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    Labor Management Relations Glossary

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    Federal Mediation And Conciliation Service (FMCS)

    An independent agency that provides mediators to assist the parties in negotiations. Although the bulk of its work is in the private sector, it also provides its services to the Federal sector -- see § 7119(a). FMCS also maintains a roster of qualified private arbitrators, panels of which are referred to the parties upon joint request. See MEDIATION.

    For more information on FMCS, see http://www.fmcs.gov/.

    Mediation

    Use of a third party, usually a neutral without authority to impose a settlement, to assist the parties to reach agreement. Mediation techniques vary, but one common practice is for the labor mediator to separate the parties (in order to control communications) and meet with them separately and, in effect, engage in interest-based bargaining with them. Because the mediator usually is a neutral who cannot impose a settlement and because he or she is expected to keep confidences, each party is assumed to be more willing to be open with the mediator than with the other party (or with an interest arbitrator). Because of this greater openness, the mediator often is able to see areas of possible agreement that the parties are unable to see in direct, unmediated, negotiations. Under § 7119(a), labor mediation services are provided by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Some writers have distinguished between conciliation and mediation in terms of the degree to which the mediator is expected to be an active participant in the process, with the conciliator playing a more passive role than that played by a mediator.

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