PERB News – Jerry Fecher Named Director of SMCS

Jerry Fecher has been named the Director of PERB’s mediation division, the State Mediation and Conciliation Service (SMCS). Jerry has been a part of SMCS for twelve years, having most recently served as the Interim Director following the departure of Loretta van der Pol. The Board looks forward to Jerry’s continued leadership of SMCS and service to our constituents throughout California.

Fecher joined SMCS in 2009 when it was a part of the Department of Industrial Relations.  He served as a Presiding Mediator for SMCS from 2013 to 2020 before becoming Interim Director in 2020.  He has mediated numerous collective bargaining contract negotiation disputes and grievances under all of the state’s public sector statutes, and has supervised representation, decertification and other elections for public sector agencies and their employees statewide.

Prior to SMCS, he was a business representative with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 465, in San Diego from 1997 to 2009.  Fecher holds a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law, and during his law school tenure, interned at the National Labor Relations Board Region 21 Resident Office, in San Diego.  He has served twice as President of the San Diego Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA).

For more information about the services SMCS provides, visit https://perb.ca.gov/state-mediation/