For the last few months, Illinois State University and faculty union negotiators have had help from a federal mediator. Contract talks are ongoing, but the future of the mediation service is in doubt.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service provides mediation and conflict resolution services in the private, public, and federal sectors. It has mediated labor disputes around the country since Congress created it in 1947. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to abolish the agency's functions "to the maximum extent allowed by law."
Keith Pluymers is a spokesperson for the United Faculty of ISU [UFISU], the bargaining unit for tenured and tenure-track faculty. UFISU is bargaining over its first contract with the university.
Pluymers declined to talk about what their mediator is doing, but said the service is valuable and appreciated despite the trying federal times.
"There is a process to collective bargaining and mediators can do some really great work to help find points of agreement, particularly when things get tense," Pluymers said.
The agency's future does not directly bear on negotiations, but Pluymers said both sides are aware of the situation.
"The uncertainty certainly is I think unsettling for our team. I think it's probably unsettling for the administration's team as well," Pluymers said.
The mediation and conciliation service also provides training and relationship development programs for management and unions as part of its role in promoting labor-management cooperation.
"I hope frankly that people will understand the value of this agency," Pluymers said.
Pluymers said the mediator has worked on about a half dozen bargaining sessions between the ISU administration and faculty union, which has at times involved a 12-hour day.
