AFSA Fast Facts (Click here for more)
- What we are: Professional association and labor union of the U.S. Foreign Service
- Funding: Primarily funded by membership dues
- Employees of Agencies Represented: AFSA represents the current and former U.S. Foreign Service employees of the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Foreign Commercial Service, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Agency for Global Media
- Governance: Member-elected leadership
Mission
AFSA promotes a strong, professional career U.S. Foreign Service, fosters a better understanding of and appreciation for the Foreign Service’s critical role in promoting America’s economic prosperity and values, and safeguards the interests of its members.
Affinity Relationship with UAA:
About 8 years ago, UAA proactively developed mutually with AFSA an informal but continuing regular relationship to keep each other frequently informed about advocacy with Congress about US foreign aid and about Federal court cases involving RIF’ed USAID employees, write occasional articles for its monthly magazine “The Foreign Service Journal” (circulation to all 17,000 AFSA active duty and retired FSOs), and collaborate with its AFSA Vice President for USAID.
Current U.S. Administration’s Situation Involving AFSA:
So far, as of 2025-6, the current U.S. State Department has unprecedently severed the prior decades-long agreement with AFSA that authorized AFSA to serve as a collective bargaining unit for FSOs. State Department has also unilaterally ended its prior longstanding service to collect AFSA Members’ annual dues for AFSA via its salary and pension payment mechanisms. The U.S. Administration has also made changes that neutralize the effectiveness and fairness of the longstanding U.S. Foreign Service Grievance Board and U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, steps which AFSA has actively protested.
Due to some of the above actions, AFSA’s ability to maintain its Membership numbers and its revenues to finance its important Congressional and legal advocacy work for its Members has been under intense pressure.
AFSA has proactively entered as a plaintiff into U.S. Federal Court cases to redress its Members’ grievances.