Mediators frequently use a caucus to meet separately with the management or the union negotiating committee, or one or both head negotiators. A caucus provides the mediator with the opportunity to share and/or gather confidential information in an effort to find a resolution for the dispute. Sometime labor or management will ask the mediator to call a caucus. The mediator will readily agree because a party asking for a caucus is very likely prepared to make a move toward settlement. A mediator would also agree because caucusing is a favorite mediator technique.
In this photo, FMCS mediator Gil Seldon is caucusing with the union negotiating committee in the men’s room. Notice the urinals on the right. This caucus may have been arranged earlier or it might simply be opportunistic on the mediator’s part.
In the photo, the mediator is wearing a white shirt and tie. The men’s hats suggest this caucus occurred in the 1950s, and meeting in men’s room implies that there there no women on the union committee. For some viewers, the window dividers might suggest they are meeting in a church. The caucus occurred in fact in the main Federal Building in Cleveland, Ohio.
