On Wednesday, November 4th, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing a voluntary mediation process to help federal agencies and labor organizations resolve negotiability disputes before they proceed to a decision by the FLRA. The new process provides agencies and unions […]
On October 29, 2026, FMCS published a final rule in the Federal Register, updating part of its arbitration regulations, 29 C.F.R. § Part 1404. This final rule clarified that the FMCS Office of Arbitration (OA) will not provide any service that FMCS “may not lawfully provide.” To this end, the final rule allows for […]
On October 13, 2026, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) announced a new program to provide labor organizations and agencies the chance to resolve negotiability appeals through mediation before they are considered by the FLRA’s three-Member decisional component (the Authority). See the Federal Register notice […]
