Grantholders to CA scheme: latest news
Following a consultation meeting today 6/12/12 with the administration, there are some good and some bad news. Firstly, we have made some improvements to the earlier text and the administration has clearly stated its desire to move forward with the scheme. However, due to the outcome of a recent court case, EPSO will now be required to publish all future calls in all the official languages of the EU. Unfortunately, the translation necessary will lead to a delay (of uncertain length) in publication of the call, and it will definitely not be done by the end of 2012 as initially planned. 
Reform: latest news
It is clear that the reform will not be implemented on 1 January 2013. The discussions stalled at the Council, who has been unable so far to reach a common position. No progress so far.
These are the main points:
These are the main points:
· The salaries and correction coefficients have to be reviewed annually as per Art. 64 and 65 of the Staff Regulations.
Art. 64 and 65 refer to the Annex XI of the Staff Regulations which details how the annual salary and correction coefficient adjustments must be calculated. This is the so-called “Method”.
However, the Annex XI of the Staff Regulations will become obsolete after 31 December 2012.
In absence of any Method, it is possible that the Council will deny any salary adjustment in 2013.
Art. 64 and 65 refer to the Annex XI of the Staff Regulations which details how the annual salary and correction coefficient adjustments must be calculated. This is the so-called “Method”.
However, the Annex XI of the Staff Regulations will become obsolete after 31 December 2012.
In absence of any Method, it is possible that the Council will deny any salary adjustment in 2013.
· Article 66a of the Staff Regulations will also expire after 31 December 2012.
As this Article 66a is the legal basis for applying the 5,5 % “special levy”, such levy will not be collected anymore.
The fear is that the media and some politics exploit this fact and highlight that “the eurocrats have got a pay rise of 5,5 % in spite of those difficult times”.
Knowing that the Council will resume the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 on February 7 and 8, and that those negotiations are also critical for the reform of the Staff Regulations, any additional political tension can have very negative effects.
As this Article 66a is the legal basis for applying the 5,5 % “special levy”, such levy will not be collected anymore.
The fear is that the media and some politics exploit this fact and highlight that “the eurocrats have got a pay rise of 5,5 % in spite of those difficult times”.
Knowing that the Council will resume the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 on February 7 and 8, and that those negotiations are also critical for the reform of the Staff Regulations, any additional political tension can have very negative effects.
In an attempt to defuse the bomb, Vice-President Sefcovic made a proposal to the Council and the Parliament on November 30th to extend the validity of the current Method and special levy for another year in order to avoid a gap (Blue network – Green Network).
On December 5 in COREPER, Member States refused the Commission proposal. Some Member States were in favour of extending the levy but not the method, but this was refused by the Commission, with the support of other Member States.
This of course wouldn’t have been acceptable as the deal agreed in 2004 was to introduce the special levy in exchange of a well-defined Method for adjusting salaries!
Anyway, the Commission has shown its good will and made every effort to avoid the unintentional salary rise.
The Commission fulfills it role of the guardian of the Treaties and the strict application of the rules. This is also in the interest of the staff.
The European Parliament is supporting the Commission. See the letter Mrs. Dagmar Roth-Behrendt of December 6th by which she strongly criticizes the attitude of some Member States!
Anyway, the Commission has shown its good will and made every effort to avoid the unintentional salary rise.
The Commission fulfills it role of the guardian of the Treaties and the strict application of the rules. This is also in the interest of the staff.
The European Parliament is supporting the Commission. See the letter Mrs. Dagmar Roth-Behrendt of December 6th by which she strongly criticizes the attitude of some Member States!
MEP Dagmar Roth-Behrendt is the European Parliament rapporteur on the revision of the Staff Regulations. Thanks to recent changes of the Treaties (Treaty of Lisbon), the Parliament and the Council have equal power. This better balances the excessive behavior of some components of the Council.
