Goodbye, and Please Vote for the iAFSA Coalition

As you know, the AFSA elections are underway. I am returning overseas, and will not be running again. However, as one might expect, I hope to leave my position in the best possible hands. I am very strongly endorsing Greg Hicks as State VP, Tim Corso, and all of the members of the iAFSA Coalition, led by AFSA President candidate Bob Silverman.

I strongly believe that Greg Hicks is the only candidate running for AFSA State VP who has the breadth and depth of experience to be able to credibly speak to the issues affecting the majority of our members.

I am voting for Greg Hicks because I believe that the State VP should represent the Foreign Service in both definitions of that word. He or she should be similar enough to you, or have shared enough experiences, to understand what is important to you. That includes your personal experiences as well as professional ones. AFSA members are concerned about more than their careers. Many have, or aspire to having, spouses or families, and care about issues like EFM employment, overseas education, tandem issues, EEO issues, and the health and safety of the ones they care most about.

Greg has served in hardship posts and danger posts, including several of the highest risk posts in our Service. He has raised a family overseas, served on school boards and housing boards, and experienced separation from his family during service in unaccompanied assignments. He has served as a senior manager, as a supervisor and as a rated employee. He is the only candidate who has the experience to credibly discuss issues like benefits, promotion precepts and assignments, QDDR and other program implementation, security, health, performance evaluation, training, EFM issues, discipline, and the wording of rules, regulations, program plans and SOPs, affecting every Foreign Service member in every cone and specialist skill code.

The State VP must also have the experience and credibility to represent the Foreign Service to interlocutors in the most senior ranks of the State Department and in Congress. The most senior members of the State Department and the heads of the substantive Bureaus are, for the most part, among the most experienced members of our service. To be credible to them, the State VP must have a level of experience and professional knowledge that compares with their own. Greg has that experience, and knows many of the AFSA VPs primary interlocutors personally. He has the experience necessary to represent Foreign Service members to the most senior officials in the State Department and to Congress.

Members of Congress and the media tend, in addition, to be more impressed by someone who has considerable personal experience than they are by other factors. They have staffers who can give them the numbers and statistics. They want to hear about the issues from someone who has actually been there. Greg Hicks and Bob Silverman have, unquestionably, been there.

Bob and Greg both share a very deep and broad understanding of the diverse and multifaceted organization that is today's Foreign Service. They share a deep appreciation for the fact that the Foreign Service is a team, and that there is no single "point of the spear" in the conduct of our mission. They share my view that the expertise of the experts must be respected, and that every member of the service, of every skill code, must have the opportunity to rise through the ranks and the freedom to chart their own career path. They are committed to a diverse AFSA Board that represents the Foreign Service, and to a diverse Foreign Service that truly represents America. They see the Foreign Service as a noble calling. And they are deeply devoted to ensuring fair treatment of employees.

The current AFSA Board members running with the iAFSA coalition represent the very best of the current Board, and many in iAFSA have supported their Foreign Service colleagues in other ways as well. Lily Wahl-Tuco co-founded "Balancing Act," a new employee affinity group dedicated to promoting work-life balance. Steven Keats co-founded - and served as treasurer of - the Disability Action Group, which has helped dozens of FS members navigate employment issues affecting those with disabilities and limited medical clearances. David Zwach, on his own initiative, pioneered the effort that led to the creation of a Tenure Certificate, signed by the Secretary, for all tenured Specialists. Ken Kero-Mentz is the President of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. The iAFSA team members did not wait for the AFSA elections to start working for you! They are serving you now! Together with Alex Copher (who has expertly brought an IM perspective to the Board) and Tim Corso (who has superbly represented the Special-Agent perspective), they are the group that has already been most influential in guiding AFSA's work for State members. I credit them with many of our best initiatives during the past term. They are serving you well, and deserve to be re-elected. I will be voting for the entire iAFSA coalition, for Greg Hicks and for Tim Corso in this election. I hope you will join me in bringing this excellent team into office.

The iAFSA Coalition is also on Facebook, and they now have a blog as well. I hope you will check them out, and find them as impressive as I do. Most importantly, vote for them. Your future and your careers are at stake.

All the best, Daniel Hirsch

My Speech at AFSA's April 13 Town Hall

Other Town Hall speeches by 21st Century AFSA Slate members can be seen here.

Tail End of My Speech at Today's Rally (April 8)

CSPAN has the entire rally here.

