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2018 FMCS Annual Report

A Message from FMCS Leadership

Dear Reader,

In the 71 years since the 1947 Taft-Hartley amendments to the National Labor Relations 

Act established FMCS, we have compiled a record of service and accomplishment in 

helping to strengthen the conflict management and resolution capacities of numerous 

federal agencies and in resolving some of the country’s most intractable and 

economically threatening labor disputes. In recent years, FMCS mediators have worked 

with critical agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal 

Revenue Service, and the Department of Health and Human Services, to name just a 

few, to train their staffs in the skills to both mediate disputes and manage conflict 

internally on an ongoing basis. FMCS mediators have also mediated labor negotiations 

for movie making, ship building, professional sports, manufacturing, education, and 

symphony orchestras, to name but a few of the industries in which the Agency has 

provided assistance. Through such experiences with the specialized issues of numerous 

industries, working in a variety of settings, and managing a diverse range of 

personalities among individual disputants, we have learned new ways and methods to 

assist labor and management. We have adapted to a changing economy and we have 

modernized our Agency’s role. We all know that the world today is very different from 

that of 1947. At the same time, we have remained true to the intent of Congress, both 

when it created the Agency and when it subsequently expanded our role to include 

dispute resolution in the federal sector and in the context of numerous statutory 

enforcement contexts.

Celebrating a Record of Accomplishments 

The Agency’s decades of history and its record of accomplishment in U.S. labor and 

employment relations in both the private and public sectors testify to the skill and 

adaptability of FMCS mediators at U.S. bargaining tables and as effective conflict 

management practitioners. Time and again, FMCS mediators have shown themselves to 

be creative innovators in difficult circumstances by compiling a highly effective 

repertoire of dispute resolution and training techniques to help labor and management 

make workplaces more productive and more efficient and to minimize disruptive 

workplace conflict. Over its seven plus decades of experience, and particularly in recent 

years with the benefit of new dispute resolution science and research, FMCS has 

supplemented and built upon its core traditional negotiations and relationship 

development training programs with added innovative technologies and cutting-edge 

conflict theory. Several delivered core programs included: the Neuroscience of Conflict, 

Communicating Across Perceptions, Alternative Bargaining Models, the Art of 

Negotiation, Repairing Broken Relationships, and Conflict Coaching. In recent years, 

FMCS mediators have pioneered an innovative economic bargaining model – Affinity 

Economic Bargaining – which accomplishes a once-thought impossible goal of 

bargaining over distributive proposals in an integrative fashion. This model has enabled 
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parties, in even the most strained financial circumstances, to reach mutually satisfying 

outcomes in record time—in some cases less than a day. As a result, parties trained and 

facilitated in this model have experienced stronger relationships after reaching a 

mutually acceptable settlement.

FMCS experience has demonstrated the enormous value of training parties in the use of 

tools and techniques for collaboration and joint problem solving before these skills may 

be needed in a contract dispute. In the private, public, and federal sectors, FMCS 

provides a wide range of programs designed to prevent workplace disputes and improve 

labor-management relationships by helping the parties develop collaborative problem

solving approaches for managing conflict. Refined over decades of hands-on dispute 

resolution experience, the FMCS labor relations model encourages an ongoing, joint 

problem-solving approach characterized by open communications, respect, trust, and 

transparency.

Innovation and Change

In its long history, FMCS has achieved more than success in just its original mission in 

1947. In 1990 and 1996, Congress recognized the Agency’s conflict resolution expertise 

and expanded its role with passage of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Acts

(ADRA) of 1990 (dealing with Negotiated Rulemaking) and 1996 (strengthening the use 

of ADR in the federal sector). In doing so, Congress tasked the FMCS with providing 

assistance in conflict management and dispute resolution to other federal agencies 

through a wide variety of professional services, such as mediating individual workplace 

disputes, designing and building capacity for effective conflict management systems, 

and developing tools for interagency and public-private cooperation and collaboration. 