Conclusion:
· From January 2013 on and until the Staff Regulations are revised, our salaries will not be subject to the 5,5% special levy anymore
· As for 2011, there will probably be no salary and correction coefficient adaptation 2012
· Risk that the future 2013 adaptation follow the same destiny
· The blockage comes from the Council (some Member States), not the Commission
· No indication can be given about when the reform could be adoptedNew developments may happen at any time and affect the conclusions mentioned above.
Correction coefficient 2012 and annual salary adaptation
It has been set to 93,4 %, which is an increase of 1,5 points in relation to the last (but never applied) figure for 2011: 91,9 %. As a reminder, the 2010 figure (which is still in force) is 92,3 %.
This change in Correction Coefficient comes together with a 2012 salary adaptation of +1,7 %. As a reminder, the 2011 figure (never applied) was also + 1,7%.
The 2012 pension contribution rate also comes down from 11,6 % to 10,6 %. As a reminder, the 2011 figure (never applied) should have been 11%.
All those new values should be applied retroactively on 1 July 2012, however it is highly probable that the Council reject them as it did in 2011.
The Commission took the Council to Court for non-application of the 2011 adjustments. We hope that the Commission will again lodge a legal action if the Council refuses to apply the 2012 adjustments.
Legal case against correction coefficient 2010
R&D Ispra has always been the leading force for this dossier.
The hearing took place at the Civil Service Tribunal in Luxemburg on 27 november 2012.
Our lawyers Maître Louis, Orlandi and Abreu Caldas attended the hearing. A member of R&D Ispra was also present.
Here are the main elements emerging from the hearing:
Our lawyers highlighted again the inconsistencies we identified in the fields of energy price and health costs, rent prices and inflation data. They reported the lack of transparence of Eurostat, despite our numerous requests among others during GTR meetings (Groupe Technique Rémunération is a discussion forum between DG HR – Eurostat and the OSP) specially dedicated to remuneration subjects. They also disputed the lack of right to an effective recourse arising from the impossibility to verify the calculation of Eurostat.
The lawyer of the Commission stressed the fact that it is necessary to prove the existence of an obvious error in the Eurostat calculation, and the order of magnitude of the error should be such that the Correction Coefficient value is affected. He claims that the burden of proof rests with the applicants. This is of course practically impossible as we have no access to the detailed data! Furthermore, he stated that the Administration has a wide discretionary power, that the Correction Coefficient aims to ensure a substantial equality of treatment between official of different locations, and that “it is not a domain where an exact science reigns” (sic), etc, etc…
The President of the Tribunal mainly heard the lawyers and asked a few questions to both parties. We can’t say that his questions aimed to strengthen our position.
The hearing lasted circa 1h 30’, without any indication about its outcome. The judgment will be pronounced within 3 to 6 months.
We can say that we did every effort to prove there are inconsistencies in the Correction Coefficient 2010, and it was absolutely no easy task considering the lack of information.
The outcome will really depend on the value given by the Judge Rapporteur to the elements we reported, and if he considers that Eurostat breached the rules by denying access to requested data.
We will organize a meeting on this subject between the lawyers and the Ispra staff in January.
R&D Ispra position on 21/11 action
This is a compromise to support a joint action - actually R&D, together with some other trade unions, would have preferred to give support only to a demonstration in favour of the European Project. In our opinion the proposed cut to the administrative expenditures – as currently laid down by the Council – does not justify the use of extreme measures such as a strike.
On the other hand some trade unions were strongly willing to support a day-strike by focusing on the 500 million Euro proposed cut on Chapter V of the Multiannual Financial Framework.
This result is then the consequence of a mediation aimed to maintain the unity amongst all the unions in Brussels and in Ispra (as well as in all the other sites and Institutions).
As far as Ispra is concerned, we have decided to hold a rally at 12.30 at the JRC main entrance, at the same time of the rally in Brussels in front of the Council.
You don't have to join the strike to take part in the rally. A strike remains ultimately an individual choice that can be carried out in different ways ("classical" strike, declaring to be on strike while working, etc..)
R&D Café: join us and have your say!
Contract Agents
,
Correction Coefficient
,
Future of the JRC
,
Pay
,
Reform 2013
,
Staff Policy
No comments
We would like to inform you about the status of these issues, and at the same time receive your feedback about them.
