FMCS | 2100 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20427 | 202-606-8100 | www.fmcs.gov 

NEWS RELEASE 

Thursday, February 25, 2016 Contact: Linda Gray-Broughton 

For Immediate Release FMCS Labor-Management Grants 

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

 

FMCS Labor-Management Grants Program 

Accepts Applications for FY 2016 

WASHINGTON, DC– Starting March 1, 2016, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is 

accepting labor-management grants applications for fiscal year 2016 focused on the 21st century 

economy and its rapidly evolving workplaces. While the Agency will consider applications from plantlevel committees, the FMCS especially encourages applications from area-wide, industry or sectoral 

joint labor-management committees confronting specific, definable problems for which they have 

developed clear, innovative, and measurable long-term solutions. 

FMCS Director Allison Beck urges business and labor to submit proposals that address the transitioning

workplace, hiring and retaining new generations of workers, and rapidly advancing technology-based 

work structures. “Dramatic shifts in labor market trends, coupled with the fact that significant labormanagement reform activity is taking place across industries and at the city, state, and regional level, cry 

out for area-wide or industry-wide collaborative approaches to workplace problems,” Ms. Beck said. 

“In this economy,” Ms. Beck observed, “broad partnerships are in the best position to improve job 

security, skills, and working conditions for an increasingly mobile workforce, to achieve consensus on

standards and organizational effectiveness in new sectors of the economy, and to enhance economic 

development and competitiveness for entire communities.” 

The FMCS grants program has a record of proven success in building labor-management cooperation, 

encouraging innovative solutions, and disseminating “best practices.” Since its beginning in 1981, Ms.

Beck said, “The FMCS grants program has been an important tool for advancing the basic mission of this

Agency, which is to encourage cooperative, problem-solving labor-management relationships as the 

best means for producing innovation, competitiveness, productivity and job growth.” 

Under the terms of the Labor-Management Cooperation Act, area or industry-wide applicants must 

include, among their participants, an employer and the collective bargaining representative of its 

employees. As long as this threshold requirement is met, area or industry-wide committees may also 

include community organizations, state and local government entities and employers whose employees 

are not represented by a labor organization. 

FMCS grants in 2016 will be awarded in amounts from $50,000 up to $400,000. Applications may be 

submitted until May 31, 2016. Prospective grant applicants are reminded that no grant funding may be 
GRANTS PROGRAM – Page two 

FMCS | 2100 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20427 | 202-606-8100 | www.fmcs.gov 

 

used for training, facilitation, or other services available through FMCS appropriated programs. 

Detailed information about how to apply can be found online at www.fmcs.gov, where prospective 

grant applicants can also access three training videos to assist them in preparing their grant applications. 

If, after reviewing these materials, parties have additional questions, they may contact the FMCS Grants 

Office at 202-606-8181. 

For information on how to apply for an FMCS Labor-Management Grant, click here.

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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 district offices and more than 60 field 

offices, the agency provides mediation and conflict resolution services to industry, government 

agencies and communities.