The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

G etting locality pay for every FS-1 and below posted over- seas is AFSA’s JobNumber One. But before you get your hopes up, here’s my “Surgeon General’s” warning: It is going to be very difficult and the stress of waiting may be haz- ardous to your health. First, in order for the foreign affairs agencies to authorize locality pay for all FS-1s and below serving abroad, legislation must be passed by Congress. This could come by way of an amendment to the 1990 Federal Pay Comparability Act that set up locality pay and categorically denies locality pay to any U.S. government employee working overseas. Or it could be accomplished through an amendment to the Foreign Service Act that would exempt the Foreign Service from that provision of the Federal Pay Comparability Act. Whatever the legislative route (remember your civics classes?), the bill has to be intro- duced, sponsored and assigned to a com- mittee. The committee has to hold hear- ings, solicit views and then report the bill out of committee. The bill then has to be scheduled for a floor vote. To become law, it has to be passed by a majority of both houses and signed by the president. This is not an easy task. Consider this example. Every year, a bill with over 100 sponsors is introduced into the Congress. This bill would guarantee reservists called up for service the salary they were earning before they were called up. It has public support, yet it never goes anywhere. How could such beneficial legislation fail? It fails because it would cost a lot of money, especially to the federal government, which is the largest employer of military reservists. And it would create a two-tier salary system on the battlefield, something I doubt the Pentagon favors. This bill never even gets assigned to a committee. It is DOA. Suppose our bill gets sponsors, gets assigned to a commit- tee, and hearings are held? The committee will most certain- ly want the views of the administration. Increasing the salaries of over 7,000 Foreign Service employees will cost money, lots of money —over 60 million additional taxpayer dollars. The budgets of the foreign affairs agencies would have to be increased. I don’t need to tell you that with a swelling federal deficit, all budget requests are being subjected to intense scrutiny. AFSA knows all the arguments in favor of the change and we use themall the time during frequent visits to the Hill: equi- ty, fairness, morale, etc. We cite the CIA, DIA and NSA, all of which pay their overseas staff Washington-level salaries. The department has repeat- edly made these same arguments with some of the same peo- ple AFSA talks to on Capitol Hill. Thus far, they remain unmoved. One executive branch staffer wemet said that State is unable to prove that the lack of locality pay has any effect on reten- tion rates. During one call onHouse staff, AFSAwas told, “We don’t think anyone in a ‘cushy’ place like London or Paris should get any more money.” AFSA knows that FS employees in London and Paris are doingmeaningful work. We also know that they could be in Baghdad or Kabul tomor- row. It’s called being worldwide available. On another call, a staffer said, “Frankly, it seems that all you ever come here for is to ask for more money.” The anecdotal evi- dence points to a chilly if not downright hostile environment. Is there anything you can do? Yes! When a CODEL or STAFFDEL comes to your post, be sure and get on the notional schedule. Provide the delegationmem- bers with your take on the denial of locality pay. The lack of remunerative employment for spouses is a good argument. In a dual-income society, the Foreign Service is a one-track career. While our prospects appear dim, AFSA will not let up in its campaign to persuade the Congress and the administration to see the justice of paying locality pay to overseas Foreign Service employees. ▫ When a CODEL or STAFFDEL comes to your post, be sure and get on the notional schedule. V.P. VOICE: STATE BY LOUISE CRANE Locality Pay is Job Number One APRIL 2004 • AFSA NEWS 3 Note onSFS salaries : Manymay askwhy Statewas able tomove soquickly to grant overseasmembers of the Senior ForeignService aWashington-level salary. There are anum- ber of complex explanations, but the simplest one is that no legislation was needed. The change required no sponsor, nohearings, no committee report. All thatwas requiredwas anagreement amongvariousplayers (includingOPM,OMB, and the White House) that SFS members should be given aWashington-level salary so that allmembers of the Senior Executive Service and the SFS would be at the same salary level when locality pay was abolished and replaced by the new “pay for performance” system in January 2004.