To this end we have planned a series of informal encounters in which your R&D colleagues dealing with each topic will
present the latest developments after which the floor will be open for comments and discussion. And then a coffee!
In order minimise the disruption to your work schedules, we have planned the meetings from 13:00 to 13:45.
Calendar
Reform: what is happening to our staff regulations? 22/11/12 – Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
ACGH: from Grantholder scheme to AC contracts 05/12 /12 - Room 3 (bdg.36)
Correction Coefficient: latest developments 11/12/12 - Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
European School and attractiveness of the JRC Ispra 02/13 – date and venue tbc
Research at the JRC: possible future scenarios 02/13 – date and venue tbc
Reform: what is happening to our staff regulations? 22/11/12 – Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
ACGH: from Grantholder scheme to AC contracts 05/12 /12 - Room 3 (bdg.36)
Correction Coefficient: latest developments 11/12/12 - Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
European School and attractiveness of the JRC Ispra 02/13 – date and venue tbc
Research at the JRC: possible future scenarios 02/13 – date and venue tbc
Future topics for next meetings:
Ispra site, Administrative burden, Trade unions' role
Ispra site, Administrative burden, Trade unions' role
We want to listen, inform and act!
We are really looking forward to a large turnout: please invite your colleagues too! We remind you the Secretariat is always open if you want to pass by personally.
Language training courses
- If you are a newcomer and would like to learn Italian,
- If you would like to learn English, French or German or just want to practise and improve your fluency,
- If you don't have enough time to attend a 4-hour-a-week language course with the "institutional" training,
- If you simply need a language course that fits your personal needs in order to improve your own skills,
R&D can help you with personalised language lessons, both individually and in group!
Send an email to jrc-rd-ispra@ec.europa.eu and indicate the language you are interested to learn/improve: we will contact you for an appointment to determine your level and to agree on the next steps (length of the course/date and time, etc..).
The teachers are a native speaking language teachers, highly experienced in teaching Italian to foreigners and languages to JRC staff.
R&D day
On Monday 9th October we held our R&D Day at Villa Borghi.
Together with 17 members we went through a deep analysis of R&D's role of staff representation, focusing on our strengths and weaknesses, values and needs. The aim of our event was to define a concrete action-plan and start different activities to improve the dialogue with our members and more in general with all staff.
Does all this stop here? NO! We need your input and suggestions! Only in this way can we be YOUR staff representatives. Tell us what's going on in your institutes, units and offices: we'll do our best to represent you. Please feel free to join our discussion on Yammer or to pass by our office in building 63!
SWALS
At the moment SWALS attending the same class in different language sections don't have access to the same didactical conditions and their number is expected to increase.
We are convinced that the European School in Varese can really make the difference for the attractiveness of the Ispra site and is of fundamental importance for the existence of the JRC. R&D will make sure that attention is kept high on the SWALS issue and will urge for a positive resolution of the problem.
Reform 2013
Hereafter we give an overview of the main elements of the amendment of the Staff Regulations (the so-called “Reform”), which should be implemented on 1st of January 2013.
For the sake of clarity, we remind that:
For the sake of clarity, we remind that:
· The European Commission finalized its proposal of Reform in December 2011.
· The European Parliament has put forward amendments to the Commission proposal in April 2012.
· The Council hasn’t yet communicated its position but should do it during the autumn 2012.
We detail these three steps in the following “Snapshot on the Reform I”, “Snapshot on the Reform II” and “Snapshot on the Reform III”.
Snapshot on the Reform III: Opinion of the Council
As no agreement has been reached in the Council Status Working Group so far, it is expected that the discussions will continue in September, under the Cypriot Presidency.
If the reform of the Staff Regulations will not finalized for end of 2012, it is highly probable that specific dispositions will be adopted for the annual salary adaptation and the special levy.
