AFSA NEWS 68 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Under Attack—Administration Goes After Unions LISA HELLER, AFSA PROFESSIONAL POLICY ISSUES DIRECTOR Just one year ago, AFSA celebrated its 100th anniversary as the professional association of the Foreign Service. Since the 1970s, AFSA has also served as the official bargaining unit for Foreign Service members. The partnership between AFSA and the foreign affairs agencies—State, USAID, Commerce (FCS), Agriculture (FAS), the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)—despite occasional disagreements, has generally been a mutually supportive one. AFSA union attorneys and staff meet regularly with their agency counterparts to negotiate conditions of employment, including such matters as Foreign Service promotion precepts, grievance and disciplinary procedures, certain Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) updates, and resolution discussions when laws or negotiated procedures have not been followed. This mutual commitment to a system of collective bargaining has allowed the Foreign Service to do its job on behalf of the American people without fear of unfair treatment or political harassment. What’s Changed This Year? All that changed earlier this year. First came the unlawful dismantling of USAID. Then, on March 27, the White House issued an executive order (EO) banning nearly all federal union activity on the grounds of “national security,” despite the inability of the administration to cite one instance in which national security had been harmed due to union activity. The order covered Foreign Service members who work at State and USAID but not those at FCS, FAS, or USAGM. The order had four immediate effects: • Member dues are no longer deducted from employee paychecks and annuity payments. Most members relied on convenient deductions from paychecks or annuities to pay their member dues. Now, members must proactively go online and set up a direct payment mechanism. • Elected full-time active-duty members of the AFSA Governing Board, including the president and agency vice presidents, can no longer use official time to serve in their AFSA roles. In other words, individuals in those roles, who once would have been paneled into positions that allowed them to fulfill their AFSA assignments full-time, now have to retire or, in the case of those still on active duty, use only personal time to perform their AFSA duties. Not surprisingly, this vastly reduces the time available for AFSA representatives to perform work on behalf of AFSA members. • AFSA lost access to its offices on the second floor of the Harry S Truman Building (HST). While AFSA does own its own building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood (2101 E Street NW), the loss of space in HST makes it more difficult for members to connect with AFSA representatives and employment counselors in person. • Human resources offices at the affected agencies, most particularly the Bureau of Global Talent Management (GTM, now PERT) at State, will no longer meet with AFSA on behalf of their members except when AFSA attorneys are representing members on individual matters. State Department officials will also no longer engage in those matters that were once the province of collective bargaining. This allowed the department’s unilateral changes to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) on FS reductions in force (RIFs) and on anti-bullying. The intent of the action was clear: By cutting access to space, staffing, and funds, the White House hoped to drive unions out of business and strip hundreds of thousands of employees of the right to representation they have relied on for decades. The Unions Fight Back By stopping all collective bargaining activity, the White House hoped to impose political conditions and loyalty tests on career diplomats and civil servants. By removing the safeguards that ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability in the workplace, this executive order politicizes Foreign Service assignments, evaluations, promotions, and more, without union input or oversight. “This unprecedented and unprincipled attack on AFSA’s union activities is clearly designed to weaken protections for employees and to dismantle the safeguards that have protected our nonpartisan Foreign Service professionals,” said AFSA President John Dinkelman. AFSA and other unions are fighting the order through legal action and in the court of public opinion. On April 7, AFSA filed suit in the D.C. District Court (AFSA v. Trump et al., 1:25-cv-01030,D.D.C.), claiming that the president and his fellow defendants acted outside the scope of their authority in issuing and carrying out the March 27 executive order (EO), “Exclusions from Federal LaborManagement Relations Programs,” and, separately, violated AFSA’s first amendment rights.
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