Federal Position Descriptions
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Director

Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Responsibility
Management Scope

In fiscal 2015, FMCS had $44 million in budget outlays and 216 employees.4 It consists of 10 regional offices and more than 60 field offices.5

Primary Responsibilities

• Provides executive leadership that supports the agency’s strategic goals and serves its staff, agency partners and public customers, by offering expert solutions, services and effective management in numerous administrative and financial areas
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with many high-level individuals, including in the agency’s components, the White House, Congress, other federal agencies, and state and local governments, to help them understand the agency’s mediation and administrative dispute resolution programs, and to advance the agency’s programs and objectives
• Deals directly with top-ranking representatives of labor, management, state government, and civic and public organizations in connection with the agency’s responsibility to prevent or minimize interruptions to the free flow of commerce stemming from labor disputes
• Provides technical assistance to all levels of management to assist with the development of strategic plans, ranging from long-term, short-term and operational objectives
• Works with regional directors and national office and program managers to identify methods to measure progress toward strategic goals
• Participates in boards and committees, as the agency’s representative, in dealing with matters that extend well beyond the assigned program responsibility
• Conducts formal presentations at a variety of interagency and professional meetings, seminars, hearings and conferences involving important and consequential problems or issues
• Conducts special projects that involve highly sensitive, visible issues with potential for significant impact on the agency, or matters of an unusually difficult, controversial or precedent-setting nature, often with national or international program implications, significant budgetary or public policy ramifications, or exceptional public visibility
• Leads, guides and supervises a professional and support staff in the national office
• Plans, organizes and prioritizes work to be accomplished
• Assigns work equitably to subordinates, based on their capabilities and developmental needs
• Develops performance standards and evaluates performance fairly and equitably and in a timely way
• Allocates necessary organizational resources, including staff and funds, to successfully achieve the agency’s energy efficiency elements of its mission, including programs, policy development and implementation
• Works with confidential and sensitive material and exercises a high degree of discretion and tact regarding the confidential nature of these materials, while also recognizing the need for certain agency or administration officials to have access6

Strategic Goals and Priorities
[Depends on the policy priorities of the administration.]
Requirements

• Extensive knowledge and experience in collective bargaining (critical)
• Relationships with union and management executives, or the ability to form them; a measure of trust with union and management executives
• Some management experience
• Government experience (helpful)

Competencies

• Strong communication, negotiation and relationship-building skills
• Ability to exercise principled leverage
• Ability to work under high pressure
• Ability to handle sensitive matters
• Willingness to travel frequently
• Ability to work across party lines

Past Appointments
  • Allison Beck (2015 to 2017): Deputy Director, FMCS; General Counsel, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers7
  • George H. Cohen (2009 to 2014): Senior Partner, Bredhoff & Kaiser;8 Member, Mediation Panel, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Attorney Advisor and Appellate Attorney, National Labor Relations Board9
  • Arthur F. Rosenfeld (2006 to 2009): General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board; Senior Labor Counsel, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Senior Labor Advisor to Chairman James M. Jeffords10
AGENCY

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

Mission: The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), created in 1947, is an independent agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labor-management peace and cooperation. The agency provides mediation and conflict resolution services to industry, government agencies and communities.1

COMPENSATION

Level III $165,300 (5 U.S.C. § 5314)3

REPORTS TO

FMCS is an independent agency. The director reports to the President and coordinates closely with the Chief Domestic Policy Officer.

SENATE COMMITTEE

Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

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Footnote
  1. https://www.fmcs.gov/aboutus/
  2. OPM
  3. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (Public Law 115-31, May 5, 2017), contains a provision that continues the freeze on the payable pay rates for certain senior political officials at 2013 levels during calendar year 2017.
  4. Leadership Directories:https://lo.bvdep.com/OrgDocument.asp?OrgId=-1&LDIBookId=19&LDIOrgId=155014&LDISecId=201&FromRecent=0&Save=1&Position=-1#O155014
  5. https://www.fmcs.gov/aboutus/
  6. OPM
  7. https://www.fmcs.gov/allison-beck-confirmed-as-director-of-the-federal-mediation-and-conciliation-service/
  8. http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/spotlights/Federal-Mediation-and-Conciliation-Service-Director-George-Cohen-57-Visits-Labor-Law-Practice-and-Policy-Class.cfm
  9. https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/obama-names-george-cohen-his-pick-fmcs-director
  10. http://www.lawmemo.com/nlrb/rosenfeld.htm
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