The Foreign Service Journal, May 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2014 39 1962 n President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988, authorizing federal employees to unionize. 1964 n AFSA forms a Commit- tee on Career Principles. 1965 n AFSA, DACOR and the State Department organize the first Foreign Service Day, to pro- mote exchanges among career diplomats, academicians, jour- nalists and businesspeople. 1967 n AFSA buys the building at 2101 E Street NW in Washing- ton, D.C., for its headquarters. 1967 n AFSA elections give the reformist “Young Turks,” led by Lannon Walker and Charlie Bray, all 18 seats in the electoral college. 1967-1968 n AFSA establishes awards for constructive dissent, funded by donations from the Harriman, Herter and Rivkin families and named for the donors. 1968 n AFSA publishes Toward a Modern Diplomacy , a 185- page manifesto based on the report of Committee on Career Principles. It calls for a unified Foreign Service combining State, USIA, USAID, Commerce and Labor under an indepen- dent director general. 1969 n President Richard Nixon signs Executive Order 11491, setting new rules for labor-management relations within the federal government. 1971 n Following issuance of Executive Order 11636, setting labor-management rules for the Foreign Service, AFSA moves to seek recognition as a Foreign Service union. 1972 n Bill Harrop and Tom Boyatt lead AFSA in a contest with the American Federation of Government Employees for representation that centers on the legal issue of who is labor and who is management. 1973 n AFSA is certified as the winner in State, USIA and USAID representation elections. New AFSA bylaws replace the association’s chairman and directors with a president and governing board, effective the next year. 1976 n AFSA’s membership votes to recall John Hemenway after nine months in office. The Governing Board chooses Pat Woodring, AFSA’s first female president, to complete his term. 1976 n AFSA and State reach agreement on regulations to implement grievance legisla- tion. 1976 n USIA rejects AFSA in favor of AFGE in a second repre- sentation election. 1980 n A new Foreign Service Act, the first in 34 years, is passed with substantial AFSA input. Among many other provi- sions, it establishes the Senior Foreign Service. 1982 n The Mary Harriman Foundation funds a new, annual Avis Bohlen Award honoring the Foreign Service family member who has done most to advance U.S. interests overseas. 1983 n The Department of State funds the AFSA presi- dency as a full-time position. 1983 n AFSA establishes a Legislative Action Fund. 1985 n New bylaws provide for an AFSA vice president to represent each constituency. 1989 n AFSA establishes a program of conferences with Senior Foreign Service officers, intended to attract international businesses as “International Associates.” 1992 n AFSA wins election challenging AFGE’s representa- tion of the USIA Foreign Service. 1994 n AFSA wins uncon- tested representation elections in the Foreign Agricultural Service and the Foreign Com- mercial Service. 1995 n AFSA joins AFGE in a State-USAID-USIA rally protest- ing government shutdown and furlough. 1996 n AFSA publishes the first edition of Inside a U.S. Embassy: How the Foreign Ser- vice Works for America. 1999 n AFSA conducts its first annual high school essay contest. 1999 n An act of Congress closes USIA and transfers its personnel and functions to the Department of State. The Broadcasting Board of Gover- nors remains outside State, and its FS employees keep AFSA representation. 1999 n AFSA engages in a high-profile fight against assign- ment of State Department Civil Service employee to a deputy chief-of-mission position on which qualified Foreign Service officers had bid. The Foreign Service Grievance Board sides with AFSA, but Secretary of State Madeleine Albright over- rules it, citing national security grounds. 2000 n The Delavan Foun- dation funds the Tex Harris Award honoring specialists for constructive dissent. 2001 n AFSA objects as Sec- retary Powell changes Foreign Service Day to Foreign Affairs Day, renames the Foreign Ser- vice Lounge as the Employee Service Center, and changes the Foreign Service Star to the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service. 2002 n Governing Board approves creation of a political action committee, AFSA-PAC. 2003 n AFSA publishes an all-new edition of Inside a U.S. Embassy. A revised version fol- lows two years later. 2007-2008 n AFSA renovates its headquarters for the first time in 40 years. 2009 n AFSA establishes the Foreign Service Books imprint. 2011 n AFSA’s FS Books pub- lishes an all-new third edition of Inside a U.S. Embassy , with the subhead Diplomacy at Work . 2013 n AFSA wins an uncon- tested election to represent For- eign Service employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspec- tion Service at the Department of Agriculture. n