The 21st century workplace, in both the private and public sectors, requires not only 

dispute resolution assistance, but also assistance to help labor and management 

develop trust over time and collaborate and innovate together based on that 

trust. FMCS has responded to this challenge with innovation and creativity, leveraging 

new computer-based and Internet-based technologies to expand the Agency’s reach, 

enhance content and deliver training and education to wider audiences. To strengthen 

our ability to innovate and deliver high quality services, FMCS is 

recruiting, rewarding, and retaining mediators and support staff from a wider range 

of backgrounds than ever before, both in terms of traditional measures of diversity 

such as women and people of color, but also in the form of a greater diversity of 

career trajectories beyond collective bargaining. We are bringing in people who may 

not have traditional labor experience, but who are quick learners able to develop and 

adapt their skill sets across a wide range of FMCS services. Through the Share Our 

Stories initiative, we are incentivizing our mediators to be as insightful as possible in 

determining the practical factors for successful practice and share them with their 

colleagues. 
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Similarly, in the realm of collective bargaining, FMCS has developed computer-based 

and Internet-based tools, communications and training to assist labor and management 

at collective bargaining tables.

Recent History

In the most recent decade, national headlines have recorded that FMCS mediators 

helped head off the threat of an economically crippling work stoppages that could have 

closed down the nation’s Atlantic and Gulf coast ports during negotiations in 2012 and 

2013 and the West Coast ports in 2014-2015. In the same period, FMCS mediators 

helped bring 45,000 Verizon Communications workers back to their jobs after a twoweek strike and then helped the parties reach agreement in 60 days of tough 

negotiation, averting a second work stoppage that could have disrupted East Coast 

communications. In 2013, FMCS mediators brought professional hockey back to the ice 

by assisting the National Hockey League and the Players Association in reaching a new 

labor contract. In 2015, a team of FMCS mediators assisted in the largest private-sector 

contract talks ever held in the United Stated, when health care provider Kaiser 

Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions agreed on a contract 

covering 105,000 workers. In 2015, Verizon Communications and the Communications 

Workers of America and the IBEW represented another major labor dispute, where

FMCS helped end a six-week strike by some 39,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast. 

The same year, FMCS played a key role in helping to resolve a month-long southern 

California supermarket negotiation affecting approximately 50,000 supermarket 

employees. 

Every year, FMCS mediators are called into more than 3,200 bargaining disputes at the 

joint request of unions and employers who are looking for ways to bridge their divergent 

interests. It is a testament to the skills, perseverance and creativity of FMCS mediators 

that in most such cases, FMCS mediators find a way to bring the two sides together. The 

Agency’s settlement rate in collective bargaining disputes has hovered at about 80 

percent, year after year, which is a real badge of pride for all employees at FMCS who 

share the Agency’s sense of mission.

Effectively Managing the Challenging Negotiations of 2018

Again in 2018, FMCS saw that even the best labor-management relationships can be 

challenged when negotiation involves the kinds of multiple and complex issues currently 

facing most bargaining partners today. Unquestionably, the work of FMCS is as 

essential to the success of the U.S. economy today as it has ever been—perhaps even 

more so. During a challenging year, marked by several national labor-management 

disputes of significant scope and economic impact, FMCS mediators stepped into key

roles as peacemakers and as sources of expert knowledge for labor and management.

The following are brief summaries of FMCS work in major cases and activities during 

2018:
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• National Grid and United Steelworkers Locals 12003 and 12012-04.

FMCS mediators from the Boston service area were assigned to the negotiations 

in April and began mediating in June before a 6-month work stoppage ensued. 

Working through 36 collective bargaining mediation sessions, including the 

December holidays, FMCS mediators assisted the parties in coming to the table 

and reaching a 5 1/2 -year agreement covering approximately 1,250 gas workers 

across eastern Massachusetts. 

• Stop & Shop and UFCW Locals 328, 371, 1445, 1459, and 919. New 

England-based grocery store chain Stop & Shop and UFCW Locals 328, 371, 1445, 

1459, and 919, representing more than 31,000 employees, reached agreement on 

April 21, 2019 following a 10-day strike. The work stoppage was highly publicized 

in local and national media and gained a wide array of attention, including 

participation by celebrities and political figures. The agreement reached by the 

parties concerned provisions on a variety of issues including health care and 

retirement benefits, wage increases, and overtime pay on Sunday for current 

members.

• Bath Iron Works in Bath, ME and the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s 

Association. Timely behind-the-scenes work by an FMCS mediator turned 

aside considerable momentum for a strike by 760 employees at this key naval 

shipbuilding facility in Bath, ME. To obtain the agreement of the parties, the 

FMCS mediator engaged in 36 hours of mediation over three days and helped the 

parties avoid confrontation over flex-time issues.

