LABOR MANAGEMENT:
DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS
AFSA’s labor-management office provides support to the Vice
Presidents and Representatives of AFSA’s six bargaining units. The
office also provides support to the AFSA President, Governing Board,
Committees, and staff on a wide variety of issues and assistance
to retirees. From January 1 to December 31, 2016, the office record-
ed 1,003 requests for assistance. During this same time period, 317
individual cases were opened. The total number of open individual
cases currently recorded is 459, since many of these cases were
opened in previous years. Grievances are the largest category of
cases, followed by investigations and disciplinary action.
In 2016, AFSA’s Labor Management office successfully
negotiated implementation of an exception to the “Vance
Memo” (which requires the State Department to obtain
permission from employees prior to recording an interview)
that had been granted to Diplomatic Security’s Office of
Special Investigation; a new process for awarding Meritori-
ous Service Increases (MSIs) in 2017; 12 FAM regulations for
appealing assignment restrictions; Procedural Precepts for
Performance Pay; and an agreement on linked onward
assignments for employees volunteering to serve at
Priority Staffing Posts.
The office also continued to deal with a number of residual issues
relating to the rate at which MSIs were conferred in 2013-2016 at
the State Department. In April 2016, the Foreign Service Labor Rela-
tions Board (FSLRB) denied the Department’s appeal of a 2015 deci-
sion by the Foreign Service Grievance Board which had ordered the
Department to pay MSIs to over 550 employees who should have
received MSIs in 2013. Following the FSLRB decision, the Depart-
ment and AFSA entered into an agreement to pay the 2013 MSI in a
fair and expeditious manner. By the end of 2016, all 2013 MSI recipi-
ents should have received their monetary awards plus interest and
back pay. In 2016, the FSGB denied AFSA’s implementation dispute
relating to the 2014 MSIs, in which the Department awarded
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