Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—AFL-CIO sues Trump Administration over dismantling of federal mediation agency, (Apr 15, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

AFL-CIO asked the court to declare unlawful and set aside Executive Order 14238 as it applies to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and affiliated unions representing workers in the private and public sector have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the dismantling of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Many of the organizations bringing the lawsuit were actively engaged in collective bargaining negotiations with FMCS when the mediator was forced to abruptly leave or cancel the negotiations because they had been placed on leave, AFL-CIO said in a press release.

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. FMCS, an independent federal agency integral to the federal government’s labor relations infrastructure, provides assistance in resolving contract negotiations between workers and employers. According to the complaint, FMCS generates more than $500 million in national economic savings every year. In fiscal year (FY) 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. The complaint states that FMCS has fulfilled its statutory responsibilities with an annual budget of approximately $54 million, 0.0014 percent of the federal budget.

EO 14238. On March 14, 2025, the Trump administration in Executive Order (EO) 14238 directed FMCS to reduce the performance of its statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law. Subsequently, the Trump administration rejected the agency’s plan to comply with the executive order and ordered FMCS to implement far more drastic cuts to the agency’s personnel and services, the complaint alleges. The administration placed 93 percent of FMCS staff on leave, reduced its mediation workforce from 80-100 to five, and closed all of the agency’s field offices.

Allegations. As a result of the executive order and subsequent actions, FMCS cannot fulfill its statutory responsibilities as charged by Congress, the complaint alleges. The complaint states that the ultra vires destruction of FMCS violates the separation of power, is contrary to law, in excess of statutory authority, contrary to constitutional power, arbitrary and capricious, and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs, labor unions across the country that regularly engage the services of FMCS mediators to assist in resolving labor disputes with employers, have already been harmed by the dismantling of FMCS, left in the lurch to work under expired contracts or no contracts, with threats of strikes or lockouts looming.

Relief sought. The plaintiffs asked the court to declare unlawful and set aside EO 14238 as it applies to the FMCS, issue a preliminary and permanent injunction barring the Trump administration from continuing their dismantling of FMCS, and require the administration to take all necessary steps to return FMCS and its employees to their status prior to the issuance of the EO. Further, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare unlawful and to set aside the administration’s actions to dismantle FMBC, and to compel FMCS to resume the mediation services being provided prior to the issuance of the EO.

The AFL-CIO filed its lawsuit in the Southern District of New York; the case is No. 1:25-cv-03072.

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