Unions sue to stop demolition of mediator agency

A coalition of labor unions accused Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency of arbitrarily reducing an independent agency that helps workers and their employers avoid costly litigation following President Trump’s executive order last month decimating the agency.

The unions, which represent workers at all levels of government as well as in the private sector, said President Trump’s executive order reducing the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service work to the “statutory minimum” required by law and its ultimate implementation by DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the constitutional separation of powers.

The FMCS is an agency established in statute that offers low-cost third-party mediation and arbitration of disputes between labor unions and their employers to avert costly litigation and strikes in major industries. It is also required to help federal agencies and their unions avert impasses, as well as to prevent work stoppages in the health care industry.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed this week in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York, FMCS staff prepared a proposal to reduce its workforce while still meeting its statutory obligations to 100 mediators—or 80 if services were provided primarily via remote meetings. But then DOGE operatives stepped in anyway and reduced its mediator headcount to five.

“Instead of the 80 to 100 mediators that FMCS had determined were necessary to perform its statutory responsibilities across the country, DOGE and OMB ordered that only five mediators would remain at FMCS,” the suit states. “DOGE and OMB further directed cutting essentially the entire FMCS staff, with the exception of the acting director, four employees in the Office of General Counsel and approximately four other staff. This skeleton staff and five mediators now bear the same statutory responsibilities which, until just a few weeks ago, were performed by a staff approximately 15 times larger.”

The labor groups argued that FMCS is an agency that was already extraordinarily efficient—leveraging its small $54 million annual budget, which accounts for just 0.014% of federal spending, to save employers and unions $500 million per year in litigation and related costs.

“In fiscal year 2024, FMCS mediated 2,318 collective bargaining negotiation sessions, 1,362 high-impact grievances and 792 alternative dispute resolution cases; conducted 1,477 single or multi-day training and intervention panels; and provided 10,004 arbitration panels and appointed 4,350 arbitrators,” they wrote.

If FMCS is allowed to be effectively mothballed, the unions would no longer be able to engage with the mediators needed to avert “disruptions” to commerce and health care service for Americans. The move to place 95% of the workforce on administrative leave and then provide reduction in force notices that are effective next month have already taken a toll on ongoing negotiations, the unions said.

“[The United Federation of Teachers] has recently been in negotiations for a CBA covering 75 employees at Merrick Academy, a charter school in New York City that is a private-sector employer,” the suit states. “The no-strike and no-lockout clauses in the previous CBA have expired, so teachers and staff can strike, or the employer can lock them out, at any time . . . The FMCS mediator, however, had to cancel the March 27, 2025 session because he was put on administrative leave. Without the mediator, the parties have been unable to make further progress, raising the risk of a strike or lockout.”

The unions have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the administration’s plans to lay off the FMCS workforce. Oral arguments on that request are scheduled for April 30.