The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

60 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / MA R CH 2 0 1 0 FRANCESCA KELLY AFSA Annual Report 2009 C O N S T I T U E N C Y S U M M A R I E S Retirees: Serving Our Members “P lus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” best encapsu- lates activity on the retiree account in 2009. Members calledontheservicesofRetireeCoordinatorBonnieBrown for helpmore than 400 times in the past year, an increase ofmore than15 percent over 2008. The most commonconcernswereFederal Employees Health Benefits Program benefits, annuities, Medicare B and, increasingly, When Actually Employed caps on hours and pay. The almost-daily changes to the health care reform legislation have required constant moni- toring, as well as frequent consultationwith other public employee associations and unions. The alert sent to members at the end of the year regarding the implications of thepotential 40-percent excise tax is an example of our efforts to keep abreast of this issue for our members. TheRetireeTaskForcemeets eachmonthtocoordinate the retiree perspective on issues appearing on the Governing Board agenda. We will launch a telephone campaign soon to reach out to our colleagues whosememberships need updating. (By the way, I am pleased to report that there is no dues increase for AFSA mem- bership in 2010.) During 2009 we co-sponsored, along with DACOR, three job transitionseminarsforretireesattheNationalForeignAffairsTraining Center. We also conducted lunchtime programs during the sem- inars. Susan Johnson has addressed retiree groups inSanDiegoandSanFrancisco, as has retireeGB memberMollyWilliamson inNebraska, incon- junction with private travel to the area. WAE restrictions have become amajor issue. Retiree Reps Bill Farrand and Janice Bay sent a letter to Under Secretary for Management and Resources JacobLew in June on the issue, including suggestions for a legislative fix, but have receivednoresponse todate. SusanJohnson and I have followedupwith thedirector general’s office, but beyond promises to look into it, there has been no action so far. This is an issue fromwhich we will not back off, as lifting the caps is so clear- ly in the interest of both the Department of State and our retirees. Finally, the retiree survey we conducted in the fall proved that you are more Internet-savvy than we had realized, and are closely watching what we are doing. Serving such an active and engaged retiree community is a pleasure and challenge. —Robert Houdek, Retiree VP A FSA’s main concern for IBBmembers last year was to ensure that the agency pro- vided the first third of overseas comparability pay, as other agencies began to do aroundOct. 1. After some frustration in the fall, we believe at this writing (January) that IBB will improve its offer to start OCP in April. This is being made possible by AFSA and IBB lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, which led to funding in the omnibus spending bill signed by the president in December, and specific language in the con- ference report calling for the funds to be used for this purpose. I want to thank the AFSA Governing Board and staff for their help and support throughout this process. With that issue hopefully behind us, we plan to raise others in the coming year, including the stalled expansion of the FS correspondent corps. The agency launched monthly labor-management meetings, which I attend along with other IBB union reps. This has proved to be a good channel for raising issues of mutual concern, such as staff morale, employee evaluation procedures, and time and attendance concerns, among others. Again this year, there were no group issues involv- ing the FS technicians. As always, I stand ready to help with individual or group con- cerns. Please contact me at apessin@voanews.com . — Al Pessin, IBB Representative The retiree survey proved that you are more Internet-savvy than we had realized. International Broadcasting Bureau: Closing the Pay Gap Bagpiper Tim Carey sets the tone for the annu- al board and staff holiday lunch, Dec. 18, at AFSA headquarters.