The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

JANUARY 2003 • AFSA NEWS 5 V.P. VOICE: FCS BY PETER FREDERICK Voting Matters S everal years ago, our son, thena senior incollege, called to askwherewe lived. Onewould think a college-edu- cated21-year-oldwouldknowthe answer to that ques- tion, unless of course hewas a ForeignService brat. His gov- ernment professor had offered “special consideration” for those that voted, and our son needed to register to vote. Although I cannot offer any “special incentive” fromthe selection boards for voting in the AFSA elections, there are important reasons to vote. We have excellent candidates for both FCS positions. Of equal importance is the impact your vote will have on AFSA and US&FCS. Over the past seven months, AFSA has beennegotiatingwithmanagement to imple- ment agreements thatmanagement signed in JuneandAugust 2001, respectively. After sign- ing, management refused to implement the agreements for various “technical” reasons. OtheractionstakenbytheOfficeoftheGeneral Counsel and International Trade Administration labor management personnel have not reflected well on our Service, either. Theagreementsonwhichmanagement renegedwill probably soonbe implemented, because AFSA negotiators were able to convince management that failure to imple- ment them had a negative impact on our members and our Service. A few of us still remember the good old days when the director general did pretty much whatever he or she wanted concerning assignments and evaluations and pro- motions. This changed when AFSAwas elected to represent FCS. Now, when a DG tries to return to these old practices, AFSAmakes sure it does not happen. US&FCS has been blessedwith political-appointee directors general since incep- tion, most joining us fresh froman election victory. If there is one common denom- inator among our DGs, it is that they know how to count votes and they respect those that turn out the vote. Approximately 80 percent of our career officers are members of AFSA. If everymember votes, even the secretary of Commerce would realize that AFSA is an organization with which he and his staff must deal. Your votemakes it easier for your elected representatives to domore for you and getman- agement’s attention. Some of youmay be thinking, “There goes that union guy trying tomake the DG look like the owner of a large trucking company and FCSOs like Teamsters.”Why do we need the DG and secretary to pay attention to AFSA? I remind you that before AFSAbecame a labor representative for FCS, itwas aprofessional association. AFSA’s role as our professional organizationmay bemore important in the long run than its labor role. AFSA believes in pride in our Service, pride in our work and the impor- tance of good leadership. In addition to negotiating improved working conditions, your AFSA representatives need to convince management that this is our organiza- tion andwe take pride in it. We need to encourage our leadership to share our objec- tives and respect our professionalism. Your vote matters. In addition to impressing management, you will let our col- leagues in the other foreign affairs agencies knowwe are, in fact, “players.” Our objec- tive should be to have the highest percentage of voters among all the agencies. Only you can make that happen. ▫ AFSA believes in pride in our Service, pride in our work and the importance of good leadership. DUTY AND DANGER IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE Loss of FS Member Sparks Call for More Protections A FSA was deeply saddened by the heinous murder of USAID officer Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordon on Oct. 28, 2002. (Please see the “Appreciation” dedicated to him in this issue of the Foreign Service Journal. ) As everyone is aware, the risks to Foreign Service employees and family members worldwide have increased in recent years due to the increased threat of terrorism. AFSA sent out two press releases, on Oct. 28andOct. 30,whichwerequotedand paraphrased in a number of newspapers around the country, including the NewYork Times , the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. The following is fromtheOct. 28 press release: “This brutal terrorist attack underlines the vulnerability of the men and women of theU.S. ForeignServicewhoadvanceour nation’s vital interests around the globe…. The U.S. government must protect these dedicated public servants as well as possi- ble, beginning with dedicating sufficient resources to the effort.” AFSA highlighted two unresolved problems, that of protecting soft targets and protecting USAID missions: “With the hardening of the security of our embassies and consulates, terrorists are targetingU.S. government representatives in ‘softer’ locations… AFSAbelieves that additional resources must be devoted to expanding the concept of embassy secu- rity to encompass the entire embassy community. While security upgrades are under way at State Department-managed facilities, a turf battle on Capitol Hill has blocked security improvements at numer- ous USAIDmissions around the globe…. AFSA calls on the congressional leader- ship to resolve this turf battle.” ▫