The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

46 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 2012 AFSA ANNUAL REPORT AFSA NEWS State Department: AYear of Public Victories Another busy year began with the annual battle in Congress over budget and salary issues (including Over- seas Comparability Pay) and ended with a report on the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi which resulted in the tragic loss of four colleagues and friends. AFSA weighed in on changes in staffing of posts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; training and benefits offered to those serving in those posts; and the extended departure of family members from some other posts in the region. Personnel Issues We consulted on the imple- mentation of new limited non-career appointment programs in the bureaus of Diplomatic Security and Consular Affairs, and a new program creating limited short-term overseas devel- opmental opportunities for Civil Service employees. And we urged a review of Foreign Service recruitment practices, re-evaluation of Career Development Plans and monitored the redistribu- tion of positions reserved for entry-level Foreign Service members. Throughout the year, we defended the Service against attacks on our individual rights to privacy, such as the Stop Trading on Congres- BY STATE VP DANIEL HIRSCH sional Knowledge Act, as well as repeated attacks on our salaries and benefits. We also investigated State’s compli- ance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, which protects the rights of employees who serve on military reserve duty, and collaborated in the ongoing development of an alter- native dispute resolution program. For years, State used a few limited non-career appointments to fill very- short-term needs. Such programs expanded in 2011 and, even more dramatically, last year. As U.S. troops left Iraq, State informed us of a plan to hire LNA personnel security specialists with skills different from those of other DS employees. Soon after, State proposed to hire LNA visa adjudicators for Brazil, Russia, India and China, since filling these jobs with career candidates was impractical. We discussed a range of questions: the role of these employees at posts; the impact on training entry- level officers and the hiring of Eligible Family Members; whether AFSA would repre- sent them; and the mechan- ics of ending their appoint- ments. We helped develop standard criteria for LNA hiring, evaluation, retention and termination, including an “LNA handbook” and a modi- fied Employee Evaluation Report form, and ensured AFSA participation in their entry-on-duty training. Thanks to our advocacy, EFM hiring will not be reduced and LNAs will not compete with entry-level officers for developmental positions. In addition, no LNA program will bypass the exam as an entry method into the Foreign Service, and all LNAs will be represented by AFSA. High-Stress Posts Assignments to high-stress and unaccompanied posts carry many risks, many of which can be mitigated by better training. Extend- ing training to Eligible Family Members can also help address the psycho- logical stresses on both the employee and the loved ones left behind. Discussions with the Foreign Service Institute, the Office of Medical Ser- vices and the Family Liaison Office influenced a number of improvements in this regard. As the military moved out of Iraq, we discussed with MED and others the steps that would be taken to protect the health and safety of FS members, including expansion of a Psychiatric Social Worker staff (another LNA category). On an individual level, we have assisted several AFSA members who have returned from high-stress posts with Post-Traumatic Stress Dis- order or other stress-related problems. FS Pets In April, United Airlines adopted a worldwide pet- shipping policy, ending the shipment of pets as accom- panied baggage and requir- ing that they be shipped as cargo. This led to a drastic increase in both price and inconvenience to FS mem- bers. United waived the pol- icy for the military. Through AFSA’s efforts, more than 3,000 first-person e-mails were sent to United. Concur- rently, we worked with State to catalyze Foreign Affairs Manual changes countering United’s near monopoly on certain routes. The result: a waiver simi- lar to what was offered to the military was instated for the Foreign Service. The waiver itself is far from perfect, however, and its implemen- tation by United’s staff has been uneven. More broadly, AFSA has been working with State to develop emergency evacuation standard operat- ing procedures for pets. QDDR As part of the Quadrennial