The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 19 Yet State seemed to have no inten- tion of recognizing IFSA in any form. In a last-ditch effort to make a deal, IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Paul Shearon man- aged to arrange another meeting at State, this time with Secretary of State John Kerry’s Chief of Staff David Wade and Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Barbara Shailor. That meet- ing was cordial, but ineffective. Wade was not in a position to overturn the official rejection of IFSA; and Barbara Shailor, the newly named point person to address workers’ concerns, retired the following month. In the five years following these exchanges, nothing has happened to reconcile the opposing positions. The Issue Is Not Moot The International Foreign Service Association has had no alternative since 2013 but to wait for the State Depart- ment to develop a more nuanced view on personnel relations and representation. Many FSNs have continued to meet with post management in staff associations at the local level, but the 2017 wage freeze and the inability of local management to negotiate without the consent of Wash- ington have made progress impossible. Today the mood within the FSN community swings between hope and despair. Some are hopeful that the State Department will eventually see the ben- efits of partnering with a worldwide FSN association, while others think that we are farther away than ever from finding common ground. However, the issue is not moot. When it comes to conditions of labor, the U.S. Department of State is not the only foreign affairs agency that has tried to keep its local embassy workers within the strict limits of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961). While defining a framework for diplomatic relations between independent coun- tries, the Vienna Convention has left LE staff in a legal vacuum: their rights are not defined, and this lack of rights has led to abuse. But more than 50 years after ratification of the Vienna Conven- tion, workplace conditions, as well as labor relations, have drastically changed. And a growing awareness that embassy employees are entitled to some legal protections has led to new insights and initiatives at diplomatic hubs all over the world. Countries such as France, Portugal and Spain are stepping in to recognize the rights for citizens of their country employed by foreign or international organizations. These three countries allow individuals working for foreign entities to participate in employee-man- agement relationships. In these countries local embassy staff can participate in employee representational elections just like the staff of any other government agency. On the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs website, France’s diplo- matic authorities stipulate that “locally engaged staff, whatever their nationality, are covered by French labor law, which must be implemented in its entirety.” Elsewhere, Italy has issued a set of labor laws specifically tailored toward locally engaged staff working in diplo- matic missions: “Provisions governing employment with Embassies, Consulates, Legations, Cultural Institutes and Inter- national Organisations in Italy.” And Bel- gium has created a mediation committee, the “Commission des Bons Offices,” to resolve conflicts between local embassy employees and diplomatic missions. Though it is difficult for foreign affairs ministries to overcome the perceived threat from organizations representing local employees, countries such as Brazil