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FMCS Announces Plans for Golden Anniversary
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) Director John Calhoun Wells today announced plans for the agency's Golden Anniversary observance this September. In August 1947, following a year with more strikes and lockouts than in any before or since, Congress created FMCS as an independent agency of the United States government. The anniversary will be marked during a two-day public symposium, entitled "Fifty Years in Conflict Resolution: a Celebration of the Future." The event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2 and Wednesday, September 3 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. "The Fiftieth Anniversary celebration is co-chaired by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Anheuser-Busch Companies Chairman and CEO August Busch III," said Wells. "These distinguished Americans reflect the finest in our dynamic labor-management experience." "We are honored to have the support of such renowned leaders," Wells continued. "August Busch III and his company epitomize the best in America's business. And President John Sweeney is an unparalleled advocate for the interests and perspective of the American worker." In addition to such prominent keynote speakers as U.S. Secretary of Labor-designate Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labor and now Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, Ray Marshall, and M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management Professor Tom Kochan, the symposium will feature workshops examining the past, present and future of mediation, collective bargaining and labor-management relations in the private, public and federal sectors of the economy, as well as Arbitration and the expanding use of Alternative Dispute Resolution. During the symposium, Wells will also convene the first ever meeting of the leaders of mediation services from throughout the world. FMCS has become a model for conflict resolution agencies in several countries and provided technical assistance in the creation of others. "This anniversary is an opportunity to reaffirm FMCS's role in carrying out the policy of the United States to promote sound and stable labor-management relations, and to advance the use of mediation in resolving disputes within government, and between government and its citizen," Wells said. "This promises to be a unique event, bringing together labor, business and industry, academic leaders and practitioners to reflect on and discuss the issues affecting the American workplace, and share their thoughts on the future of mediation, collective bargaining and conflict resolution in our society." FMCS mediates collective bargaining contract disputes, conducts joint labor-management training aimed at building better workplace relationships between firms and unions, provides arbitration services to resolve disputes over contract provisions or interpretation, offers conflict resolution service and systems design to local, state and federal governments, and provides training and technical assistance in labor-management relations, mediation and conflict resolution to other countries.
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