The Federal Sector Mediation and Labor Management Relations Process: The Federal Sector Management Experience

Abstract

The investigative scope of this article centers on the critical point of time in collective bargaining negotiations in the federal sector at which an im passe is reached and a mediator is summoned. Standing at the critical point in time, an analytic look can be taken backward at the difficulties of Federal sector negotiators and forward at the related difficulties of mediators. A brief historical review of the Federal sector's labor-management relations is provided here to emphasize the profound changes established by the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) in 1978.