Snapshot on the Reform II: European Parliament amendments
This is a summary (not exhaustive) of the most important changes to the Commission's proposal. The main amendments adopted by the JURI Committee can be divided into 2 categories:
I. MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS INTRODUCED IN THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL
Contract Agents
- duration of contract: limiting the maximum duration of Contract Agents (AC3b) to 5 years instead of 6 years as proposed by the Commission.
- internal competition: internal competition may be open to contract staff provided they have worked as contract staff for at least three years for the institution concerned at the closing date for application for the competition.
Annual Trip Home
2,5 days of supplementary leave every year, without any distance calculations (for officials entitled to both the expatriation/foreign residence allowance) + reduction of payment of travel expenses for officials in higher grades.
II. NEW ELEMENTS INTRODUCED
Advancement in step
No automatic advancement in step if the official's performance has been evaluated as unsatisfactory in the last period's report.
Snapshot on the Reform I: main Commission proposals
(see also Myintracomm - blue network or Myintracomm - green network)
Staff cuts
To reduce staff numbers in all categories and in all Institutions, bodies and agencies by 5% by 2018, by not replacing part of the staff leaving the service.
The Method
· To extend the Method for adjusting salaries and pensions to 10 years (compared to 8 years in the initial proposal from June 2011), simplify the process by modifying certain parameters, and introduce a new exception clause to allow the Commission to react appropriately if faced with serious economic crises in the future. To change the correction coefficient calculation, using the July 2012 coefficient as a starting base and update it based on the national inflation.
· To introduce a new solidarity levy (replacing the current special levy) of 6.0% as from 1 January 2013 for the duration of the method.
Retirement and pensions
· To increase the normal retirement age to 65 years.
· To increase the minimum age for early retirement with reduction of acquired pension rights from the current 55 years to 58 years.
Conditions of employment
· To increase the number of minimum weekly working hours for staff in all Institutions, bodies and agencies i.e. to 40 hours per week (from average of from 37.5 hours), while maintaining the statutory maximum of 42 hours per week.
· To include in the Staff Regulations an explicit reference to the current flexible working arrangements and to limit the possibilities for managers to recuperate extra days on a systematic basis.
Annual trip home and service related trips
· To limit the number of leave days granted to staff for their annual trip to their home Member State to a maximum of 3 days, instead of the current maximum of 6 days.
· To introduce a new simplified and modernized method for calculating the distance between the place of employment and the place of origin in the home country. It will have an impact on allowances linked with the annual trip home as well as the trips linked to taking up duty, end of service and transfer.
Careers
· To allow Contract Agents in all function groups in the Institutions to stay for a maximum of 6 years instead of the current 3 years.
· For the AST function group, to establish a closer link between responsibilities and grades - as exists for the two highest AD grades. In the future, AST officials who wish to progress to the AST 10 grade will have to demonstrate, via a selection procedure, that they possess the appropriate level of expertise and qualifications.
· To create a new AST/SEC function group for career path for staff performing secretarial task
· For AST 1 staff recruited after 2004, to introduce the possibility for a limited number of staff to broaden their career prospects, again linked to job responsibilities.
· To allow for corrective measures for certain nationalities, with a view to addressing geographical imbalances.
Interimaires at the JRC Ispra
We are happy to notice that he shares our position to defend job security and stability rather than create additional precarity. This is completely in line with our proposal and we expect to maintain the collaboration with the trade union majority for every important issue affecting the JRC.
GH/AC
Another staff policy issue concerns the move from the grantholder scheme to a scheme of contractual (statutory) agents as a consequence of the formal agreement reached in 2009 between the trade unions and the Commission, and the following Commission Decision of 2.3.2011 (see art. 14§4: blue network - green network).
As you may already know the Administration is already working on the transition by setting up a pilot project for cat.30. The unions have different opinions on the matter: while some want to work by means of derogations for every critical point, some others would like to have a narrow database containing only high specialised profiles.
R&D fully shares the document produced by Caterpillar and, starting from those positions, is working to:
- have a huge database of candidates, to be used also by other DGs
- extend the pilot project for cat. 20 and 40
- obtain EPSO selection for all profiles
- study the situation of non-EU grantholders and solve the problem of their application.
