Training for mediators

The US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) has developed a new training initiative to provide its mediators with critical information about the US health-care system, to help labour and management during difficult bargaining on health-care benefits.

All FMCS mediators will take part in a two-day training programme focusing on the health-care system. It will deal with topics from service and delivery issues to quality of care concerns and rising costs. The training will also examine best practice in the industry.

A panel of trainers – including representatives of Tenet HealthCare,the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and the American Academy of Family Physicians – will discuss these issues and how they affect health-care bargaining.

FMCS director Peter Hurtgen said: “Our primary objective is to give mediators the knowledge they need in this complex area to help the parties during the collective-bargaining process and beyond.”

The FMCS is a US government agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labour-management peace and co-operation. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with ten district offices and more than 70 field offices, the agency provides mediation and conflict resolution services to industry, government agencies and communities.