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 […]
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 FMCS has mediators work throughout the U.S. A number of States have their own mediation agencies that provide mediation within that state. For years, these state mediation agencies and FMCS have worked cooperatively as members of the Association of Labor Mediation Agencies (ALMA). Canadian National and Provincial mediation agencies are also ALMA members. ALMA […]
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 removed labor-management mediation from the Department of Labor (DoL) and placed it in the newly created Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Not everyone favored the new arrangement. Labor Secretary Lewis Schwellerbach urged Congress to return the mediation function to DoL. In Congressional testimony, the first FMCS Director Cyrus Ching […]
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 […]
1. Three men standing. The man in the center is the famous Jimmy Hoffa, the leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The other two are FMCS mediators. On the left, is Walter Maggiolo, Director of Office of Mediation. The other is C.K. Call, the Regional Director of FMCS in Chicago. Jimmy Hoffa’s son […]