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HomeAbout UsMission & ValuesThe Agency helps build better relationships through joint problem-solving and constructive responses to inevitable conflict.Our HistoryAgency DepartmentsOffice of the DirectorOffice of Procurement and Operational SupportOffice of Human ResourcesOffice of BudgetOffice of Information TechnologyOffice of FinanceOffice of the General CounselOffice of Field Operations (Regional)Office of Client ServicesOffice of Field Operations (National)Office of National ProjectsOffice of Conflict Management & Prevention/InternationalCenter for Conflict Resolution EducationOffice of Field AdministrationOffice of Policy and StrategyOffice of Congressional and Public AffairsOffice of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)LocationPhone: (202) 606-8100 
Fax: (202) 606-4251ServicesResolving Labor-Management DisputesCollective Bargaining MediationGrievance MediationAlternative Bargaining ProcessesTechnology Assisted Group Solutions -TAGSBuilding Labor-Management RelationshipsEffective Contract AdministrationEffective  CommunicationsLabor-Management Partnership BuildingOrganizational DevelopmentRepairing Broken RelationshipsAlternative Dispute Resolution for GovernmentWorkplace MediationAdministrative Program DisputesFacilitationDispute Resolution Systems DesignRegulatory NegotiationsPublic Policy DialoguesEducation and OutreachSkills Development TrainingFMCS InstituteFMCS Collaboration with UniversitiesInternational ServicesConferences and WorkshopsArbitrationRequesting a PanelArbitration Policies and ProceduresInformation for FMCS Roster ArbitratorsInformation on Joining the Arbitrator RosterArbitration Contact InformationResourcesFMCS CalendarForms & Applications for FMCS ServicesMediation Agreement FormsArbitrationNotice to FMCS of Upcoming Collective Bargaining (F-7)Labor-Management Grants ProgramFOIA RequestsDocuments and DataMulti-MediaListen to the Conflict Resolutionary PodcastFMCS 101 Video SeriesSpeeches & PresentationsFAQsNLMC InfoVirtual Services
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Home/About Us/Our History Our HistoryD2021-03-20T22:54:27-04:00						A Timeline of Events in Modern American Labor RelationsFrom the first government-mediated settlement in 1838, to the creation of FMCS in 1947, to the West Coast port mediation of 2002, an historical timeline traces the evolution of American labor relations.
**Follow the progress of modern mediation and conflict resolution.**1838-1900June 20151838President Martin Van Buren facilitates a settlement of a strike by shipyard workers, the first government mediated labor settlement in America.1840President Martin Van Buren signs an Executive Order providing a 10-hour workday for employees on federal public works projects.1860Movement toward building a national coalition of workers’ unions begins with the National Labor Union.1891The term “collective bargaining” is first used by Mrs. Sidney Webb, a British labor historian.1894The first strike with national impact occurs as the American Railway Union launches a sympathy strike with striking workers of the Pullman Company1900-1946June 20151902In a message to Congress following a strike in the anthracite coal fields in Pennsylvania, President Theodore Roosevelt recognizes the public interest in labor-management relations.1918The federal mediation function is born. The U.S. Conciliation Service is created at the Department of Labor.1926After major rail strikes of the early 1920s, Congress enacts the Railway Labor Act, establishing the National Mediation Board with jurisdiction in the railroad industry, and with the power to prevent interruptions in commerce in the railroad industry. The law allows railroad unions to organize and bargain collectively.1932Norris/La Guardia (Anti-Injunction Act) enacted to limit the power of Federal courts to issue injunctions in labor disputes which would deny workers full freedom of association, self-organization, designation of bargaining representatives of their own choosing, or negotiation of terms and conditions of employment.1934The Railway Labor Act is amended to include airlines.1935The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) becomes law, guaranteeing employees the right to organize and, if necessary, government-supervised representation elections. The Act includes the right to bargain collectively and sets forth prohibitions against employer interference or unfair labor practices.1944The duty of fair representation is first announced in a 1944 Supreme Court case decided under the Railway Labor Act, Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R.R.1947-1969June 20151947Congress enacts the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act). The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is created as an independent agency of the U. S. government. The agency is given the mission of preventing or minimizing the impact of labor-management disputes on the free flow of commerce by providing mediation, conciliation and voluntary arbitration.1948Cyrus S. Ching is appointed by President Truman as FMCS’ first director.1952David L. Cole is nominated as the second director of FMCS.1953Whitney P. McCoy is appointed by President Eisenhower as the FMCS’ third director. In the first venture into new technology, two mediators from the Midwest put together photographic