After two meetings with the other trade unions, the Ispra Local Staff Commitee Executive Bureau has presented its own document, not approved by the LSC Plenary and not shared by us.
Considering the importance of the issue, we'll keep monitoring the situation and will insist on our positions.
Interimaires
Recently we heard about some discussions regarding the possible introduction of interimaires at the JRC Ispra (interimaires are external staff hired through a so called temping agency). According to those in favour, this would be necessary because of long recruiting time of contractual agents. This is strange because one of the reasons for the reorganisation of the resource directorate was to harmonise recruitment procedures and make them faster.
We believe that trade unions should defend job security and stability rather than additional precarity (the next step could easily be outsourcing). If the procedures are slow, they should be improved or alternatives should be found (like a stable pool of contractual agents available to replace staff on leave). Not to speak of the higher cost of interimaires compared to contractual agents.
In order to express our concern the trade union majority in Ispra has already sent this note to our Director General Mr. Ristori on 13.07. According to the President of the Local Staff Commitee, Mr. Ristori proposed the creation of a group of Contract agents FGI that should cover "horizontally" all the JRC needs: we agree with the idea of a pool of CA (that we suggested from the beginning) but we have some doubts concerning a possible replacement of tasks FGII, FGIII and FGIV by contract agents FGI...
We will of course inform you on any further developments.
New R&D Committee
The new R&D committee has been formally appointed on 28/06/12.
Here are the new representatives:
EXECUTIVE BUREAU
| President | Gianfranco SELVAGIO | Tel. 5033 |
| Vice-Presidents | Hans NIEMAN Salvatore TIRENDI | Tel. 5530 Tel. 6442 |
| Political Secretary | Diana REMBGES | Tel. 5953 |
| Vice-Secretary | Robert KENNY | Tel. 9287 |
| Treasurer | Clemens WITTWEHR | Tel. 3898 |
| Vice-Treasurer | Berta DUANE | Tel. 9743 |
| Members | Jurgita KURGANIENE Paul NAUWELAERS Uwe WENG Jan WOLLGAST | Tel. 6739 Tel. 9616 Tel. 5073 Tel. 9096 |
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
| Josè Blasco MUNOZ - Tel. 9467 |
| Natale FAEDDA - Tel. 9638 |
| Santino FRISON - Tel. 9464 |
| Paolo PIZZIOL - Tel. 5767 |
| Alessandra RAVAGLI - Tel. 9033 |
| Daniela TOCCAFONDI - Tel. 9596 |
R&D Help desk promotions
You can contact the R&D Ispra secretariat (jrc-rd-ispra@ec.europa.eu) at 9645 or the following colleagues directly:
Hans Nieman 5530
Diana Rembges 5953
Transfer of Pension rights - IN - presentation
Transfer of pension rights currently poses many problems penalizing colleagues who submitted their request for transfer between 2009 and 2011. U4U and R&D have informed you on the 8th of May meeting about this issue, what has been done and what remains to be done (see our presentation).R&D has made an art. 90 template available to those involved
and has supported the introduction of a first appeal to the Public Service Court of the European Union.
R&D's lawyer and U4U and R&D experts will get back on the 4 of june meeting on this issue and on the launch of the petition:
http://www.renouveau-democratie.eu/documents/pensions/120515_petition_transfert_in.doc
This time we need you!
R&D has decided to join forces with CISL, FFPE, SFIE, and U4U for the upcoming CLP elections. This means that we have formed and are part of one common list, No.3, together with these trade unions.
Why do we do this?
With the ongoing reform, joining forces and closing ranks is the only way to protect staff interests. This joint force guarantees that the opinion of those who are working in Ispra also counts at the central level, as the above-mentioned trade unions are united in Brussels as well. Europe is in the middle of a very serious economic crisis, and this has a huge impact on the negotiations of the New Staff Regulations. Times are getting tough and there is no time left for petty disputes among trade unions: UNITED WE ARE STRONGER!
Is this collaboration just for the elections?