• Advanced Disposal and Operating Engineers Local 324. The good 

work of an FMCS mediator, brought the parties to an agreement to end a fiveday strike and restore service at a Detroit-area landfill. Thanks to the efforts of 

the mediator, the parties were able to reach agreement on their first collective 

bargaining contract after more than a year of negotiations.

• Centerra and United Professional Pro-Force of Savannah River 

Local 125. FMCS mediators won praise for their work from both sides in 

negotiations that ended a seven-week work-stoppage by 350 security guards at 

the Savannah River Nuclear Site in Aiken, SC. The Savannah River site 

processes and stores nuclear materials used in the U.S. nuclear defense 

industry and one of the nation’s most sensitive nuclear facilities. The mediators 

were able to persuade both sides to return to the bargaining table after initial 

negotiations had broken down.

• Entergy and Utility Workers Union of America, Local 1-2. FMCS 

mediators persevered in January, 2018 through lengthy negotiations and long 

nights at the bargaining table to assist the operator of Indian Point nuclear 

energy plant and 330 plant workers in reaching an agreement that assured 

uninterrupted nuclear power from the facility for the metropolitan New York 

area.
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• Arconic Power & Propulsion and UAW Local 1243. An FMCS mediator 

who had just become a father gave up a day of paternity leave to see 

negotiations successfully concluded between the manufacturer of aerospace 

and automotive components and some 1,320 employees in the bargaining unit. 

With 2,200 total workers, Arconic is the second largest employer in Muskegon 

County, Michigan.

• Utilities of East Syracuse and the International Brotherhood of 

Electrical Workers (IBEW). A Syracuse-based FMCS mediator was 

indirectly responsible for keeping the lights on in upstate New York when he 

helped the parties reach agreement for the 1,300 workers who trim trees for 

electrical power companies. The growth of brush and trees interfere with 

transmission wires and threaten the reliability of the New York state electrical 

grid.

• Walt Disney World Resort and the Services Trades Council. 

Perseverance and patience paid off for a team of FMCS mediators who were 

asked to assist the parties in what became a year-long, highly contentious 

negotiation between a coalition of six local unions, representing 38,000 resort 

employees, and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. Negotiations for the 

four-year contract began in summer 2017 with the parties reaching agreement 

in August, 2018. Utilizing “shuttle diplomacy” during the difficult talks and 

working over holidays, FMCS mediators helped the parties reach a tentative 

agreement, with a final union ratification vote to approve the contract a week 

later.

• Kaiser Permanente Foundation and Alliance and Coalition of Labor 

Unions: The Kaiser Permanente Foundation has had a long and collaborative 

relationship, with its various labor unions throughout California. The multiple 

labor unions that comprise most of the workforce worked together in 

“partnership” with the Kaiser Foundation for some twenty years until several of 

the labor unions recently split into two factions. A portion of the labor side, 

referred to as the “Alliance,” negotiated a comprehensive labor agreement while 

the other group formed the “Coalition.” This second group has continued to 

bargain over various aspects of the collective bargaining agreement, striving to 

work with management through a collaborative, interest-based Bargaining (IBB) 

approach. Due to the size of the Coalition membership, their bargaining teams 

comprise approximately 350 people, who were placed in three rooms to address 

economics, health care, and other issues affecting some 83,000 members. FMCS 

has provided a team of facilitators over the course of four months to assist the 

parties in reaching an amicable agreement or, at a minimum, narrowing the 

issues and making workable recommendations. While the outcome has not been 

completed at this time and the current agreement does not expire until the

autumn of 2019, the parties have jointly put forward recommendations and 

continue to engage in informal dialogue at the time of this writing.
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As these relatively recent cases show, and as the long experience of FMCS teaches, goodfaith collective bargaining unquestionably is the best mechanism for resolving labormanagement disputes and for providing the framework for working together to achieve 

productivity, innovation and competitiveness – the necessary ingredients for success in 

our global economy.

