The Foreign Service Journal, June 2012

F OCUS ON L OCALLY E MPLOYED S TAFF L OCAL E MPLOYEES S EEK A D IALOGUE WITH W ASHINGTON Ben Fishman 24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 1 2 n late 2008, a group of around 100 American and international local staff members at a U.S. diplomatic post in Western Europe received a rude awakening. An administrative notice announced that the handbook setting forth the terms and conditions for LES employment had been “updated” as part of a “modernization” effort. Management had unilaterally reduced sick leave and annual leave for locally hired employees, and had eroded workplace protections by changing the rules and procedures for termination of employment. A MINIATURE U NITED N ATIONS , L OCALLY E MPLOYED S TAFF HAVE CREATED THE I NTERNATIONAL F OREIGN S ERVICE A SSOCIATION TO ADVOCATE ON THEIR BEHALF . B Y E DDY O LISLAEGER AND W ENDY L UBETKIN I