The Foreign Service Journal, March 2009

T he past year was a transition period for FCS AFSA leadership. Both our VP and representative positions changed hands, and there was a gap of several months in the VP position. The main issue at the AFSAwide level was the push to close the overseas pay gap. The director general’s office agreed to be sup- portive of the effort. The legislation to do so is currently stalled in Congress after nearly pass- ing. We focused extensively on new work plans proposed by management and responded to issues raised by pro- posed new work plans for nontraditional limited officer positions inMarketAccess andCompliance, theNational Instituteof Standards and the Patent and Trademark Office. For the new officer plans, we amalgamated extensive comments from the field and provid- ed them to management, which is now reviewing our comments and suggestions. Theplans arenecessary toproperly reflect newperformancemea- sures. We expect to move ahead expeditiously on this issue, but have advised management that we believe these plans are best implemented at the start of the review year rather than the end. We worked on an officer survey earlier in the year and have consulted informally with man- agement on liberalization of the seven-year rule for domestic tours by new officers. We have a substantial list of grievance cases, which are being workedonbyAFSA lawyers, andwehaveworked to make the senior award, recognition and pay process more efficient. Most of these issues are continuing into 2009. We nowbelievewe have established a firmground for increased communication with management, human resources personnel and the incoming administration through frequent and regular meetings withHR and the FCS director general. We had an excel- lent meeting with the president-elect’s transition team at Commerce and plan to push our resource issues with them and on the Hill with the new Congress. —Keith Curtis, FCS VP MA R CH 2 0 0 9 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 61 A F S A N E W S C O N S T I T U E N C Y S U M M A R I E S AFSA Annual Report 2008 Foreign Agricultural Service: A Set of Interesting Issues A n interesting, at times surprising, and obviously unfinished set of issues events popped up in 2008. Contract: Thanks toour strong teamof FASAFSAadvisers, wemade detailedpro- posals on 15 articles. However, it now appears we may decide to focus on just Article 25 — Foreign Service Selection Boards andPrecepts—and roll the rest of the contract over for a fewmore years. Assignment of Returning Officers: The 2008processworked fairlywell, but it only had toplace seven returningFSOs. In2009 the number of returning FSOs will more than double. We are therefore discussing howtoset upawiderpool of positions, per- haps by allowing Civil Service employees toparticipate by putting their jobs into the pool for at-grade rotations. Details remain to be finalized. ATOGrievance: Our grievance on the assignment of three Civil Service employ- ees to Agricultural Trade Office positions in the first bidding round has been sub- mitted. The goal is to ensure that man- agement complies with past practices and negotiatedprocedures for all assignments. Transition: We look forward to work- ing with, educating and re-educating the new set of administrators on the impor- tanceof theForeignService toUSDA’smis- sion, aswell as the joys of administering the Foreign Service personnel system. —Henry Schmick, FAS VP In 2009 the number of returning FSOs will more than double. We now believe we have established a firm ground for increased communication with management, HR personnel and the incoming administration. Foreign Commercial Service: A Period of Transition Key Years in AFSA’s History 1918 American Consular Association was formed. 1924 Consular Corps andDiplomatic Corps combined to formthe ForeignService. The ACA reconstituted itself as the American Foreign Service Association “for the purpose of fostering an esprit de corps” among Foreign Service em- ployees. 1968 AFSA established headquarters at 2101EStreet NWinWashington, D.C. 1972 AFSA filed for exclusive trade union status for the Foreign Service, com- peting against the American Federa- tion of Government Employees. State andUSAIDvotedAFSA as their union. 1980 The Foreign Service Act was passed, incorporating reforms urged by AFSA. 1992 USIA re-established AFSA as its exclu- sive representative. 1993 The Foreign Agricultural Service and the ForeignCommercial Service joined AFSA.