Strengthening Our Know-How by Partnering with Academic Institutions

FMCS has a long and proud tradition of collaboration with academics, researchers and 

students at some of our nation’s finest institutions of higher learning. There are many 

reasons for this culture of partnership, all based on the higher purpose of helping our 

country advance the science, art and practice of dispute resolution for industrial 

relations conflict, and beyond. The specific goals for our academic partnership program

include, among others, (i) to foster and aid research on a variety of topics pertaining to 

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Industrial Relations, (ii) to develop improved, 

tangible new approaches to collective bargaining (in all industries and sectors); and (iii) 

to learn from researchers, sometimes utilizing FMCS’s own case data, to learn about 

important trends in American industrial relations and dispute resolution.

FMCS academic partners include centers for dispute resolution and/or industrial 

relations at Columbia University, Cornell University, Drew University, George Mason

University, George Washington University Law School, Georgetown University, Harvard 

University, Pepperdine University, Syracuse University, the University of Maryland and 

the University of Washington. Over the decades, FMCS senior leadership has 

consistently maintained a forward-thinking, open-minded approach to all requests from 

potential academic partners and projects. Ongoing partnership initiatives include:

• Annual guest lectures and student coaching at Harvard Kennedy School’s 

Advanced Workshop in Multiparty Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (MLD280), continuously since 2003!

• Regular guest lecturing and adjunct faculty provision at Drew University, George 

Washington University, and Harvard Kennedy School

• Regular guest lecturing at University of Washington, Foster School of Business 

negotiation courses for graduate students

• Discussion and collaboration with Columbia University, Morton Deutsch Center, 

to further their new conflict management model

• Personnel and data set access and assistance for Cornell University, School of 

Industrial and Labor Relations researchers who are studying the FMCS 

mediation model and system

• Data set access and assistance for noted industrial relations academics at 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University who are studying 

trends in American industrial relations

• Guest lecturing for the Harvard Trade Union Program at Harvard Law School
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• Creating “developmental mediator” positions as a purpose-built employment 

opportunity for the most promising students from top-flight graduate programs 

across the country

For FMCS mediators, helping clients conclude successful negotiations is far from 

theoretical – it is a necessity. For this reason, FMCS continues to actively seek 

partnerships with academics on a myriad of topics impacting the dynamics of 

bargaining and negotiations – e.g., social systems theory, humanistic theory, 

appreciative inquiry, generational conflict, the influence of neuroscience on bargaining 

situations, and much more.

Managing to Meet Present and Future Challenges

As an Agency whose primary mission involves direct customer engagement, whether 

through training, mediation, or other conflict management activity, the ability to deliver 

effective and efficient services with comprehensive, versatile, and reliable technology 

has been an essential consideration for FMCS management in recent years. Userfriendly and comprehensive technologies have been installed to allow mediators to offer 

adaptable meetings and training programs or to handle in-person and remote 

participants for the convenience of Agency customers.

In recent years, FMCS has continued to focus efforts toward updating systems and 

directives to provide the highest levels of operational efficiency and organizational 

integrity. By encouraging an organizational culture of continuous improvement, FMCS

employees are motivated to explore innovative technologies and cutting-edge strategies 

for their own professional development and for improved customer engagement. FMCS 

continues to seek ways to expand its capability to serve, communicate with, promote 

collaboration between, and train its geographically dispersed customers and workforce,

while limiting travel costs.

Aligning Our Performance Management System with Our Goal of 

Emphasizing Quality Over Quantity

In line with our commitment to provide the very best dispute resolution and conflict 

management services to the American people, in 2018 FMCS changed the emphasis 

in its performance management system from quantity to quality. Previously, the 

number of cases that a mediator performed was the main driver of his or her 

performance evaluation, which had the effect of encouraging mediators to have as 

many meetings as possible, in some cases without proper consideration of the 

quality of the service that was being delivered. In contrast, through a new selfassessment tool, the new performance management system incentivizes mediators to 

develop their professional skillsets and portfolios of services by tracking the goals 

that they set for themselves and how far they go in reaching or surpassing those 

goals. Through a customer experience survey that is expected to go online in FY 
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2020, the new system incentivizes mediators to be mindful to add the most value 

possible and serve the clients in the ways that are most useful to them.

In conjunction with other performance management tools that were implemented in 

2018 – namely observations of mediators’ performances by their managers, and 

monthly reports by mediators to their managers of their performance highlights -

the new system provides for constant coaching and feedback from mangers to 

mediators to both improve their performances and grow professionally. At the 

managerial level, FMCS is supporting the above efforts by incentivizing and 

rewarding middle management to support this cultural change from quantity to 

quality. We are also calling upon eminent researchers to conduct studies and 

assessments to inform how the change from quantity to quality is being absorbed by 

our clients and thereby positively influence future policy and practice at FMCS.

