President Eisenhower’s Secretary of Labor James Mitchell (1953–1961) had extensive experience in collective bargaining and labor relations. Early in WW II, Mitchell headed the labor relations division of the Army Construction Program, later he served as director of industrial personnel for the War Department, in charge of one million men. After World War II, he returned to the […]
[1]While working at both USCS and FMCS, Major Charles Estes often emphasized the importance of communication in labor management relations. He frequently used his ‘Skunk Oil Story’ to illustrate the importance of quick and clear communication. Estes often used his Skunk Story in trainings and lectures. He told his story like this: While mediating a […]
Jim Scearce was a company labor relations representative at Cape Kennedy when he met Bill Usery, a union representative for the IAM. Based on their cordial relationship, Usery asked Scearce to accompany him to Washington D.C. to become his Special Assistant when Usery was appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Nixon Administration in March […]
USCS conciliators (mediators) were not writers, and certainly not writers for publication. The same could be said for the early years of FMCS. Major Charles Estes[1] was an exception, having served with both USCS and FMCS, he researched, wrote, trained and mediated. Here are samples of his writing: “The Place of Communications in Maintaining […]
In 1973, FMCS Director Bill Usery dedicated the main FMCS conference room, in the old Department of Labor building at Constitution and 14th Street NW, to Cyrus Ching. The photo above shows Usery with Ching’s widow looking at the painting of Cyrus Ching during a dedication ceremony establishing the Cyrus Ching conference room. In his […]
In the early 1950s, three young mediators[1] in Detroit took notes while nine seasoned mediators discussed cases at weekly informal mediator gatherings. By 1953, they had drafted their notes into a 54 page document titled: “The Federal Mediator: His Responsibilities, Functions and Techniques.”[2] They presented their document to their very surprised Regional Director, because mediators […]
Two outstanding FMCS mediators wrote books on mediation in 1971, and they both wrote second editions of their books in 1985 and 1986. In 1971, William E. Simkin wrote Mediation and the Dynamics of Collective Bargaining. Published by the Bureau of National Affairs, it included: 410 pages, 16 chapters, 6 appendixes, and an index. Simkin […]
The photos above are the pamphlet cover and table of contents of: The Foreman’s Guide to Labor Relations. Developed in 1944 by the U.S. Department of Labor for the use of United States Conciliation Service (USCS) staff Conciliators (mediators). Below find selected pages from that 30 page pamphlet for Conciliators to use in Labor-Management training […]
During its seventy years of existence, the FMCS National Office has been at three locations in Washington D.C. Initially, FMCS was located in the old Department of Labor Building at 14th and Constitution Ave NW, on the North-East Corner of that intersection, very near the Washington Monument, and a few blocks from the White House. […]
FMCS mediators are called Commissioner because of the language in the Act that created the U.S Department of Labor in 1913. That Act states in part: “…. (T)he Secretary of Labor shall have the power to act as a mediator and to appoint commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes whenever in his judgement the interests […]