Federal Daily - September 24, 2009

AFL-CIO Endorses AFGE Efforts to Organize at TSA

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka endorsed the efforts of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to organize approximately 40,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who do not now have union rights. Trumka made the endorsement at a recent AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh. “Right now, 40,000 TSA employees are on the verge of winning their collective bargaining rights,” Trumka said, “I want you to know that the AFL-CIO will stand with them until every last one of those TSA employees are organized.” AFGE President John Gage welcomed the endorsement in a statement posted on the AFGE Web site on Sept. 22, noting that AFGE has been affiliated with the AFL-CIO since it was founded in 1932. At the convention, Gage met with AFL-CIO state and central labor body presidents to coordinate their support in the coming election of unions to represent TSA employees. The union currently has about 11,000 dues-paying TSA members in 33 locals across the country. The National Treasury Employees Union, which is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO, also currently represents TSA employees, with 19 TSA chapters at 21 airports. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1047.

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Obama Taps Former U.S. Attorney for CBP Top Job

President Obama on Sept. 22 announced that he will nominate former U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin as the next commissioner of the office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Bersin now is serving as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary for international affairs responsible for developing DHS border strategy. International border issues are familiar ground for Bersin, who during the Clinton administration served as the Southwest Border Representative responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement on the border from South Texas to Southern California while he was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. During that time, Bersin also led multi-agency campaigns against illegal immigration and Mexican drug cartels. Following his tenure as U.S. attorney, Bersin served between 1998 and 2005 as superintendent for the San Diego city school system, and then as California state secretary of education from 2005 to 2006. “Under Alan’s leadership over the past several months, we have forged new international and domestic partnerships along our borders to strengthen security,” said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “I look forward to continuing to work with Alan in his new position.” To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-9/22/09.

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Language Deficiencies, Staffing Shortfalls Persist at State Dept.

The State Department’s diplomatic readiness is being threatened by overseas staffing shortfalls at key hardship posts, as well as by foreign language gaps among the Foreign Service officers (FSO) who are stationed abroad, said a pair of Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports. The State Department has designated about two-thirds of its 268 overseas posts as hardship posts, which include an FSO hardship pay differential, according a GAO report on staffing. But despite these financial incentives, State still has trouble attracting experienced FSOs to these posts, leaving many unmanned or filled with less seasoned staff, GAO said. For example, State last year had a 17 percent average vacancy rate at the posts of greatest hardship—nearly double the average rate of 9 percent at posts with no hardship differentials, GAO said. A second GAO report examining foreign language proficiency at the department said that State’s overseas mission also is suffering from language deficiencies—particularly in critical languages such as Arabic and Chinese. As a result, the department continues to face foreign language shortfalls in regions of strategic interest—such as the Near East and South and Central Asia, where about 40 percent of officers in language-designated positions did not meet language requirements, the report said. The reports, released Sept. 17, are part of a larger look at the State Department’s diplomatic readiness—specifically FSO language capabilities and hardship post assignments—slated to be examined at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing on Sept. 24. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/highlights/d09874high.pdf (staffing), www.gao.gov/highlights/d09955high.pdf (languages).

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