For all of the above reasons and in all of the above ways, the change in emphasis 

from quantity to quality helps FMCS to deliver on the mission with which the 

American people, through their Congress, has entrusted it.

Conclusion

In its seventh decade, FMCS is reaching new customers by leveraging the talent and 

creativity of its work- force with the newest technologies. Agency employees are 

working harder and innovating more than ever with extraordinary results. Agency 

employees feel privileged and proud of their central role in ensuring the smooth 

functioning of the U.S. economy. They are confident that they have the tools, 

knowledge, abilities, and resources necessary to help companies and their workers 

create more collaborative, competitive and productive workplaces, and that because of 

their work, our country’s overall economic well-being is more secure.

As we remain in an uncertain future for American workers and the companies that 

employ them, it is important to remember that mediation is a proven benefit in 

resolving labor disputes and averting disruptions to our economy, and that proactive 

companies, unions and public sector agencies gain competitive advantages and further 

their missions by proactively employing conflict management systems such as those 

provided by FMCS. To achieve world leadership, Americans have always overcome 

adversity, and we will do so again. FMCS is prepared to play its part in aiding labor and 

management in creating and sustaining a resilient and prosperous economy that will 

continue to lead the world.

Sincerely,

Richard R. Giacolone, 

Director Nominee
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FY 2018 Agency Services

Agency Mission

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is an independent agency of the 

federal government established by Congress in 1947 with the original intention to help 

employers and unions avoid costly work stoppages and minimize their potentially 

devastating effects on regional or national commerce. FMCS, headquartered in 

Washington, D.C., has mediators located across the country, and is best known for its 

history of providing innovative services to labor-management relationships that promote

joint problem-solving and for successfully resolving major collective bargaining disputes. 

In 1996, Congress recognized this long and successful record and called upon the FMCS 

to help other federal, state and local agencies minimize costly litigation by resolving 

disputes arising under their jurisdictions. Thus, while its core activity remains the 

prevention or resolution of labor-management disputes, FMCS also provides its sister 

agencies with a wide variety of alternative dispute resolution services.

A. Conflict Resolution and ADR Services for Government

FMCS provides professional services to a wide range of federal, state, and government 

agencies on a cost-reimbursable basis. The Administrative Dispute Resolution Acts 

(ADRAs) of 1990 and 1996, authorize FMCS to assist federal agencies in resolving 

disputes, train persons in skills and procedures employed in alternative means of dispute 

resolution, design conflict management systems, build capacity for constructive conflict 

management, and strengthen inter-agency and public-private cooperation. Through this 

work, FMCS seeks to reduce litigation costs and to promote better government decisionmaking. Services offered by FMCS include:

• Workplace and Employment Disputes. FMCS mediates workplace and 

employment disputes for Federal and state agencies. The majority of these 

disputes concern claims of employment discrimination (EEO), other types of 

personnel issues and workplace conflicts. FMCS accepts individual and multiparty conflicts for mediation.

• Disputes Involving Administrative Programs. FMCS also mediates 

disputes between agencies and their “regulated public,” such as whistleblower 

complaints or disputes involving contracts, grants, licenses, enforcement, and 

administrative programs.

• Training Persons in the Skills and Procedures Employed in 

Alternative Means of Dispute Resolution. FMCS also provides training 

in conflict resolution to aid in the effective use of alternative dispute resolution 

throughout the Federal Government. To that end, FMCS offers both live and 

web-based training on a variety of topics relating to conflict dynamics.

• Consultation, Evaluation, and Systems Design. FMCS provides 

professional conflict resolution specialists to help agencies design conflict 

prevention and resolution systems to build capacity for constructive conflict 
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management systems. Systems design may include an initial consultation, an 

assessment, program design and development, training delivery, and program 

management follow-up.

• Facilitation During Decision-Making. Particularly in times of limited 

budgets, FMCS facilitation services can help agencies achieve cost-savings when 

decision-making is delegated to a committee, task force, or other type of group. 

FMCS facilitation services, including consultation, convening, training, and the 

actual facilitation, help groups accomplish their tasks within specified time 

frames. Notably, these services can be provided both onsite and virtually, 

another valuable time and cost saving feature of FMCS facilitation services.

