In the wake of the March 14 Executive Order, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation (FMCS) said they received “multiple inquiries from both media and clients,” and many members of the National Academy of Arbitrators also expressed concern about the executive order’s impact on workplace peace and economic stability.
What those outside of the labor and employment arena might not understand, is that the work of neutral parties to arbitrate workplace disputes has a direct impact on those two vital outcomes. Effective dispute resolution reduces workplace hostility, prevents strikes, increases productivity and ultimately strengthens economic stability. FMCS mediators have always been available to rapidly intervene in labor disputes to find prompt and just resolutions. Like the fire department, this team of problem solvers should be supported for their service to American industry.
On March 19, 2025, the FMCS assured the labor relations community that the agency remains operational and is continuing to provide its statutorily mandated services. FMCS says they will continue to monitor labor disputes and provide mediation for collective bargaining in the private sector, including the health care industry; for certain disputes in the federal sector, and work with the U.S. Postal Service on supervisory pay disputes. The FMCS said they will still provide arbitration panels in accordance with its mission and the collective bargaining agreements of hundreds of interested parties.
While some concerns are allayed by this statement, the NAA encourages Congress to evaluate the importance of FMCS and reinforces its commitment to federal mediation and conciliation services. The FMCS punches well above its weight. With a tiny $55 million budget — less than 0.014% of the federal budget –it “delivers extraordinary outsized economic benefits,” minimizing labor strife and encouraging industrial peace at a value that exceeds $500 million a year.
Without the FMCS, peaceful resolutions to labor conflicts would be significantly delayed, impacting essential industries such as transportation and utilities. In 2024 alone, the FMCS averted strikes at George Washington Hospital, avoided health and safety risks to New York utility workers and the public, and resolved a high-stakes conflict between the nation’s largest union of teachers, as a few examples.
Since its inception in 1947 to support the US economy’s transition from wartime to peacetime production, FMCS has taken seriously its mandate to provide dispute resolution for the changing workforce. Limitations imposed by the Executive Order inhibit the FMCS’s capacity to meet the new challenges arising in the 21st Century. This approach may appear to save in the short term but weakens the foundation for long-term success. The wiser course for our nation’s economy is to provide the FMCS with the resources to meet the needs of our current workforce, and the workplace of tomorrow.