The Foreign Service Journal, December 2003

B ill Crawford and I are finding that our agenda is being set rather quickly for us. A lot is on the table andmuch is at stake! In terms of strategic issues, we are engaged withmanagement on the impact of: new State Department proposals that change theway overseas buildings are financed; proposals to reorganize our parent agency, the International Trade Administration; and CS proposals to restructure the Office of Foreign Service Human Resources. Importantly, ourmid-termbargaining proposals are advancingwith both sides showing a spirit of cooperation and partnership. We have also developed some thoughts on how to enhance our own communication with members. The bigpicturepresents uswithopportunities andchallenges. InOctoberwe active- ly engaged management and the Hill to learn more about both. We identified key playerswho shouldhear the FCSAFSAperspective. The StateDepartment andOffice ofManagement and Budget proposal on overseas buildings seeks—for the first time — to have all agencies with an overseas presence foot a share of the bill. Under the Capital Security Cost Sharing Program, the FCS contributions would begin in Fiscal Year 2005. CSmanagement has alreadyhad to identify up to 35 overseas posts for clo- sure or down-sizing because of theCSCSP. Some believe that the cost-sharing pro- gram in its present form would eliminate the CS in four years. We are monitoring its impact and will be negotiating imple- mentationwithmanagement. We are also working to convince key members of Congress that this isnot a smartway tobuild buildings! Congress and ITA officials are consid- ering a plan to reorganize ITA to focus more on the manufacturing sector as well as to consolidate all trade promotion programs in the CS. This presents an opportuni- ty to create a one-stop shop for our business clients: the challenge is to do it right. We are working in partnership with management on both issues. Finally, CS manage- ment is sharing with us their timeline and ideas on implementing changes toOFSHR as called for in a recentManagement ProgramReview. We applaud the commitment to reform and welcome the call to partnership in working out the details. Ourmidtermbargaining revolves around threemember-driven issues: newincen- tives for the maintenance of hard-language skills; payroll deductions for the immedi- atebenefit plan just offeredby theAmericanForeignServiceProtectiveAssociation; and adoption in the FAM of State’s current Member of Household Policy (MOH). As I write this, we aremaking progress on all three. The spirit of cooperation that allowed us toconclude thenewprecepts inAugust continues todominate. As ournextmidterm bargaining opportunity is in February, please e-mail us now with your priority issues. The addresses are charles.ford@mail.doc.gov an d wcrawford@worldbank.org. I hope you have all been receiving my regular reports via AFSANet. Together with this column in AFSANews , theAFSANet and theAFSAWeb sitewill be our prin- cipal tools for communication with you. Let us knowwhat you think of our work so far and share your ideas for work in the coming year. Have awonderful and safe hol- iday season! ▫ Some believe that the cost-sharing program in its present form would eliminate the CS in four years. V.P. VOICE: FCS ■ BY CHARLES A. FORD A Lot on the Table '(&(0%(5 ‡ $)6$ 1(:6 5 hires at thebeginningof trainingwhere they will be assigned. They cannot receive per diemfor the city towhich theyare assigned, so, for example, those who receive their Washington assignments early are ineligi- ble for per diem there during orientation and training in the Washington area. Over the years, AFSA has heardmany terrible tales fromthose affected—stories of how they slept in their cars, how they flopped on a succession of couches, and howthey ate a steadydiet of bologna sand- wiches. Manyof thesenewhireshave fam- ilies and mortgages back home, making pricey Washington-area temporary fur- nisheddigs out of thequestion. One secu- rity engineer told AFSA he was still pay- ing his temporary housing bill a year after training. The problem is so easy to fix: Management need only wait to officially assignDSagents, EnglishLanguageOfficers andSecurityEngineersuntil later in theori- entation and training cycle. The department’s bullheaded persis- tence resulted in a recent absurdity: There is a groupofDS agents-in-train- ingwhoknowthat they are being assigned to the New York Field Office beginning next June when training ends. They cur- rently have about six weeks between the end of one training course and the begin- ningof another. To fill the gap, thedepart- ment decided to send themtoNewYork. They cannot receive per diem there, because that’s where they will report for duty next summer. A call fromDS went out for volunteers:Anyoneworking inNew Per Diem • Continued from page 1 Continued on page 6 We are asking new hires to come on board, be part of the team, yet we don’t even have the decency to provide funding to house them for temporary duty in one of the most expensive cities in the country?