The Foreign Service Journal, February 2007

AFSA in mid-2006 to agree to a rule that effectively limited Foreign Ser- vice members to two consecutive domestic tours (i.e., reducing the cur- rent 6/8 year domestic service rule to 5/6). While AFSA agreed to his other proposed changes to the assignment system (as detailed above), it refused to acquiesce on this point. AFSA’s reasoning was twofold. First, the Foreign Service cannot maintain its key role in policy formu- lation if many existing FS slots in Washington are converted to Civil Service or political appointee slots to compensate for the fact that Foreign Service members will spend 80 per- cent of their careers abroad. Second, employees who have “paid their dues” by many years spent abroad should have the flexibility to do three consecutive Washington tours in order to, for example, attend to chronically ill family members, fulfill elder-care responsibilities, meet child custody restrictions, or give two chil- dren the stability of four years at an American high school. Such reasoning did not sway the director general. In fact, State trans- mitted a telegram in October 2006 mentioning the DG’s “plan to change domestic service limits next year.” In fact, State has no authority to make such a change without AFSA’s con- currence or the rare intervention of an outside federal arbitration panel. Time will tell how this issue plays out. Eliminating the Overseas Pay Disparity Given State’s push to make the Foreign Service more “expedition- ary,” it is curious that the Bush administration did not quickly move to fix what the Government Account- ability Office has called the “ever- increasing financial disincentive for [Foreign Service] employees to bid on hardship tours.” The issue is domestic locality pay, which currently causes the base pay of overseas Foreign Service members to be 18.59 percent below that of employees in F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 Like their colleagues in the Armed Forces, many Foreign Service members are concerned about the quickened overseas “operational tempo.” Interim Accommodations for Corporate and Government Markets Apartments, Townhouses & Single Family Homes “FOR THE EXECUTIVE ON THE MOVE” finder5@IX.netcom.com Locations throughout Northern Virginia and D.C. Units fully furnished, equipped and accessorized Many “Walk to Metro” locations Pet Friendly 5105-L Backlick Road, Annandale, Virginia Tel: (703) 354-4070 Fax: (703) 642-3619 Executive Lodging Alternatives