The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 31 1967 AFSAmembership elects “Young Turks” led by LannonWalker and Charlie Bray who begin the transformation of AFSA from a staid professional association to an advocacy organization. 1968 AFSA establishes awards for constructive dissent. 1969 Following President Richard Nixon’s Executive Order 11491 allowing federal employees to unionize, AFSA leaders begin debating whether to seek recognition as the Foreign Service union. 1971 AFSAmembership votes to seek recognition as a union. Tex Harris leads negotiations with State management on what becomes Executive Order 11636, setting labor- management rules for the Foreign Service. 1972 Bill Harrop and Tom Boyatt lead AFSA, competing with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to be selected by employees as the Foreign Service union. 1973 AFSA wins Foreign Service union-representation elections at the State Department, United States Information Agency (USIA), and USAID. (USIA included the Broadcasting Board of Governors [BBG], renamed U.S. Agency for Global Media [USAGM] in 2018.) 1975 AFSA hires first staff attorney. 1976 AFSA and State Department management reach agreement on regulations to implement grievance legislation enacted by Congress after years of debate. 1976 USIA Foreign Service members vote to leave AFSA to be represented by AFGE. 1982 AFSA hires first congressional lobbyist. 1983 AFSA establishes Legislative Action Fund. 1992 USIA Foreign Service members vote to leave AFGE to be represented again by AFSA. 1994 AFSA wins uncontested representation elections in the Foreign Agricultural Service and the Foreign Commercial Service. 1996 Publication of the first edition of AFSA’s Inside a U.S. Embassy book. 1996 AFSAmembers joined by AFGE demonstrate in front of Main State, protesting the nearly monthlong federal government shutdown and employee furlough. 1999 After the merger of USIA and State, AFSA negotiates the incorporation of USIA’s best practices into State’s personnel system. 2000 Constructive dissent awards are expanded to include Foreign Service specialists. 2002 AFSA Political Action Committee is formed. 2006 AFSA creates a Legal Defense Fund, renamed the Richard C. Scissors LDF in 2007. 2013 AFSA wins uncontested representation election for Foreign Service employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2017 The complete digital archive of The Foreign Service Journal (1919 through present) is made available online. 2019 Legal Defense Fund pays more than $485,000 in legal expenses of AFSAmembers called to testify in the first Trump impeachment. Milestones as a Union