Additionally, the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act, both enacted in 1990, authorize FMCS to provide alternative dispute resolution services to government agencies in an effort to improve operations and reduce the expense and time spent in litigation. Mediation is intervention by a neutral third party in a dispute or negotiation with the purpose of assisting the parties to the dispute in voluntarily reaching their own settlement of the issues. A mediator may make suggestions, and even procedural or substantive recommendations. Mediation, as practiced in collective bargaining, may also include other roles which have become necessary as the labor-management environment has evolved. In the mediation of collective bargaining contract negotiations, or Dispute Mediation, the mediator is usually in touch with both parties even before negotiations actually begin.
Active mediation is a voluntary process and only occurs with the consent of both parties.
Significantly, mediators have no authority to impose settlements. Their only tool is the power of persuasion. Their effectiveness derives from their acceptability to both parties, their broad knowledge of the process of collective bargaining, and their status as federal mediators. In Preventive Mediation, the mediator also becomes an educator, trainer, consultant and advisor by providing assistance to labor and management, usually between contract negotiating periods, in building a more collaborative, long-term relationship. Federal mediators provide these services in the private, public and federal sectors.