness.

FMCS strategy in the IT and communications areas for the next five years
is to maintain the mature investment process begun some years ago. This
year-round process involves input from all of our senior program
managers, accountability and management focus on risks and returns and
the use of quantifiable measures. We will continue our ongoing
replacement of hardware as existing equipment reaches the end of its
lifecycle; upgrade existing software applications as more productive
updates are published; continue to evaluate our legacy applications and
measure their effectiveness against new products and changes in our
needs or the application's ability to meet our requirements; and
finally, to avail ourselves of new technologies as they become available
and support the strategic direction of the agency.

Specifically, we will:

-   Continue to improve the Internet arbitration panel request system.

-   Finalize and place on the Internet our electronic notice filing
    system.

-   Expand and complete our Internet grants application and reporting
    system.

-   Complete the offline version of the Intranet travel voucher system.

-   Evaluate alternatives to our internal legacy financial management
    System.

-   Continue to evaluate alternatives to our legacy systems of database
    management.

-   Evaluate and analyze cost benefits of video conferencing
    applications.

-   Improve the Intranet Resource Center.

-   Develop new on-line training materials and production applications.

-   Expand and refine support of the TAGS program.

**VI. CONCLUSION**

Over the last five years, the men and women of FMCS have achieved
extraordinary gains in an increased ability to deliver high quality
conflict resolution services with a corresponding positive result for
our customers in labor, business and industry, and government and for
the nation at large. This plan builds on those accomplishments and
envisions substantial continuing change into the future. It is flexible
and positions us to respond effectively to the greater changes and
challenges that lie ahead.

Our goal is to continue the transformation of FMCS into a learning
organization with a vision and cultural of leadership, customer
satisfaction, and results orientation. We believe this plan is a guide
to achieving our mission consistent with our expressed values and
customer service standards through good stewardship of public dollars.

[^1]: FMCS jurisdiction under Taft-Hartley excludes the rail and airline
    industries, which are covered by the Railway Labor Act and the
    National Mediation Board.

[^2]: ^?^ For example, the National Mediation Board is charged with
    mediating disputes in the rail and airline industries. The Federal
    Labor Relations Authority and Federal Sector Impasses Panel share
    related but not overlapping responsibilities with FMCS in federal
    sector labor relations.