The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

26 April 2013 | the foreign Service journal The drive to overhaul the government’s entire foreign- policy machinery, which had given impetus to the reform movement, ener- gized scores of officers— 58 individuals, all volun- teers, are listed as contributors to Toward a Modern Diplomacy , which incorporated the work of the Committee on Career Prin- ciples. But it ultimately proved unproductive. The association had far greater success with professional and workplace issues, especially after the change of administration in 1969 brought new people and fresh thinking to the department’s manage- ment (see box, p. 24). By the end of 1969, the Nixon administration had issued a new executive order on labor-management relations, and the AFSA board had declared that bread-and-butter issues are the “bedrock of AFSA’s concerns.” Soon thereafter, the board resolved to seek recognition as the labor organization for the Foreign Service in all foreign affairs agencies. AFSA by then had a record to run on: the association had already successfully consulted with manage- ment on transfer allow- ances, kindergarten allowances, temporary housing, travel for dependent college students, and other issues. These bread-and-butter issues seem a long way from the fundamental changes in the government’s foreign affairs structure that were the reformers’ original goal. But it was the accumulation of successful interventions with management, not the construction of a grand design for policymaking, that brought AFSA credibility with Foreign Service employees and victories in representation elections in State, USIA and USAID. These victories allowed the association to become what the reformers wanted it to be: the voice of the career Foreign Service. n As the Sixties grew more turbulent, AFSA became more active.