The Foreign Service Journal, June 2012

The employees consulted the For- eign Affairs Manual, the regulations that govern the State Department’s operations. The rules outlined in its third chapter, known as 3 FAM, em- body honorable policies designed to make the U.S. Department of State a fair and competitive employer of local staff at diplomatic posts. The employees became convinced that the changes to their benefits and working conditions did not reflect the intent of 3 FAM or State’s declared management philosophy. The group’s ef- forts to appeal the issue were cut short, however, when the ambassador informed the staff that they had to consent in writing to the new terms of employment within two weeks, or see their contracts with the mission terminated. Under duress, the LES employees signed, but wrote to the State Department’s legal adviser inWashington, D.C., asking whether the changes that had been made — and the procedure used to impose them—were in accordance with the FAM. Nearly four years later, they are still wait- ing for a response. In fact, Washington rarely replies to, or even acknowl- edges, any LES communications on employment issues. That is mainly because no one within the existing organi- zational structure of State has the authority to do so. There is no mechanism for LES, the State Department’s largest employee group, to engage in a dialogue withWashington on workplace issues or appeal decisions taken at embassies. The absence of a channel to headquarters makes it difficult to ensure trust and accountability in a global employment context. The Backbone of the Embassy Locally Employed Staff, who work overseas for U.S. agencies, comprise both Foreign Service Nationals (which is what many of them still prefer to be called) and local American citizens hired under the Rockefeller Amend- ment (sometimes known as “Rockies”). At last count, local employees numbered some 53,000. At virtually every diplomatic post, local employees working for the five foreign affairs agencies — State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the De- partments of Commerce and Agriculture and the Inter- national Broadcasting Bureau — significantly outnumber their American Foreign Service and Civil Service col- leagues. As one might surmise, there is no single “typical” LES profile. A miniature United Nations, local employees all over the world work as drivers, guards, senior medical and legal professionals, cooks, cleaners, engineers, me- chanics, webmasters, social media coordinators and trusted political, economic and press advisers (often at senior levels). This corps of local experts — often called the back- bone of the embassy — is one of the great strengths of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. Even so, it has yet to be recognized as a major component of the State De- partment work force, much less given access to a trans- parent and clearly codified human resources process and a credible system of justice in Washington. This is true even though the Office of the Inspector General urged State to do so five years ago. Specifically, in May 2007 the OIG issued an important report (ISP-I-07-16) that called on the Bureau of Human Resources to “codify in one place and strengthen its com- mitment to” Locally Employed Staff. Although fewer than 10 of the report’s 80 pages focus on LES employment, they include these three key recommendations: • Create an LES Bill of Rights • Appoint an ombudsman for LES issues in Washington, D.C. • Address inadequate staffing in the Human Re- sources Bureau’s Office of Overseas Employment. J U N E 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 F OCUS At nearly every U.S. diplomatic post, local staff constitute the largest component of the work force. Eddy Olislaeger founded the International Foreign Serv- ice Association in 2009 and became its first elected chair- man in 2011, a position he still holds. He worked for more than 40 years as a public affairs specialist at Embassy Brussels before retiring from the Department of State in March. On that occasion he received the Secretary’s Ca- reer Achievement Award for his many contributions to the field of public diplomacy Wendy Lubetkin, a senior adviser on media affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, is vice chair- man of IFSA. She is one of the first U.S. citizens to have been hired under the Rockefeller Amendment, which opened Locally Employed Staff positions to Americans. Her previous employers include Time magazine and the World Economic Forum.