Charles Richard Barnes
Biography
Charles Richard Barnes
Deputy Director for Field Operations, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Richard Barnes was appointed Deputy Director for Field Operations in November 1996. He
is responsible for the delivery of collective bargaining contract (dispute) and preventive
mediation services to the nation=s labor-management community, encompassing the work of
200 federal mediators in fifty states and the Panama Canal Zone. Prior to his appointment
as Deputy Director, Barnes was Regional Director for the southern United States.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Barnes joined FMCS in August 1987. After serving as
Coordinator for Alternative Dispute Resolution and for Preventive Mediation in his
district, he was appointed District Director in 1994. Following the agency=s restructuring
in 1995, in which nine districts were consolidated into five larger regions, Barnes was
selected as Southern Regional Director.
Prior to joining FMCS, Barnes was a Special International Representative of the
Laborers= International Union of North America, and was elected Business Manager of the
Laborers= District Council of Georgia and South Carolina. He was later appointed
International Representative assigned to the Atlanta, Georgia Regional Office. He is a
Vietnam-era veteran of the U.S. Army, assigned to the Medical Field Service School at
Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Discharged in 1971, Barnes won the
Army Commendation Medal for his outstanding work. He is an 1985 graduate of Antioch
University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Labor Studies.
FMCS is an independent agency of the United States Government, created by Congress in
1947 to provide mediation in labor-management contract disputes, preventing or minimizing
the impact of strikes and lockouts on the nation=s economy. Federal mediators also provide
training in cooperative skills and processes to companies and their unions to help
traditional adversaries build better workplace relationships.
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