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Washington, D.C. — Monetary incentive programs can help address the shortfalls in foreign language capabilities throughout the federal government workforce, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said.

In remarks submitted to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Kelley focused on the NTEU-bargained Foreign Language Awards Program (FLAP) at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The union and the former U.S. Customs Service negotiated the first FLAP in 1997, and the program has continued through the creation of CBP. The program, authorized by the NTEU-supported 1993 Customs Officer Pay Reform Act, allows employees who speak and use foreign language skills on the job to receive cash awards if they use the language for at least 10 percent of their duties and have passed a competence test.

“Since its implementation in 1997, this incentive program, incorporating more than two dozen languages, has been instrumental in identifying and utilizing Customs and Border Protection employees who are proficient in a foreign language,” Kelley said. “At CBP, this program has been an unqualified success, and not just for employees, but for the travelers who are aided by having someone at a port of entry who speaks their language and for the smooth functioning of the agency’s security mission.”

Since fiscal year (FY) 1998, the number of FLAP awards for the then-eligible 7,699 CBP Officers grew from 1,260 to 2,173 in FY 2007, nearly doubling CBP’s foreign language capability. This data does not even include CBP Officers hired after 2003 and Agriculture Specialists who became eligible for FLAP in 2007.

“Not only do language barriers delay processing of trade and travel at the ports, for these law enforcement officers, communication breakdowns can be dangerous. Confusion arises when a non-English speaking person does not understand the commands of a law enforcement officer,” Kelley said. “These situations can escalate quite rapidly if that person keeps moving forward or does not take their hands out of their pockets when requested.”

While the majority of those who receive a FLAP award do so on the basis of their proficiency in Spanish, other languages that CBP Officers and Agriculture Specialist are called upon to use include French, Creole, Chinese, Vietnamese and other foreign languages.

“Not only does [FLAP] improve efficiency of operations and make the U.S. a more welcoming place when foreign travelers find CBP Officers can communicate in their language, it is also an important tool in the critical border security mission,” Kelley said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.