AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s decimation of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), including closing field offices and drastically cutting the agency’s mediators and other staff:
Dismantling the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service—a small but important federal agency that helps bring labor and management together to solve problems between workers and employers—will be a destructive move for workers, businesses, and the economy as a whole. Shuttering FMCS means longer and drawn-out contract negotiations; delays in implementing new union contracts that raise wages and improve benefits; and disruption to the economy from strikes and lockouts that keep experienced, skilled employees from doing their jobs. This action is an attack on people who work for a living and will suppress the expansion of good union jobs with fair contracts that benefit workers and employers alike. Once again, it’s clear the DOGE agenda is about what’s best for the billionaires, not the working people of this country—and we’ll see the administration in court.
Contact: Mia Jacobs, 202-637-5018