• Negotiated Rulemaking. Negotiated rulemaking is a process in which a 

government agency invites persons and groups potentially impacted by a 

proposed rule to participate in its drafting. Interested parties who might 

otherwise oppose or challenge the rule are given the chance to participate in its 

formulation, thus reducing post-issuance challenges. The Negotiated 

Rulemaking Act of 1990 authorizes FMCS to convene and facilitate this process.

• Agency Cooperation & Collaboration. FMCS can facilitate intra-agency or 

multiple agency groups tasked with developing a strategic plan or identified 

objective involving complex matters. Interest-based problem-solving and 

collaboration skills are essential to achieving successful outcomes.

• Public Policy Dialogues. Similarly, FMCS is called upon to facilitate public 

policy discussions involving Federal agencies and public-private stakeholders 

such as those conducted under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). 

These multi-party stakeholder discussions can benefit from the assistance of a 

skilled and neutral facilitator experienced in synthesizing discussion points and 

interests, as well as establishing and overseeing meeting structures and 

processes. Training and coaching are also available for participants.

FMCS provided conflict management and ADR services nearly 1,100 times in FY 2018. 

These services built upon the specific Congressional mandate embodied in the 

Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. § 571, et seq.) and assist other 

Federal government agencies in resolving conflict in a variety of ways, i.e.,:

• Facilitated dialogue among affected stakeholders prior to the finalization 

of regulations issued by Federal agencies. For decades, this process has 

reduced litigation challenging such regulations and thereby avoids the 

direct and indirect costs of such litigation to both Federal agencies as well 

as the non-federal stakeholders. Clients included the U.S. Department of 

Energy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Department 

of Education.

• Reached agreements with sister federal agencies to improve the efficient 

dispute resolution of other Federal agencies. Recent agreements include 

a project to reduce a backlog of 1,000 complaints by the general public 
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against the Social Security Administration and to reduce a 13,000 case 

backlog at the EEOC’s Administrative Judge stage of litigation. These 

agreements are in addition to longstanding mediation services provided 

to various agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (e.g., 

ICE, CBP, USCIS), the U.S. Postal Service, the National Institutes of 

Health, and the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil 

Rights, among many others.

• Worked with several of the 28 Federal Executive Boards (FEBs) to provide 

mediation trainings to Shared Neutrals to boost the capacity of Federal 

agencies to provide dispute resolution services without having to 

reimburse one another. FMCS mediators delivered the initial trainings 

and will co-meditate and mentor the Shared Neutrals until they gain 

enough experience to serve as lead mediators and subsequently mentor

others. FMCS is currently working or has recently worked with the FEBs 

to provide trainings to shared neutrals in Denver, Boston, Chicago, 

Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, 

and is holding discussions with other FEBs to develop future training 

programs.

• Trained mediators outside of the Shared Neutrals program at a variety of 

Federal agencies. Recent clients include the Department of Health & 

Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Personnel 

Management’s Senior Executive Service Training program, among others.

B. Collective Bargaining Mediation

Through collective bargaining mediation, FMCS helps avert or minimize the cost of 

work stoppages to the U.S. economy. As part of its core work, FMCS mediates collective 

bargaining negotiations for initial contract negotiations—which take place between an 

employer and a newly certified or recognized union representing its employees—and for 

negotiations for successor collective bargaining agreements. FMCS provides mediation 

services to the private sector, and also to the public sector, including Federal agencies, 

and state and local governments.

During mediation, the mediator’s task is to help the parties identify alternative 

solutions and compromises, encourage settlement where appropriate, control the critical 

timing of offers, and persuade the parties to honestly discuss their differences. In 

FY 2018, FMCS mediators were actively involved in nearly 3,200 collective bargaining 

contract negotiations in every major industry throughout the United States.

C. Grievance Mediation

Grievance mediation involves the use of a neutral party to mediate disputes that may 

arise over the terms and conditions of a collective bargaining agreement. FMCS 

mediators provide this service to the private and public sectors with the goal of preventing 

unresolved contract interpretation issues from becoming contentious issues in future 

contract negotiations. Lengthening contract terms increase the importance of resolving 
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contentious issues arising during the term of a contract. In FY 2018, FMCS mediated 

1,641 grievance mediation cases and helped the parties reach agreement in 1,152 of these 

(70 percent).