slides and a tape recorder to produce the Service’s initial “audio-visual” program on the subject of grievance mediation.1955Joseph F. Finnegan is appointed by President Eisenhower as FMCS’ fourth director.1957The first national training seminars for FMCS mediators are held in four locations around the country.1959Congress enacts the Landrum-Griffin Act (Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act) which establishes a bill of rights for union members—a right to sue their union, have a voice in union affairs and control of dues increases, among others.1960“The Steelworker’s Trilogy” — The Supreme Court hands down three decisions that give full support to the arbitration process.1961William E. Simkin is appointed by President Kennedy as FMCS’ fifth director. He becomes the longest-serving Director when he departs in 1969.1964Director Simkin pledges FMCS cooperation with the Association of Labor Mediation Agencies (state and municipal mediation agencies) and participation in the drafting and adoption of the Code of Professional Conduct for the profession.1970-1990June 20151970J. Curtis Counts is appointed by President Nixon as FMCS’ sixth director. The first mass work stoppage in the history of the Post Office occurs. Postal workers in New York walk out. President Nixon declares national emergency and assigns military units to New York City Post Offices.1971The Collyer Doctrine defines the NLRB’s policy on deferring decisions in unfair labor practice cases until after parties have been through the grievance arbitration procedure. Under Collyer deferral, a union is expected to use its grievance procedure to resolve certain unfair labor practice issues.1973W. J. “Bill” Usery is appointed by President Nixon as FMCS’ seventh director.
The FMCS Office of Arbitration Services is created. An Arbitration Services Advisory Committee, composed of 12 labor relations experts and arbitrators, is established to advise on arbitration policy and procedures.
The FMCS Office of Technical Services is established and given responsibility for the development and implementation of techniques for dispute prevention, research and analysis of problems related to dispute activity, staff training and the provision of statistical information to the parties.
A Relationship-by-Objectives (RBO) program is developed for use in extreme cases of poor labor-management relations, when continued deterioration of the relationship could have drastic economic effect. The first RBO program is delivered in Maine on behalf of the Georgia-Pacific Company and Paperworkers Local 27.1974Congress enacts the Health Care amendments to the NLRA.1975FMCS officially enters a new arena:  Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Congress passes Public Law 93-531, directing the Service to mediate a 100-year old land dispute between the Hopi and Navajo Indian Tribes in Arizona.
The rights of unionized employees to have a union representative present during investigatory interviews are secured by a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These become known as the Weingarten rights.
An effort is made to expand the FMCS intern program to attract women and minorities, offering instruction and on-the-job training to become mediators.1976James F. Scearce is appointed by President Ford as FMCS’ eighth director.
FMCS moves its National Office from the old Department of Labor to its former location at 2100 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20427.1977Wayne L. Horvitz is appointed by President Carter as FMCS’ ninth director.1978Congress extends the FMCS charter to mediate disputes beyond the private sector to the Federal government and again in 1979 to the U.S. Postal Service.
The longest, most difficult and challenging work stoppage of the year begins when the United Mine Workers (UMW) strike the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA).1979The Labor-Management Cooperation Act provides for FMCS to assist in the establishment and maintenance of labor-management committees at plant, area, and industry levels.1981FMCS Labor-Management Grants Program is funded by Congress.
President Reagan fires striking Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) and uses replacement workers.
The Major League Baseball Players Association strike1982Kenneth Moffett, a career mediator, is appointed by President Reagan as FMCS’s tenth director, serving for seven months.
The inaugural National Labor Management Conference is held in Washington, DC.
Kay McMurray is appointed by President Reagan as FMCS’ eleventh director.
FMCS plays a major part in the creation of the Independent Mediation Service in South Africa.1983FMCS convenes one of the first regulatory negotiations, mediating between the Federal Aviation Administration and domestic airlines over flight and rest time requirements.1984FMCS establishes an internal training function and appoints a training officer in the national office. One of the first programs is Effective Briefing and Instructional Techniques (EBIT) designed to make mediators better presenters of FMCS Preventive Mediation programs.1985Executive Order 12462 creates a Presidential Advisory Commission on Mediation and Conciliation to seek improvements in collective bargaining and conflict resolution.1990-2013June 20151990Bernard E. DeLury is appointed by President Bush as FMCS’s twelfth director.