A Message for Parents

As a Management Officer at ten hardship posts, including Mozambique during their civil war, and as a parent at nine of those posts (and now in Washington), I have always advanced child safety and health among my highest priorities (e.g. "childproofing" every residence in every post in which I have served).

As AFSA's VP, I have obtained OBO agreement to prioritize the construction of earthquake-resistent housing in every seismic-zone post, to add poisonous plants to their official list of items to be corrected before leasing a house (and to things OBO will pay for, if necessary, if issues arise), and to withold special-project funding (punish) posts that refuse to surround swimming pools with barriers adequate to keep small children from wandering into the pool zone.

I convinced the A bureau to reimburse fees charged by airlines (on official travel) to enable families to sit together, or charged extra for bulkhead seats (prefered by people travelling with babies); as well as to require posts (within some limitations) to provide home-to-school transportation on an equal basis to kids attending both American and non-American schools at posts where, for instance, there is both an American International School and a French Lycee.

I have urged HR to expand teleworking options for employees who are away from post pending childbirth, or in the months following birth; and to be more understanding regarding the travel needs of single parents (e.g. paying for even older children to accompany a parent on EVT, if there is no one at post who can take care of them).

I have successfully urged HR to allow EFMs to attend courses at FSI regarding family separation, and am now seeking to make it mandatory to provide both partners (and even older kids) additional training at government expense, in what to expect and how to seek help with regard to family issues stemming from family separation or PTSD.

I convinced FSI to include English as a Foreign language on their list of online courses, to help foreign-born EFMs.

And of course, I have continuously ensured that both maternity and paternity leave are among our priorities when lobbying congress.

The Foreign Service is a way of life for both employees and their families. In many ways it is a wonderful environment in which to raise children and in which to grow up (I was a Foreign Service Brat myself). But it can be increasingly dangerous, unhealthful, and stressful, and I promise to do everything in my power to protect kids and minimize the hardship to families.

A Record of Success and Tenacity

Elected on a platform of change, I am proud of my record as AFSA VP during the past year and a half.

Immediately after taking office, I expanded communication with members by inviting members to participate directly in AFSA's State Standing Committee and in specialized advisory committees, on issues affecting specialists, families, GLBT members, FS parents, DS Special Agents, members with disabilities and others. The State Standing Committee meets with me monthly and other committees provide input on a regular basis.

I negotiated new core precepts (skills required to promote any FS member) to recognize that technical and logistic abilities are as important as writing and negotiating skills, that dealing with other-agency officials is as demanding as dealing with other-country officials, and that technical analysis is as demanding as political or economic analysis.

I successfully urged the Department to roll back the 5% low-ranking rule, reducing it to 2%, a number within the normal range that would be low-ranked anyway.

I prevented the Department from reducing out-of-cone options for specialists and have been steadily lobbying to increase ways for specialists to advance through a satisfying career. As a result, HR is reevaluating carrer paths for a variety of specialist groups, and DS is currently studing advancement options for STSers.

I opposed making ePerformance mandatory overseas last year, and worked hard throughout the year to ensured that eperformance was not made mandatory until major flaws were corrected.

I worked with OBO to increase efforts to provide seismically resistant housing and to consider previously unconsidered safety issues, with MED to reduce the stigma of PTSD, and with DS to codify procedures for restoration of Special Agent credentials after they had been suspended for any reason (important for continuation of LEAP pay).

I worked with HR to develop a course on correct supervision of colleagues, lobbied for visa help for non-American same-sex partners, and worked with the Disability Action Group to begin to level the playing field for disabled employees.

I initiated discussions which are moving forward, to centralize training funds to enable OMS employees to get the training they need, taking the funding, and the decision to allow or deny training out of Post hands and giving it to HR.

I obtained agreement from FSI to include English as a Second Language as an online course available to EFMs.

I successfully lobbied for recognition of workplace bullying as a form of workplace violence.

As positions opened up on the AFSA board due to normal rotations, I appointed DS Special agents and specialists to round out the most diverse AFSA Governing Board in AFSA's history.

Not all my efforts met with success. My efforts to eliminate the TIC for Diplomatic Couriers have been unsuccessful to date, though we were able to convince HR to include consideration of this in a currently-ongoing review of specialist employment terms.

My efforts to persuade OBO to provide larger housing to OMS and other specialists with 15 years of experience or more, fell victim to budgetary concerns.

But these issues are not forgotten, and I will continue to lobby for them and other issues for as long as I am in office.