D. Relationship-Development and Training

Preventing conflict that may arise during the term of a collective bargaining agreement 

is another important goal of FMCS. The Agency’s relationship-building training 

programs are designed to improve labor-management relationships by helping labor and 

management to develop collaborative problem-solving approaches. Use of these 

programs better enables the parties to jointly respond to rapidly changing business and 

economic conditions during the term of the contract and also make future mediation 

efforts more effective.

In FY 2018, FMCS mediators conducted more than 1,800 training programs with 

collective bargaining partners.

Alternative Bargaining Training, such as Interest Based Bargaining and Affinity 

Bargaining, teaches techniques and the potential benefits of a non-adversarial, joint 

problem-solving approach to negotiation. FMCS regularly develops, based on the needs 

of the parties, alternative bargaining models to enhance problem-solving and mitigate 

adversarial relationships. Core training programs consist of:

• Labor-Management Work-Site Committee Training. Helps labormanagement committees extend to the work-site level, forming work-site 

committees, group interactions, and learning techniques to manage change.

• Interest Based Problem Solving Training. Gives the parties a structured 

methodology to agree on a common definition of a problem, share their 

respective underlying interests with respect to the problem and then jointly 

brainstorm solutions that can be justified and supported publicly using agreed 

upon criteria. 

• Relationship by Objectives. Improves the parties’ relationship with one 

another, particularly where the relationship has worsened after a contentious 

representation election, initial contract negotiation, or strike.

• Committee Effectiveness Training. Assists the parties in developing joint 

labor-management committees designed to bring the parties into regular 

communication.

• Partners in Change. Explores the organization’s current culture, identifies 

perceptions within the organization, creates a vision for the future, and designs 

systems that effectuate change.

• Contract Administration/Steward-Supervisor Training. Trains frontline supervisors and shop stewards on their roles and responsibilities in contract 

administration, grievance processing, the arbitration procedure, and 

interpersonal communications for building cooperative relationships.
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• Collective Bargaining and Mediation Training. Trains the parties on 

effective negotiation and communication skills. International Training and 

Exchange.

E. International Technical Assistance Programs

Beyond the nation’s borders, FMCS plays an important role in promoting conflict 

resolution around the world. FMCS delivers its international training programs using 

cost-reimbursable funds, largely through interagency acquisition agreements with other 

government agencies, such as the Department of Labor, and foreign governments and 

international organizations.

The FMCS international work is a small but integral, part of its services. FMCS helps 

establish the labor dispute resolution institutions that are essential to the smooth 

functioning of free market economies. These programs are also a knowledge-sharing 

experience: FMCS mediators gain familiarity with complex issues affecting the global 

economy and, as a result, are more effective in resolving domestic labor-management 

disputes with international implications. In FY 2018, FMCS completed training and 

consultation programs in Honduras, Thailand, and Jordan. During all these programs, 

FMCS mediators provided instruction for government labor inspectors, labor 

representatives, employer representatives, government officials and other labor dispute 

stakeholders. They also provided consultative support for governments in these countries 

to assist in their efforts to develop effective dispute resolution systems and organizations.

In addition to programs delivered abroad, every year FMCS mediators host several

foreign delegations visiting the United States and educate them in U.S. labormanagement relations and conflict resolution practices. In 2018, FMCS met with 

international delegations from the International Visitors Program sponsored by the U.S. 

Department of State.

F. Arbitration Services

National labor policy favors arbitration over litigation for settling contractual 

disputes. The FMCS Office of Arbitration Services maintains a roster of approximately 

1,000 independent arbitrators who are qualified to hear and decide disputes over the 

interpretation or application of collective bargaining agreements. Upon request from the 

parties, FMCS furnishes a list of names from which they may choose an arbitrator to hear 

their case and render a decision. FMCS administers its established policies and 

procedures on arbitration, which also incorporate the Code of Professional Responsibility 

for Arbitrators of Labor-Management Disputes, to which FMCS is a signatory.