Congress enacts the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act. Both are aimed at increasing the use of ADR to reduce the cost of litigation in government and improve government decision-making.1993John Calhoun Wells is appointed by President Clinton as FMCS’s thirteenth director and launches a broad transformation initiative focusing on expanded services, improved competencies and enhanced technology.
President Clinton issues Executive Order 12871 which creates the National Partnership Council and directs each Executive agency to form a partnership with its employees and their representatives to create a government that “works better and costs less.”1994Director Wells appoints The Mediator Task Force on the Future of FMCS to prepare the Service for the next century.
FMCS forms its own labor-management partnership council and enters into a Partnership Agreement a year later with its National Office employees’ union, the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local R3-118.1995FMCS co-sponsors the 10th International Industrial Relations Research Associations Seminar in Washington.1997FMCS celebrates its 50th anniversary and receives Vice President’s Hammer Award for “Progress in Reinventing Government.”
FMCS arbitration rules and policies are revised for the first time since 1979.1999C. Richard Barnes, a career mediator, is appointed by President Clinton as FMCS’s fourteenth director and introduces a long-range vision designed to position the agency as a global disseminator of labor relations and conflict management best practices.2002Peter J. Hurtgen, former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, is appointed by President Bush as FMCS’s fifteenth director and successfully mediates a number of national labor conflicts, including the 10-day West Coast Ports closing in 2002 that cost the national economy an estimated $1 billion a day.2004Director Hurtgen mediates an end to the 141-day Southern California grocery strike, the longest in the industry’s history. To increase mediator expertise on strategic industries and bargaining issues, the agency launches a mediator training initiative and increases outreach to labor and management.2006Arthur F. Rosenfeld, former General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, is confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3, 2006 as the sixteenth director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He begins his tenure as Director of the FMCS under a recess appointment on January 4, 2006.2007FMCS celebrates its 60th anniversary2008Director Rosenfeld oversees five days of mediation in Washington, DC to end a 52-day national strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers against the Boeing Company with a tentative agreement announced on October 27, 2008.2009Labor attorney and mediator George H. Cohen is confirmed by the United States Senate on October 5, 2009 as the seventeenth director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He takes the oath of office and begins his FMCS service on October 8, 2009.2010FMCS sponsors national labor-management seminars on health care issues in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, highlighting the importance of labor-management collaboration in addressing complex collective bargaining disputes.2011Director Cohen personally mediates several high-profile collective bargaining negotiations involving the Metropolitan Opera and its orchestra musicians represented by American Federation of Musicians Local 802, the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and the American Red Cross and a national coalition of labor unions.2012FMCS sponsors a salute to collective bargaining at Georgetown University law school on December 6, recognizing labor-management “success stories” and highlighting the importance of labor-management collaboration in addressing complex collective bargaining disputes.2013FMCS hosts a White House labor-management summit meeting on December 5, recognizing labor-management partnerships in key industries and honoring important, recent collective bargining agreements.  Among the honorees are leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the United States Maritime Alliance and the New York Shipping Association for working together during extended collective bargaining in 2012-13 under FMCS auspices to avert a possibly crippling work stoppage in U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports.2014-PresentJuly 20182018On June 06, 2018, President Trump appointed Richard Giacolone to serve as the Acting Director for FMCS, for which he was subsequently confirmed by Congress in a unanimous voice-vote as Director.  Mr. Giacolone began his mediation career at FMCS in the Chesapeake, Virginia field office in 1995. He was the former Director of the FMCS International/ADR Department and Special Assistant to the Director of FMCS. Prior to receiving his commission with FMCS, Mr. Giacolone was Labor Relations Advisor for the Department of the Navy and has an extensive background in labor relations representing management.2015On July 29, 2015, the U.S. Senate votes to confirm FMCS Acting Director Allison Beck as the first woman Director of the Agency. She becomes the 18th Director of the FMCS since it was created by Congress in 1947. Ms. Beck was nominated for the position by President Obama on September 18, 2014.March 20202019In April 2019, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and FMCS officially committed to work together to resolve federal workplace disputes by utilizing ADR as a means of efficiently reducing the backlog of federal sector charges.
And, in June, FMCS and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) announced a new commitment to work together to provide labor organizations and agencies with an opportunity to resolve negotiability appeals before they are considered by the FLRA’s Members for a decision.December 20202020On Aug. 10, 2020, representatives from Bath Iron Works and International Association of Machinists Local S6 signed an agreement with FMCS’ assistance to end the shipyard worker strike in Bath, Maine. The 63-day strike drew national attention against the backdrop of a global pandemic and in an election year.About UsMission & Values
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