The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2023 83 AFSA REPORT Foreign Commercial Service A FSA has worked diligently to enhance the posture of the Foreign Commercial Service and promote the well-being of its officers through a comprehensive and strategic approach. During this term, these efforts were led by our prior FSA FCSVP, Jay Carreiro, and current VP, Charles Ranado. After months of persistent collective bargaining, in late December 2022, AFSAwas able to finalize a memorandum of understanding with the agency, reaching agreement on 10 of 13 proposals, including an updated and flexible language policy, new procedures on directed assignments, established deadlines on the vetting of Senior Foreign Service (SFS) promotions, and the need to modernize the performance appraisal system, among other issues. All 10 agreed-on proposals will benefit officers and provide greater clarity and structure on important issues. AFSAwas disappointed that we were unable to reach a compromise on all 13 proposals, and we are considering impasse options on the remaining three, including the need to adjust the Commercial Service’s time-in-service requirements for FS-01 through FS-04 officers, currently the shortest among all Foreign Service agencies. AFSA has worked closely with Global Markets manage- ment to ensure that significant delays experienced during 2021 and 2022 in areas such as the approval of SFS pay and awards, promotion announcements, and onward assignments are not repeated. For 2022-2023, AFSAwas pleased to note that pro- motion announcements were made in a timelier man- ner (although, still not in line with a new rating period), most onward assignments were announced prior to Feb. 1 (months ahead of the previous year), and interactions indicate that SFS pay and awards will be executed before the end of the 2023 calendar year, Q1—all topics AFSA has raised often since early fall of 2022. Yet challenges remain that we look forward to resolving with the agency, namely, proposed changes to the selec- tion of the deputy director general (DDG), deputy assistant secretary, and executive director positions. AFSA agrees that these represent some of the most important positions within the Commercial Service, and as such, the selection of each should honor all prior AFSA- agency agreements. Of note, the selection of the DDG must include the representation of an SFS commercial officer on all proposed panels to ensure that as Global Markets’ largest constituent, the Foreign Commercial Service’s voice is heard. AFSA continued to engage in congressional outreach and was pleased that Global Markets received a significant increase year-on-year to their 2023 budget. However, AFSA has stressed that this increase still does not adequately allow Global Markets to execute their strategy to increase human capital and offices globally, nor does it allow for our Service to meet the growing demand to counter malign actors, promote trade, advocate on behalf of U.S. business, ensure commercial and economic policies are respected, and promote SelectUSA. Simply put, we need funds to do more. Further inter- nal stakeholder engagement, including with our retired officers’ groups,Women Commercial Officers group, and regions, is invaluable, as it has provided AFSAwith niche perspectives that allow us to further refine our priorities. Foreign Agricultural Service D uring the 2021-2023 Governing Board term, FAS VP Lisa Ahramjian was a fierce advocate for FAS, its Foreign Service, and its Foreign Service officers. One of AFSA’s top priorities was to embark on renegotiation of the FAS-AFSA collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which was last substantively renegoti- ated almost three decades ago. The CBA serves as the rulebook for policies affecting our Foreign Service, from assignments to selection boards and prerequisites for the Senior Foreign Service (SFS). Dur- ing the current term, AFSA persuaded FAS to take a fresh look at this critical tool and formally launched renegotia- tions in February 2023. As it developed positions in specific articles, AFSA led teams of FSOs to identify potential changes and then sought feedback from all FSOs. Another AFSA priority was to significantly improve human resources (HR) support at FAS. At the beginning of the board term, the 2021 transfer season led to major payroll errors for many FAS FSOs. AFSA immediately began advocating for the new, in-house HR team to make FSOs whole and create process improvements to prevent future errors.