The largest U.S. federal workers’ union is adding nearly 200 military personnel in Germany

The headquarters of the American Federation of Government Employees in Washington. The union said in a May 1, 2024 statement that 199 employees at two locations in Germany had voted to join. (AFGE)

Nearly 200 U.S. Army civilian workers at two locations in Germany were the latest to approve membership in the largest U.S. union for federal employees.

As a result of Wednesday’s vote, 163 unassigned fund employees at the Army’s Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and 36 IT staffers in Kaiserslautern will be represented by the American Federation of Government Employees.

The IT staff works at the Army Enterprise Service Desk, 2nd Signal Brigade. Kaiserslautern is home to the U.S. military’s largest overseas community.

The union’s national president, Everett Kelley, welcomed the 199 new additions to the overall Local 14, noting that the vote took place as many countries celebrated International Workers’ Day, a holiday in Germany.

Local 14 was formed last year to expand representation to federal employees working for U.S. agencies abroad.

In December, 389 Army and Air Force Exchange Services employees in the Kaiserslautern military community also voted to join the American Federation of Government Employees.

One hundred and sixty-three non-appropriated fund employees working at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, have voted to join the American Federation of Government Employees, the union said in a statement May 1, 2024. (U.S. Army)

That was the first of what the union expects to be a series of votes on the membership of federal government officials in Europe.

About 10,000 federal employees in Europe, most of them in Germany, are eligible for membership, according to the union’s estimates.

The move to offer membership to most federal civilian workers came last year in response to dozens of complaints the union said it had received, mostly from Defense Department employees.

One such complaint is the practice known as bait-and-switch, in which citizens move abroad to take up a job offer, only to be placed in another position once they arrive.

A lack of work-life balance and last-minute schedule changes are also problems for U.S. federal workers in Europe, said Javier Soto, legal rights attorney in Europe for the union.

Many foreigners who work at U.S. bases are covered by different unions, and Soto said there have been reports of disparities in how they are treated compared to U.S. citizens.

“It’s understandable,” Soto said Thursday. “They have very strict labor rules here in Germany, and they have labor contracts, which is what we have in the U.S. for federal employees.”

Local 14 joins more than 930 other local residents in the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents approximately 750,000 employees in nearly every agency of the federal government.