Our collaboration already started in the past. Among many examples, a highlight was the Art.90 procedure followed by the legal action against the Correction Coefficient; 534 colleagues participated in this action! Our majority will continue this collaboration; open to all trade unions, also in the future.
Why vote for list 3?
Because a united defence of individual rights, the JRC and the European Commission is needed for all staff, at all levels, and should be carried out with dignity and mutual respect. We think that having 9 different trade unions at the Ispra site, is not the best way to defend staff. Our list guarantees a well balanced staff representation for everybody: women and men, with different types of contracts and from different origins and backgrounds are willing to collaborate to defend our common interests at a local and a central level. Attention: just put one cross on the top of the list. This single cross guarantees the best defence for your job security.
What can we expect the next weeks?
We believe that there will be a turbulent campaign. From our side we will distribute some material, e.g. our election programme, which you will receive this week. Please contact us immediately if you don't receive our programme before Friday 9 March. May we kindly ask you to talk to 2 colleagues in your neighbourhood and explain them the importance of a united defence of our work environment at this very difficult moment?
Yes, most important: We do kindly ask you to vote list 3.
JRC innovative radar system helps to monitor movements of grounded Costa Concordia ship
Read the full article
Lecture: How a staff rewarding system created the financial crisis
"Bonuses and appraisal procedures (e.g. CDR) are not well designed, de-motivate staff and do not lead to better performance"
The speaker
That is the opinion of Dr. Kilian Wawoe, a Human Resources specialist, who wrote his thesis on "bonuses & banking". Almost his whole professional life he worked for a big international bank in various places across Europe and Asia. In his last function as Head of Human Resources for west & south Europe. He discovered in his research project that what he was doing in his daily job, e.g. paying bonuses to bankers, was one of the reasons of the financial crisis. He left the bank in 2010 to become a professor and consultant on Performance Measurement & Reward.
Whistleblower
As a whistleblower he flagged the risks of the bonus system, in- and later outside the company. Mr. Wawoe is a much acknowledged and frequently invited speaker. His aim is to achieve a mentality change in staff rewarding, in order to prevent that a huge majority of taxpayers have to pay for the benefits of a small minority. For example, the takeover of Banca AntonVeneta in Padova which was the beginning of the end for ABN-AMRO: the staff that completed the deal were rewarded huge bonuses, the tax-payers however lost EUR 20.000.000.000,-.
The lecture
Based on his experience, Kilian Wawoe will explain in an accessible and entertaining way what and how it went wrong. Furthermore he will address staff-rewarding systems in general from a socio psychological point of view. We would be very interested to hear his opinion on our rewarding system and especially in a research environment. So if you want to know how a wrong staff rewarding system created the problems we are all facing now, please attend the lecture. The lecture is free of charge and will be held in English.
When: 20th January 2012, h. 10.30
Where: New Auditorium, building 58C
2012
Where are R&D and the JRC standing in this complex situation?
As R&D Ispra we are aware of the importance and impact of the financial markets and we would welcome more JRC involvement in this issue. For this reason we have organised a presentation on the bonus and rewarding culture given by an external banking expert to all staff in the new Auditorium on Friday 20 January 2012 10:30.
Having been the leading force behind the harmonisation of the JRC administrative processes, the first Scientific Open Competitions ever and the move of the JRC to the heart of the Commission, we can conclude that at least for the moment, taking also very well into consideration what is happening "outside", we are not the worst off. That doesn't mean that we are happy with the way the JRC reorganisation was communicated to staff or that we will just accept the proposed changes of the staff regulations. The problem of the proposal for the new Staff Regulations is the intention behind it and what the Council will do with it. If the modifications were proposed to improve the efficiency of the European Commission, reducing the costs at the same moment, it would have been easier to accept them. But we have the strong impression that the intention of the proposal is to weaken the European Institutions. However, what is happening didn't just come out of the sky; we informed you in our 2008 electoral programme under the Crystal Ball chapter. We guarantee that R&D will continue to defend your future, accepting compromises on, for example, working hours but strongly against a further abuse of temporary staff on permanent jobs or weird calculations of the Correction Coefficient.
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