Federal Mediation Service faces union backlash over new arbitrability rule
A coalition of federal employee unions has sued the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, accusing it of rewriting its regulations to let the agency decide whether grievances are arbitrable.
Federal employee unions have filed an amended lawsuit against the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, alleging the agency’s new rule unlawfully expands its authority to assess the arbitrability of federal sector disputes. The July interim final rule permits FMCS to conduct limited investigations and make "threshold determinations" before providing a panel of arbitrators, effectively turning the mediator into a decision-making body.
Unions say this shift violates FMCS’s longstanding regulations, which required the agency to honor requests for arbitrators regardless of who initiated them, and breaches federal statutes guaranteeing either side the right to arbitration. The rule also appears to retroactively support an April directive that stopped arbitrator appointments for agencies targeted by President Trump’s 2025 executive orders on national-security collective bargaining bans.
Critics label the agency’s justification as "doublespeak" and internally inconsistent, noting the lack of clarity on how parties can challenge the new inquiry. The case will proceed to a scheduling hearing on September 23 before the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C.
Why it matters
The dispute could reshape how federal labor grievances are resolved and limit unions' access to independent arbitrators.
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