The Foreign Service Journal, May 2007

I t is time forAFSAmembers to select the 2007-2009AFSAGoverningBoard that will take office in July. Ballots and can- didates’ statements were mailed to all members in March. Completed ballots must be returned by May 31, and must be mailed in the AFSAElectionsCommittee 2007 envelope provided with the election material to AFSA’s P.O. box. Ballots must not be mailed to AFSA’s offices. Votes will be counted on June 1. Details about voting are on the ballot. Questions about the election can be directed to Elections Committee Chair Robert Wozniak at rjwozniak@gmail. com , or Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger at berger@afsa.org or (202) 338-4045, ext. 521. AFSA works because of you. Please remember to vote. American Foreign Service Association • May 2007 AFSA NEWS MA Y 2 0 0 7 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 53 O n March 21, the director general sent out a worldwide cable to in- form State Department Foreign Servicemembers of proposals tomake fur- ther changes to the assignment systemrules, and requested feedback and suggestions. Explaining the need for more changes to the assignment rules, theDGsaid short- term fixes were not enough. “At a time whenwe have about 750 unaccompanied and limited-accompanied positions over- seas,more thanhalf of which are one-year tours that turn over every cycle, andwhen almost 20 percent of Foreign Service employees have already served in Iraq and Afghanistan, short-term measures are insufficient to remedy the staffingproblems facedby our high-differential posts during the next few years. ... We wish to ensure that the burdens of hardship servicewill be evenly shared throughout the Foreign Service.” He also noted that the changes were tied to an effort to avoid resorting to directed assignments. The new proposals (spelled out in the DG’sMarch 21message, State 35697) fol- low changes to the assignment rules that were implemented in August 2006. The changesmade then and the newones pro- posed in March aim to solve current staffing problems by creating a “fairer fair- share” systemandby altering the so-called “6/8-year rule,”which allows State Foreign Service employees to remain inWashing- ton assignments for six consecutive years and up to eight years with a waiver. Theproposedchanges, according to the DG’smessage, are intended “to reduce the department’s own limit on continuous domestic service fromsix years to five, and to tighten the definition of ‘fair-share bid- der’ status to raise the number of bidders submitting bids on 15-percent-or-greater posts.” The 6/8-year rule would become the5/8-year rule. This changewasproposed by theDGduringnegotiations that preced- ed theAugust changes, but was rejectedby AFSA and was put aside. (For a summa- ryof theAugust 2006changes to the assign- ment system, see “Walking theTightrope,” August FSJ , p. 71, at www.afsa.org/fsj/ oct06/afsanews.pdf. ) Until last summer, fair-share rules required18months of service at any hard- ship-differential post, including thosewith 5-or10-percentdifferentials,duringthepre- vious eight years prior to the employee’s upcoming transfer. InAugust,withAFSA’s concurrence, theDGchanged the fair-share rules: instead of recent service at any hard- ship post counting toward fair-share requirements, only serviceat 15-percent and higherdifferentials (combinedhardshipand danger)wouldcount. The current propos- al would apply this definition of fair share retroactively, with no “grandfathering” provision. The new rule would also change18months to20months. Thus, any ForeignServicememberwhohasnotserved 20 months at a post with a 15-percent or higher differential in the past eight years ASSIGNMENT RULE CHANGE PROPOSALS FROM THE DG State Department Seeking More Fair-Share Bidders BY SHAWN DORMAN Continued on page 58 Inside This Issue: BRIEFS: MEETING ELOs....................54 VP STATE: LOYALTY .........................55 VP USAID: WHERE’S MY AGENCY?..56 PAC ANNUAL UPDATE .....................57 FAMILY MEMBER CLASSES..............57 Q&A: MEDICARE BASICS ...................59 FS VOICE: ASSIGNMENTS................60 AFSA GOVERNING BOARD ELECTIONS Don’t Forget to Vote