During FY 2018, the Office of Arbitration Services processed nearly 12,000 requests 

and oversaw the appointment of more than 4,100 arbitrators nationwide.
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G. FMCS Institute for Conflict Management

The FMCS Institute for Conflict Management (Institute) delivers accessible, 

innovative, and experience-based conflict resolution training for individuals and small 

groups of employees and managers. The training is specifically designed to meet the 

challenges of labor-management relations and organizational change. The Institute’s 

training programs provide participants the opportunity to interact with and learn from 

experienced practitioners who use these skills every day. Federal mediators and privatesector arbitrators comprise the Institute faculty. The Institute runs as a reimbursable 

program and is funded by fees received from training participants.

H. Labor-Management Committee Grants

The 1978 Labor-Management Cooperation Act authorizes and directs FMCS to 

encourage and support joint labor-management committees “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." Congress funds this initiative in FMCS annual 

appropriations, and grants are competed and awarded to encourage labor-management 

committees to develop innovative joint approaches to workplace problems. In FY 2018, 

FMCS awarded nearly $400,000 in grants.
15

PROGRAM SERVICES

FY 

2014

Actual

FY 2015

Actual

FY 

2016

Actual

FY 2017

Actual

FY 

2018

Actual

1. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

MEDIATION......................

Assigned Cases

i 12,054 11,636 11,734 11,280 10,537

Mediated Casesii 4,009 3,719 3,540 3,230 3,166

Closed Cases 12,032 11,644 11,605 11,261 10,636

Closed Mediated Cases 3,299 3,081 2,941 2,616 2,602

Settled and Closed Mediated Cases 2,852 2,605 2,516 2,278 2,242

Percentage of mediated cases settled 

w/FMCSiii

86.5% 84.6% 85.5% 87.1% 86.2%

Activity rate in significant casesiv 40.6% 42.6% 38.7% 36.4% 39.2%

2. GRIEVANCE MEDIATION ....

Assigned Cases 1,762 1,729 1,713 1,719 1,707

Mediated Cases 1,704 1,676 1,670 1,650 1,641

Settled GM Cases 1,308 1,221 1,264 1,224 1,152

Percentage of cases settled w/ 

FMCS

v

76.8% 72.9% 75.7% 74.2% 70.2%

3. RELATIONSHIP-

DEVELOPMENT AND 

TRAINING ........................

Number of training programs 

provided 1,884 1,923 1,941 1,956 1,815

4. ADR Services ........................

Mediated Cases 910 1,193 1,076 1,200 1,081

Settled ADR Cases 410 536 479 594 523

Percent of ADR cases settled w/ 

FMCSvi 45.1% 44.9% 44.5% 49.5% 48.4%

5. OUTREACH ..........................

Outreach casesvii 2,710 2,722 3,049 2,837 3,045

6. ARBITRATION SERVICES ....

Number of panels issued 13,179 12,744 12,250 11,836 11,968

Number of arbitrators appointed 5,836 5,415 5,296 5,247 4,116
16

PROGRAM SERVICES

FY 

2014

Actual

FY 2015

Actual

FY 

2016

Actual

FY 2017

Actual

FY 

2018

Actual

7. GRANTS ...............................

Number of grants funded 0 8 3 11 4

8. FMCS INSTITUTE.................

Number of courses provided 8 8 9 9 10

Number of participants 114 151 142 189 190

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Work stoppages carried from preceding FY 16 14 12 15 11

Work stoppages beginning within FY 106 110 100 97 111

Work stoppages closed within FY 108 112 97 101 111

Work stoppages open at end of FY 14 12 15 11 11

Average duration of work stoppages in closed cases (number 

of days) 75.7 64.9 40.1 51.0 24.4

i Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §158(d) requires that any employer or labor organization provide notice to the FMCS 30 days prior to 

contract expiration. Not all cases providing notices are assigned. Actual 2018 FMCS case intake was more than 18,400.

ii

 Mediated cases represent the number of cases in the FY where mediators have become active in the negotiations.

iii

 Defined as the number of mediated cases settled divided by the total number of mediated cases.

iv

 Significant cases are generally defined as situations where the bargaining unit exceeds 1,000.

v

 Defined as the number of grievance mediation cases settled and closed within the fiscal year divided by the number of closed GM assignments.

vi

 Defined as the number of ADR cases settled divided by the number of mediated cases closed.

vii

 FMCS requires all mediators to engage in outreach efforts. These kinds of activities include non-bargaining meetings with labor and management representatives, attendance at

conferences, meetings with local and state officials to offer FMCS services, and presentations designed to increase public knowledge.