The Foreign Service Journal, March 2004

MARCH 2004 • AFSA NEWS 9 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS L ast month, we reported grave concern that the new Senior Executive Service salary reform coming into force on Jan. 11 threatened to freeze the salaries of all Senior Foreign Service employees at current levels, leaving SFS employees in Washington with a base pay including Washington locality pay and those serving overseas without locality pay. The result would have severely penalized SFS colleagues serving overseas, sending exactly the wrong mes- sage about overseas service to the Foreign Service. We are happy to report that an executive order — the work of the State Department (with support from AFSA), in coop- eration with the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget — was signed by President Bush on Jan. 23. It authorized the adjustment of the base salaries of all SFS member, serving domestically as well as overseas, to include Washington locality pay. The adjustment to SFS salaries to include locality pay is good news for SFS employees. But in creating what is essentially a two-class salary system overseas, the SFS salary reform highlights the need to make adjustments for all FS employees overseas. SFS employees overseas now get locali- ty pay, but the rest of the FS employees do not. Locality pay for all overseas FS employees continues to be Issue Number One for AFSA. Securing an equitable implementation of the SES salary reform for the SFS was the result of a tremendous effort by many people, requiring extensive knowledge of how federal pay is structured, considerable legal expertise, extensive con- tact with employees within OMB and OPM and lots of leg- work. It also required an intensive effort on the part of the State Department leadership to persuade OMB and OPM to support the change. Most of the key people involved in this effort were Civil Service employees exhibiting the best qualities of the “one team” vision — working for the department, not for narrow self-interest. AFSA would like to thank the department employees in Human Resources and the Office of the Legal Advisor who did the legal research, called on their network of contacts in OPM and OMB, and made the case for us. They are: Assistant Legal Adviser John Kim and Karen Johnson in the Legal Adviser’s Office of Employment Law, Bill Mullican and Sally Mavlian in HR’s Resource Management and Organizational Analysis Office, Laura Hall in HR's Policy Coordination Office and especially Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources, Linda Tagliatatela. We also wish to thank Under Secretary for Management Grant Green, Director General W. Robert Pearson and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Ruth Whiteside for their consistent leadership on this issue. Finally, the actual paperwork and processing of the pay changes required incredible efforts by the staff of the HR Bureau's Executive Office and the Charleston Regional Financial Center. Thanks to the staff of those offices as well. Briefs • Continued on page 11 Staff: Executive Director Susan Reardon: reardon@afsa.org Business Department Controller Kalpna Srimal: srimal@afsa.org Accounting Assistant Steven Tipton: tipton@afsa.org Labor Management General Counsel Sharon Papp: papps@state.gov Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich: badrichz@state.gov Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: yorkej@state.gov USAID Senior Labor Management Advisor Douglas Broome: dbroome@usaid.gov USAID Office Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: asigfusson@usaid.gov Grievance Attorneys Harry Sizer: sizerhs@state.gov, and Charles Henderson: Hendersonch@state.gov Office Manager Christine Warren: warrenc@state.gov Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: hedrick@afsa.org Representative Lindsay Peyton: peyton@afsa.org Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez: lopez@afsa.org Outreach Programs Retiree Liaison Bonnie Brown: brown@afsa.org Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: switzer@afsa.org Congressional Affairs Director Ken Nakamura: nakamura@afsa.org Corporate Relations/Executive Assistant Austin Tracy: tracy@afsa.org Scholarship Director Lori Dec: dec@afsa.org Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger: berger@afsa.org AFSA HEADQUARTERS: (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 USAID AFSA OFFICE: (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 FCS AFSA OFFICE: (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 AFSA Internet and E-mail addresses: AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org AFSA E-MAIL: afsa@afsa.org AFSA NEWS: afsanews@afsa.org FSJ: journal@afsa.org PRESIDENT: limbert@afsa.org STATE VP: cranelk@state.gov RETIREE VP: jones@afsa.org USAID VP : wcarter@usaid.gov FCS VP: charles.ford@mail.doc.gov AFSA News Editor Shawn Dorman : dorman@afsa.org (202) 338-4045 x 503; Fax: (202) 338-8244 On the Web : www.afsa.org/news How to Contact Us: Governing Board: PRESIDENT: John W. Limbert STATE VICE PRESIDENT: Louise K. Crane USAID VICE PRESIDENT: Bill Carter FCS VICE PRESIDENT: Charles A. Ford FAS VICE PRESIDENT: Laura Scandurra RETIREE VICE PRESIDENT: George F. Jones SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris TREASURER: Danny Hall STATE REPRESENTATIVES: Pamela Bates, Cynthia G. Efird, Scot L. Folensbee, Raymond D. Maxwell, John C. Sullivan, Jim Wagner USAID REPRESENTATIVE: Thomas Olson FCS REPRESENTATIVE: William Crawford RETIREE REPRESENTATIVES: Gilbert Sheinbaum, David E. Reuther, Theodore S. Wilkinson, III, Stanley A. Zuckerman IBB REPRESENTATIVE: Alex Belida FAS REPRESENTATIVE: Michael Conlon SFS Salaries Adjusted to Include Locality Pay