The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 13 First of all, this “one woman” was Alison Palmer, who did more for a gen- eration of Foreign Service women, both employees and dependents, than anyone on earth. Second, far from knowing her “slightly,” Amb. Harrop had worked with Ms. Palmer in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research for more than a year. When Ms. Palmer was vice consul in Leopoldville (in what was known as Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the early 1960s during the Lumumba uprising, she was informed that Deputy Chief of Mission Frank Carlucci had been kidnapped by rebel soldiers. Because this happened in her con- sular district, Alison piled into her car and sought out the rebel camp. Without further adieu she accosted the (mostly drunk) soldiers and, asserting her author- ity, demanded that they turn over their hostage to her. They did. Later, when AFGE with Alison Palmer sought to disqualify Ambs. Harrop, Tom Boyatt and Hank Cohen in a jurisdic- tional contest, on the grounds that they were in management positions within the meaning of E.O. 11636, Harrop found her actions to be “disgraceful.” In other words, Alison Palmer fought a serious contest using laws, regulations and public department policies—and Bill Harrop got his feelings hurt. Some background: After spending most of the 1960s abroad, I returned to an assignment in the Economic Bureau via the Foreign Service Institute’s econom- ics course. My carrel mate at FSI was Lannon Walker, then AFSA chairman. I had always been interested in employee- management affairs and the Department of State was seething with such matters at that time. Like Walker, I had a good deal of con- cern with what you might call “nuts and bolts” issues, such as pay comparability with the Civil Service, career tenure, selection out, rating of wives on Officer Evaluation Reports and the lack of a grievance system. In 1970, I became a member of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1534, and eventually chief steward. I remained a member of AFSA, as I had been since 1960 (and am to this day), and was invited to sit on the AFSA grievance committee in 1971. But when I described my AFGE union activities to my AFSA colleagues, I found them incredulous that a fellow white, male, upper-middle-class FSO would be involved in the tawdry busi- ness of grievances, brought by what might be termed malcontents or losers. Truth be told, I never realistically expected AFGE to represent the Foreign Service in labor/management affairs. Most FSOs’ mothers had been fright- ened silly by John L. Lewis, Walter Reuther and others in the American labor movement. My activities, along with those of scores of other AFGE members and sympathizers, helped move AFSA in the direction of modifying its elite image and taking on the grubbier issues of tenure, OER reform, rights for Foreign Service women and the establishment of a credible grievance system. To a large extent these objectives have been achieved. Harrison Sherwood FSO, retired Cambridge, England n Share your thoughts about this month’s issue. Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org