Your Voice: An Open Letter to the New Administration Team
FrontLines - August 2009
By Willy Hardin
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Willy Hardin
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Your Voice, a continuing FrontLines feature, offers personal observations from USAID employees. Willy Hardin is the first vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1534, the union that represents Civil Service employees at USAID, and works in the Management Bureau’s Office of Travel and Transportation. Views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of USAID or the U.S. government.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) represents Civil Service employees
at USAID. Civil servants make up 44 percent of the direct hire workforce at the Agency with 1,145 employees. The Agency also employs 1,405 Foreign Service staff and 68 political appointees. The rest of the work force is made up of approximately 1,100 contractors hired through various mechanisms.
The Civil Service workforce here is playing a valuable role during
this ongoing political transition. During the change in administrations
this year, it is largely our civil servants who have provided the continuity that ensures programs go on, money flows, and staff keeps moving—all in support of the foreign assistance we provide to approximately 100 countries.
Great changes are happening in our country, things that I never thought I’d see. I cannot express all that President Barack Obama’s election has meant to me. But, I can say that as the first vice president of the bargaining unit, USAID’s AFGE members are looking forward to working with this new administration.
May you please come quickly!
As I write, we still have management
officials and political appointees from the previous administration making critical decisions behind closed doors without appropriate clearances. We are looking forward to a return to an inclusive protocol in decision making.
I served 26 years in the U.S. Navy before coming to USAID 20 years ago, so permit me to speak frankly: AFGE would like a new relationship with USAID management, one in which the union and civil servants are full partners, one in which our issues are heard and considered.
We see a great opportunity for dialogue with the election of President Obama, the selection of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary
of state, and the expected arrival of a new team of leaders. Word is that the Obama administration
is making serious moves to create labor-management partnership
councils within the federal government. These councils would be an excellent place to start that new dialogue.
We want to talk about new areas of opportunity because we see opportunity as the key to raising
morale, improving employee skill sets, and helping the Civil Service continue to make improvements as the productive force we need to be if USAID is to remain the premier foreign assistance agency in the world.
We want to talk about relevant training so employees have a chance to move up in their careers. Training that would have helped direct hires advance virtually disappeared during the past few years—and this must change.
AFGE also wants to ensure that performance appraisals are completed on time and are fair, and that civil servants are seriously considered for merit promotions. We want the growing number of discrimination cases resolved.
And diversity continues to be a key concern. It’s no secret there are few senior USAID jobs held by Hispanic or Asian Americans, or that African Americans are still largely concentrated in the lower ranks. As for Native Americans, we have hardly a one.
In diversity, in job training, and in many other areas, our Agency can do better. AFGE stands ready to help make that happen. .
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