A Winning Combination

Building

Labor-Management

Relationships

Promoting the development of sound and stable

labor-management relations,

Preventing or minimizing work stoppages

by assisting labor and management in settling

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 the art, science and practice

of conflict resolution, and

Fostering the establishment and maintenance

of constructive joint processes to improve

labor-management relationships, employment

security and organizational effectiveness.

Mission

250 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20427

(202) 606-8100

www.fmcs.gov
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The Federal Mediation

and Conciliation Service

T

he Federal Mediation and Conciliation

Service (FMCS), established as an

independent agency by the LaborManagement Relations Act of 1947, was

created to resolve collective bargaining disputes

which threaten the free flow of commerce and

to promote the development of sound and

stable labor-management relations. By practice

and legislation, this mission has evolved to

include “fostering the establishment and

maintenance of constructive joint processes

to improve labor-management relationships,

employment security and organizational

effectiveness.” FMCS assists business organizations and unions to achieve the related goals

of profits and jobs, and thereby contributes to

the strength of the U.S. economy.

“With a history of more than 60 years of

providing mediation and facilitation services,

FMCS has more collective experience in dispute

resolution than any other agency of

government.”

Why FMCS?

The Federal Mediation and

Conciliation Service

Created by Congress as an independent agency of the

U.S. government in 1947, the Federal Mediation and

Conciliation Service (FMCS)’s primary responsibility is

to promote sound and stable labor-management relations

through a variety of mediation and conflict resolution

services. These services include the mediation of collective

bargaining negotiations and grievances, training for

labor and management in skills and processes aimed at

improving the workplace relationship, and the referral of

private arbitrators for the settlement of controversies over

the application or provisions in a collective bargaining

agreement.

A Winning Combination

Building

Labor-Management

Relationships
3

I

n the changing workplace and economic environment, the role of mediators continues to expand

beyond the critical “firefighter” function, arriving

at the last moment to assist the parties in resolving a

contract dispute. Frequently, we become involved very

early in negotiations or during the course of a contract

to provide facilitation, consultation and training for

both sides in an effort to assist with more effective

problem solving, bargaining, communications and

improving the relationship.

The American workplace is the basic foundation of

the U.S. economy, and the ability of American business

to compete worldwide relates directly to workplace

performance. The workplace labor-management

relationship, therefore, has major economic implications, because it affects product and service quality,

productivity and profits of firms, and the jobs and

employment security of workers. To assist management

and labor in improving their relationship so they can

learn to work together on issues of mutual interest,

as a team instead of adversaries, FMCS offers a range

of Relationship Development and Training services,

which are broadly defined as collaborative unionmanagement processes.

These services address three mutual goals:

1. Improving the Labor-Management

Relationship

Mediators help the parties expand and improve

the working relationship, the ability to resolve

grievances and to deal effectively with pre- and

post-negotiation problems.

2. Improving Organizational Effectiveness

and Employment Security

Mediators work with the parties to enhance joint

problem-solving and decision-making capabilities,

overcome barriers to quality and productivity,

manage change collaboratively, jointly address work

design and enhance employee job satisfaction and

employment security.

3. Improving Community-Wide

Labor-Management Relations

This includes the effective operation of area and

industry-wide labor-management committees and

can address the development of a community and/or

industry through labor-management cooperation.

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Relationship Development and Training

To assist a company and union in achieving their

mutual goals, FMCS mediators guide the parties

through an assessment of the quality and development

of their relationship and identify areas which may benefit from improvement. Problems often encountered

include lowered employee morale, decreased productivity, excessive numbers of grievances or unfair labor

practice complaints or poor communication between

union leadership and management. After discussions

with the parties and assessing the relationship, the

mediator is able to develop appropriate training in

skills and processes that will assist in addressing

particular concerns. Customized training may be

developed in areas such as:

• Traditional and Alternative Bargaining

Processes

• Conflict Management

• Consensus Decision Making

• Contract Administration

• Facilitation Skills

• Interpersonal Communications

• Labor-Management Partnership Building

• Team Building

• Union/Management Roles and Responsibilities

Or, the mediator may recommend one of the more

formal, comprehensive approaches, composed of

particular combinations of these areas.

Orientation to Joint Labor-Management

Initiatives (OJLMI)

A program that provides participants with a broad

overview of cooperative labor-management working

relationships, OJLMI provides labor and management

leaders an examination of the philosophy and values

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that form the foundation for labor-management

cooperation, and the chance for company and union

participants to engage in a mediator-facilitated dialogue

about the potential impact of cooperative labormanagement programs within their organization.

Contract Administration and the Steward and

Supervisor Relationship

Supervisors and union stewards are the front line for

translating a labor agreement into practice. For stewards and supervisors to work effectively together it is

important for them to understand the process of arriving at the labor agreement, as well as their roles and

responsibilities in its administration.

The emphasis of this program is on relationship-building between stewards and supervisors and on their

leadership roles within their organization. The program

is aimed at developing the interpersonal and communication skills needed to build a cooperative relationship.

Information on labor history, the collective bargaining

process, contract administration, grievance process and

arbitration procedure is presented to help participants

analyze workplace problems and develop the analytical

skills to resolve and reduce the frequency of such

problems. This information is particularly useful in

organizations and unions with high turnover in labor

relations and collective bargaining practitioners, and

those facing initial contract negotiations.

Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB)

Interest-Based Bargaining is an alternative to

traditional, positional negotiating. Instead of negotiating from hard and fast positions on issues, IBB focuses

on the interests that underlie issues, and encourages the

use of objective standards in evaluating a possible

settlement. The negotiators become problem solvers,

working together to develop options and solutions that

satisfy the interests of both sides. Participants learn how

to begin replacing labor-management antagonism and

suspicion with a working relationship based more

on shared goals, increased information sharing and

communication.
Facilitation Skills

This highly-interactive training provides an introduction to facilitation skills and techniques. The focus

of this program is on the skills that facilitators need to

manage a Labor-Management Committee meeting or

similar labor-management group within an organization. Designed for those who want to build and/or

fine-tune their facilitation skills, the course draws on

exercises and simulations to give the participants

opportunities to practice facilitating and to learn

from one another.

A Facilitation Skills program complements other

Relationship Development and Training. It is designed,

for example, to supplement Labor-Management

Committee/Partnership training. It may also be used

in conjunction with Expanding Labor-Management

Committees, Interest-Based Bargaining, and Partnersin-Change programs.

Relationship By Objectives (RBO)

Sometimes an organization’s labor-management

relationship has deteriorated to the point that jobs or

the economic health of the operation are threatened.

This situation can occur following a bitter or

protracted strike or lockout, or after a contentious

representation election.

An RBO program requires a strong commitment from

both parties to improve the relationship. The process

is usually conducted off-site over a two- to three-day

period, and requires a team of mediators to assist the

participants in analyzing the relationship and exploring

the difficulties. Through structured interaction, both

parties identify specific problem areas and develop

mutually-agreeable objectives to address these issues.

A restructured relationship is created with mutuallychosen objectives. Agreed-upon action steps and

timetables are planned, and timetables for their

resolution.

Labor-Management Committee (LMC)

Mediators help to design, establish and maintain joint

committees, which bring representatives of employers

and employees into regular communication and contact over subjects of mutual interest. A fundamental

building block for an organization committed to cooperative efforts, the joint LMC provides an ongoing

forum to deal with common problems, ranging from

attitudes to productivity improvements. FMCS can

assist the parties in designing the framework for an

effective committee and can provide training in proven

consensus-building and problem-solving processes to

promote the successful operation of the LMC.

Committee Effectiveness Training (CET)

Committee Effectiveness Training is a compendium of

exercises designed to provide labor-management committee members with the knowledge and skills needed

to become effective contributors. The key to CET’s

flexibility is a Needs Assessment Questionnaire which

enables the mediator to tailor the workshop to the

specific needs and time constraints of the group.

CET includes training modules which address:

Effective Planning, Effective Meetings, Group Problem

Solving, Consensus Decision Making, and Effective

Communication with Constituents. Three additional

modules relate to maintaining effective group interaction: Understanding Self and Others, Interpersonal

Skills, and Group Dynamics and Shared Leadership.

Partners In Change (PIC)

This “tailored” one- to two-day workshop is for

organizations already committed to building or

expanding a cooperative labor-management relationship. Participants have the opportunity to explore their

full partnership potential by analyzing their organization’s current state, identifying separate and jointly-held

perceptions of the organization, creating a joint vision

for the future, and based on that vision, initiating a

joint change process and developing the necessary skills

to bring about the desired change.

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FMCS Organization

FMCS mediators work out of more than 60 field

offices around the United States, administered through

10 geographic regions. For more information, contact

the FMCS National Office or visit www.fmcs.gov to

locate the field office nearest you.

National Office

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

250 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20427

Phone: (202) 606-8100 Fax: (202) 606-4251

Website: www.fmcs.gov

Contemporary Workplaces

The demographics of the American workplace are

changing rapidly as more workers with different ethnic,

racial, social and religious backgrounds join the labor

force. The most rapidly increasing groups coming into

the labor movement today are immigrants, women

and minorities. Issues raised by an increasingly diverse

workforce go far beyond the traditional collective

bargaining matters of wages, hours and working conditions. Adapting to and accommodating new workforce

demographics are increasingly a challenge to American

business and organized labor.

To prepare managers and employee leaders to deal with

the prevention and resolution of conflict in the changing workplace, FMCS training includes exploration of

the impact of changing demographics and culture in

the workplace, stereotyping, prejudices and discrimination. It offers strategies for diffusing workplace conflict,

team building and cooperative workplace initiatives.

Labor-Management Grants Program

As an adjunct to the agency’s Relationship Development

and Training (RDT) Processes, the Labor-Management

Cooperation Act of 1978 established the FMCS Grants

Program, through which funding may be provided to

encourage innovative approaches to collaborative labormanagement relations and problem solving. Funding

of this program is dependent on appropriations from

Congress and is granted on a competitive basis for the

creation or continuation of labor-management

committees.

Eligible applicants for FMCS grants include state and

local units of government, certain private, nonprofit

corporations, labor-management committees and labor

organizations or private businesses applying jointly

with each other. The grants may be used to support

committees at the workplace level, on a community or

industry-wide basis, or in an economic sector.

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