Trump Executive Order Leaves Federal Labor Agency With 'Very Skeletal Crew'

The vast majority of the employees at a small but impactful federal agency tasked with resolving workplace conflict were told Wednesday that they will be placed on administrative leave. The news was first reported by the Federal News Network.

"There is a very skeletal crew that is going to be retained," said one employee with Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), who spoke to Common Dreams on the condition of anonymity. "The way it was told to us is we are effectively closing the agency because it's not possible for us to do our statutory work with the amount of staff that's being allocated."

That same employee told Common Dreams that managers told employees about the changes during multiple meetings held on Wednesday morning with the agency's different regional branches. About a dozen employees will remain on, according to the Federal News Network.

The agency, which as of March 2024 employed roughly 220 workers, has a mandate to assist parties in labor disputes "affecting commerce," including mediation during high-profile strikes. The agency had already lost a "significant" portion of its workforce after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, according to Government Executive, due to Trump's deferred resignation program and "other attrition."

According to a one-pager from the agency, FMCS conducted over 5,400 mediated negotiations and provided over 10,000 arbitration panels in fiscal year 2024. The agency estimates that it saves the economy more than $500 million dollars annually while operating with an annual budget of $55 million—or less than 0.0014% of the total federal budget.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this month mandating that FMCS and six other government entities be eliminated "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law."

FMCS moved to mostly cease its operations following Trump's executive order, according to Government Executive.

One FMCS employee told The Guardian that the Department of Government Efficiency is behind the cuts. "DOGE basically decided to eliminate all but a few people from the agency," the employee, who requested anonymity, told the paper. "It is shocking as the agency does not regulate and has always been noncontroversial. Even Republicans have always seen the value of an agency that saves the economy far more money in reduced work stoppages in the private sector than the agency spends. It is also a blow to the use of more efficient dispute resolution by federal agencies who have used our services for nonlabor disputes. That program has now been entirely abolished."

The other programs and agencies impacted by Trump's executive order are the United States Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and the Minority Business Development Agency.

As of Wednesday afternoon, a note on the agency's homepage said that FMCS was reviewing the recent executive order and that the "requirements outlined in these orders may affect some services or information currently provided on this website."

An automatic reply email from FMCS's director of congressional and public affairs, Greg Raelson, states that Raelson is "no longer with FMCS due to the recent Reduction in Force (RIF) plan."

"Working at FMCS has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career, and I am deeply saddened to witness such drastic and short-sighted measures taken against a congressionally established agency that has played such a critical role in serving our nation and taxpayers since 1947," Raelson wrote in the automatic reply email.