Michigan labor officials say the state may have to step in to resolve disputes in the wake of cuts to the federal agency that normally handles private sector contract mediation.
The comments came during Thursday morning’s state Senate Labor Committee meeting.
The Trump Administration has issued executive orders requiring the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service to reduce staffing to base levels.
A note on the agency’s website says it’s “reviewing recent Executive Orders for immediate implementation. The requirements outlined in these orders may affect some services or information currently provided on this website.”
Sean Egan is deputy director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Egan said those federal mediators would be missed.
“Inevitably, you would presume it will prolong strikes because you won't have that neutral third party there trying to pull the parties together, trying to help them work through issues. Having negotiated a lot of contracts myself, I can tell you that they can break down and communication gets really hard,” Egan told the Labor Committee during a presentation.
Egan said the state has started expanding its own mediator capacity, even before the federal cuts.
When asked, he mentioned that could be useful even during bigger contract negotiations, like between the UAW and the Detroit Three automakers. But there would still be complications of how to work across state lines when other states may have their own policies for handling things as well.
Meanwhile, Egan said the state does have its own back up to fill in for work normally done by the National Labor Relations Act, which lays out the government’s role in contract negotiations and labor disputes.
The issue, however, is that Michigan’s Employment Relations Commission has a different approach than the National Labor Relations Board for resolving complaints over unfair practices.
Egan said the national model involves an investigation and several more steps. The state’s model, on the other hand, involves going straight to a hearing with administrative judges.
“The not so good part for the individual worker is they're kind of standing there by themselves to try to present a case, which may be against a bunch of lawyers, a big corporation, could be whatever,” Egan said.
Aside from labor disputes, the Senate Labor committee also heard from some current and federal employees in Michigan who have had their roles threatened or taken away in recent months.
Nicole Rice worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It has seen over a thousand employees laid off within the past few months.
Rice said the cuts will take away resources for Great Lakes preservation and severe weather monitoring in Michigan.
“We are losing capacity. NOAA has halted contract approvals. Delayed vessel deployments, and cut funding for basic field work. That means no algal bloom monitoring, no shoreline mapping, no new data for forecasts, and no shipwreck buoys for divers in our marine sanctuaries,” Rice said.
Many of the cuts were led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The Trump Administration has cited cost savings and efficiency as reasons for downsizing several federal agencies. The current and former employees, labor unions, and interest groups, however, have criticized the moves as sparking chaos and threatening vital services.
Some of the laid off employees had their jobs restored by court orders. Though others were brought back only to be fired again.
Rice and the other workers who testified Thursday said they’d like to see Michigan step up by defending the federal workers’ jobs to the administration, and by providing resources, whether that be with mental health, or finding a new job.
