The American workplace is the basic foundation of the U.S. economy, and the ability of American businesses to compete worldwide relates directly to workplace performance. The workplace labor-management relationship, therefore, has major economic implications because it affects product and service quality, productivity, and profits of firms and the jobs and employment security of workers. To assist management and labor in improving their relationship so they can learn to work together on issues of mutual interest, as a team instead of adversaries, FMCS offers a range of preventative mediation services, which are broadly defined as collaborative union-management processes.
FMCS provides neutral, comprehensive conflict resolution services in five major areas that support productive negotiations and effective communication across labor and management relationships:
- collective bargaining mediation
- grievance mediation
- collaborative bargaining models
- labor-management effectiveness training
- arbitration
Explore the service area links on the left menu to learn more about the range of assistance FMCS offers.
To use FMCS services, parties are bound by FMCS terms and conditions of services, found at 29 CFR 1406.1: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XII/part-1406/section-1406.1
*29 CFR § 1402.1 Notice of dispute. The notice of dispute filed with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service pursuant to the provisions of section 8(d)(3), of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, shall be submitted electronically via a platform provided by FMCS. If electronic submission creates an undue hardship, the filer may contact the FMCS Notice Processing office to explain the circumstances and receive assistance. The Form F-7 Notice to FMCS of Upcoming Collective Bargaining, for use by the parties in filing a notice of dispute, has been prepared by the Service.