No federal mediator available for Streator Elementary contract talks after federal agency discontinues service

The Streator Education Association and Streator Elementary School Board are scheduled to meet Tuesday, April 1, for a mediation session in pending labor negotiations.

The parties, however, will have to move forward without the service of a federal mediator.

“This morning, the Trump administration closed the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,” said Susan Thorson, UniServ director, in a letter to the union. “It is now a defunct government agency and the effects are felt across the nation as labor and management groups are suddenly left without any assistance in settling labor contracts as all FMCS mediators are now on administrative leave and will not be returning to work.”

Richard Murphy, the mediator assigned to Streator Elementary’s negotiations, is on administrative leave and his agency is defunct for the time being.

The SEA bargaining team held an emergency meeting and proposed school board candidates Michael Holcomb and Jan Urbance to act as mediators on April 1.

“We recognize that those two individuals are not members of the association and will, in less than a month, be seated on the school board so their neutrality in this process is not a guarantee,” Thorson said in her letter. “However we have known and worked with both of them, in different roles, for many years. Those experiences have led us to believe they have the interest of the whole school community as their priority.”

The Streator Elementary School Board plans to ask the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to provide a list of qualified mediators available to meet with the parties on April 1, said Ed Levy, school board vice president.

“The Board has spoken with both Mr. Holcomb and Ms. Urbance about this proposal,” Levy said. “We believe that it is in the best interests of everyone involved that we move forward with pursuing a qualified mediator listed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.”

Thorson said in her letter that alternatives to having Urbance or Holcomb could be costly to the district.

According to a Streator Elementary district news release, Trump issued an executive order which had the effect of restricting the use of federal mediators appointed by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service only to private sector employers and their unions – “their original intended purpose when the FMCS was first established in 1947,” the district said. With the proliferation of public sector unions, which now represents a majority of unionized workers, the FMCS’s role was expanded to cover public sector negotiations, the district said.

The timing is a challenge for both parties as the Streator Education Association recently gave notice of its intent to strike. The notice means that the union may strike any time beginning April 1. The union has not informed the school board exactly when a strike may occur or if there will be a strike.

“I believe that a qualified mediator is essential to resolving our differences without a strike,” said Angela Risley, school board president. “Our current federal mediator has been extremely helpful in bringing the parties closer to a settlement. Fortunately, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board has similarly qualified mediators available to assist us. If the parties work together, we are hopeful that we can have an experienced mediator available on April 1.”

The teachers and support staff union voted in January to start the 45-day clock on a potential strike. In February, the SEA initiated the public posting process, which is a prerequisite to a strike. As part of this process, the association and the board were required to submit their public posting documents to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

Both sides’ offers can be found at shorturl.at/NMvUD