2008 Annual Report

[Excerpt] It has been a challenging year for labor relations in the United States. Workers experienced heightened concern for their personal financial situations and job security. Management focused intensely on competitiveness issues and the resources needed to weather a global financial crisis. Faced with intense global competition, many U.S. companies have moved to low cost off-shore operations. And the perilous financial conditions have caused other U.S. companies to downsize, dramatically increasing unemployment numbers in this country. Given the confluence of global competition and financial unrest, not surprisingly we have noted an increase in labor-management tension at the bargaining table. Negotiations have become more stressful and challenging

2005 Annual Report

[Excerpt] In this first decade of the 21st century, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is positioned to play a key role in historic changes affecting our workplaces and our economy. With economic globalization has come the need for a flexible, mobile workforce. Free trade has engendered a new set of international competitors for U.S. companies. Health care and pension costs continue to rise, placing a significant economic burden on employers and employees. This year, the labor movement faced its own internal turmoil when the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Laborers’ International Union of North America disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO

Fifty-Sixth Annual Report of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Fiscal Year 2003

Federal Mediation and Conciliation ServiceFMCSFY2003_Annual_Report.pdf: 385 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

2006 Annual Report

[Excerpt] This past August, FMCS’ 13th National Labor-Management Conference brought more than 1,500 people representing labor and management interests together in Chicago. In addition to providing 60-plus workshops over three days, FMCS gave attendees the opportunity to hear the thoughts of some of today’s most important players in labor-management relations, including Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, UNITE/HERE Hospitality Industry President John Wilhelm, NLRB General Counsel Ronald Meisburg, and The Permanente Company President and CEO Francis Crosson. The success of our conference illustrates precisely what FMCS does best: providing opportunities for labor and management to come together and discuss their common issues

Mapping Perspectives on the EU as Mediator

Research on the European Union’s role as a meditator is nascent. It predominantly focuses on case studies or is cursorily embedded within wider research on the European Union (EU) as a crisis manager. Moreover, there is a significant disconnect between the established studies on mediation based in Conflict Analysis Studies and the EU’s foreign and security policy situated in Security Studies. Thus, there is a dearth of systematic engagement on the issue of EU mediation, although the EU often uses the language of mediation as a key component of its external commitments to conflict prevention, transformation and resolution. While advancements in mediation research suggest that there are certain determinants of mediation, and highlight key features that support and impede actors during conflict, this has not been systematically applied to the EU. Consequently, a key task of this workshop was to establish conceptual clarity and practical information about on the EU’s mediation roles. As a starting point, this workshop took stock of EU mediation knowledge from the perspective of different actors including academics, civil society and policy practitioners. In particular, it explored the limited academic engagement with this particular aspect of EU foreign and security policy. Additionally, the workshop critically interrogated how the EU understood its role in international mediation practice by exploring its capabilities and infrastructure and thereby locating opportunities and constraints to it performance. By bringing together various perspectives these discussions generated critical insights into where the remaining gaps in knowledge lay and the possibilities of academic partnerships with practitioners and policymakers to create new knowledge for Security and Conflict Analysis Studies

Elder Mediation in Theory and Practice: Study Results from a National Caregiver Mediation Demonstration Project

Mediation is a process through which a third party facilitates discussion among disputing parties to help them identify interests and ideally reach an amicable solution. Elder mediation is a growing subspecialty to address conflicts involving older adults, primarily involving caregiving or finances. Mediation is theorized to empower participants but critics argue that it can exacerbate power imbalances among parties and coerce consensus. These contested claims are examined through study of a national caregiver mediation demonstration project. Study implications underscore the importance of gerontological social work expertise to ensure the empowerment of vulnerable older adults in mediation sessions

Victim-Offender Mediation in Anchorage

A version of this paper was published as ""Victim-Offender Mediation in Alaska," Alaska Justice Forum 11(2): 1, 5–6 (Summer 1994).Victim-offender mediation programs provide an opportunity for victims to meet the offenders face-to-face in the presence of a trained mediator for the purpose of resolving the injury of the crime in some way. Mediation is offered as a diversion from the justice system which the offender may accept to avoid more formal adjudication. This paper describes a pilot victim-offender mediation program in Anchorage which involves juveniles accused of certain offenses and the victims of those crimes.Victim-Offender Mediation / Development / The Development of Victim-Offender Mediation in Anchorag

Utility of Parental Mediation Model on Youth’s Problematic Online Gaming

The Parental Mediation Model PMM) was initially designed to regulate children’s attitudes towards the traditional media. In the present era, because of prevalent online media there is a need for similar regulative measures. Spending long hours on social media and playing online games increase the risks of exposure to the negative outcomes of online gaming. This paper initially applied the PMM developed by European Kids Online to (i) test the reliability and validity of this model and (ii) identify the effectiveness of this model in controlling problematic online gaming (POG). The data were collected from 592 participants comprising 296 parents and 296 students of four foreign universities, aged 16 to 22 years in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The study found that the modified model of the five-factor PMM (Technical mediation, Monitoring mediation, Restrictive mediation, Active Mediation of Internet Safety, and Active mediation of Internet Use) functions as a predictor for mitigating POG. The findings suggest the existence of a positive relation between ‘monitoring’ and ‘restrictive’ mediation strategies and exposure to POG while Active Mediation of Internet Safety and Active mediation of Internet use were insignificant predictors. Results showed a higher utility of ‘technical’ strategies by the parents led to less POG. The findings of this study do not support the literature suggesting active mediation is more effective for reducing youth’s risky behaviour. Instead, parents need to apply more technical mediations with their children and adolescents’ Internet use to minimize the negative effects of online gaming

Resolving Civilian-Police Complaints in New York City: Reflections on Mediation in the Real World

The Civilian Complaint Review Board mediation program associated with the New York City Police Department appears to be an attractive alternative to the investigative process offered to complainants, offering the possibility of a higher level of satisfaction for both the civilian and the police officer. According to the scheme devised by the agency and the NYPD, cases that meet mediation guidelines should move smoothly from investigations through the approval process, coming to a scheduled mediation in a timely manner. Complaints containing some factor making them inappropriate for mediation should be able to be identified during that approval process, thus ensuring that the cases that actually make it to the mediation table have a good chance of resolving successfully. In reality, the mediation process does have some features that work extremely well, but has other components that do not. And, the expectations of the entities with a stake in the mediation process have the abilities to enhance or weaken the program. Like a chemical reaction in equilibrium, the degree to which the mediation process appears to be working well or poorly is influenced by any changes that occur to the reactants, the parties, management, and staff of the CCRB, and the board itself - and the environment where it takes place