FMCS | 250 E Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20427 | 202-606-8100 | www.fmcs.gov

NEWS RELEASE

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018 Contact: Linda Gray-Broughton

For Immediate Release Grants Program Coordinator

Website: www.fmcs.gov Phone: (202) 606-8181

FMCS Announces Labor-Management Grants Totaling $441,753

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) today announced the 

selection of three recipients of labor-management grants totaling $441,753 to fund cooperative projects 

addressing cooperation as a means to improve collective bargaining, and fund joint, innovative solutions 

to proactively mitigate workplace issues, including quality assurance and the “skills gap” between 

applicants and job vacancies in fields such as healthcare, manufacturing and the building trades. 

As has been the case in previous years, FMCS sought applications targeting a shortage of skilled workers 

for U.S. manufacturing jobs and other vital economic sectors. This year, FMCS showed special interest in 

applications that look ahead to training for high-tech jobs that will emerge from an economy where new 

technology such as artificial intelligence is becoming more commonplace. The successful labormanagement applicants reflect both economic and geographic diversity, including diverse industries and 

regions. 

“I am extremely impressed with the quality of applicants for this year’s grants program. Our grantees 

distinguished themselves by showing that collaborative and creative approaches can be used by both 

labor and management to jointly resolve workplace issues, avoiding potentially disruptive disputes,”

said FMCS Acting Director Rich Giacolone.

“FMCS enthusiastically supports this type of joint problem solving and we encourage groups 

representing both sides of the table to work together to collectively succeed,” said Giacolone. 

Under the Agency’s grants program, FMCS awards a limited number of competitive grants to encourage 

and promote labor-management cooperation as well as joint, innovative solutions to workplace issues.

Through its grant awards, the Agency supports best practices in labor-management cooperation as a 

way of improving collective bargaining and proactively mitigating labor-management disputes. The 

grants program helps foster the establishment and operation of joint labor-management committees at 

the company level, on a community or area-wide basis, within a particular industry, or for public sector 

employees.

The grants program, which began in 1981 under the authority of the Labor-Management Cooperation 

Act of 1978 (PL 95-524), has funded a broad range of projects including outreach, communications, 

strategic planning, minority recruitment and process development.

(MORE)
Grants – page 2

FMCS | 250 E Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20427 | 202-606-8100 | www.fmcs.gov

Please see the attached FY-2018 Labor-Management Cooperation Grant Program Funding Summaries.

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The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, created in 1947, is an independent U.S. government 

agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labor-management peace and cooperation. 

Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 10 regional offices and more than 60 field offices, the agency 

provides mediation and conflict resolution services to industry, government agencies, and communities.