WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) today announced that the deadline for applications for FMCS labor-management grants for fiscal year 2017 has been extended to June 16, 2017.

Under the program, FMCS awards a limited number of competitive grants to encourage and promote labor-management cooperation as well as joint, innovative solutions to disruptive workplace issues.

Through its grant awards, the Agency supports best practices in labor-management cooperation as a way of improving collective bargaining and proactively mitigating labor-management disputes. The grants program helps foster the establishment and operation of joint labor-management committees at the company level, on a community or area-wide basis, within a particular industry, or for public sector employees.

This year, FMCS has especially encouraged applications to address the shortage of skilled workers for U.S. manufacturing jobs and in other vital economic sectors. In announcing this year’s program, FMCS Acting Director John Pinto stated, “It is my belief that management and labor, working collaboratively, and with FMCS assistance, can develop plans to suit their individual circumstances and special needs, whatever they might be, to sufficiently restore a skilled workforce for our nation’s employers.”

With today’s announcement of an extension to the deadline, grant applications may now be submitted to FMCS until June 16, 2017. Application information about how to apply can be obtained online at the Agency’s Web site—www.fmcs.gov. Interested parties are urged to contact the FMCS Grants Office at (202) 606-8181 with any questions they might have.

The grants program, which began in 1981 under the authority of the Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (PL 95-524), has funded a broad range of projects including outreach, communications, strategic planning, minority recruitment and process development.