The recent announcement that the internal Administrator (AD5) competition is tailored to temporary agents is, for the vast majority of EU staff, the straw that broke the camel’s back. Many Contract Agents (CAs) – the most neglected staff category, Assistants (AST) and Secretarial and Clerk Assistants (AST/SC) fulfil the criteria for the competition; excluding them from this career advancement opportunity is a major loss for the European Commission and a major source of frustration for these categories of staff. Continue reading Petition in support of Contract Agents!
Staff Categories
“Nihil de nobis, sine nobis!” at the EEAS Social Dialogue
Two rounds of social dialogue bilateral discussions between Director Francoise Collet of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Trade Unions (TUs) and staff associations (SAs) of the EEAS and the European Commission (EC), as well as one round with the Director General Gianmarco Di Vito (EEAS) were held through videoconference from our homes during the confinement. Continue reading “Nihil de nobis, sine nobis!” at the EEAS Social Dialogue
Acquired rights… and acquired disadvantages
You surely have already heard about acquired rights. All of us acquire one or the other right in the course of our professional life. For example, you acquire pension rights according to the accrual rate applying to you [1]. You also acquire the right to follow a certain career path on the event of your recruitment, which follows some selection procedure such as an open competition. This procedure determines, in which part of the EU “caste system” you end up. Your qualifications, experience and abilities only count to the extent that you fulfil some minimum criteria to gain admission to the respective selection procedure. It also will not matter that much what tasks you will carry out in the end. Possibilities for breaking out of your own caste are rather limited. Continue reading Acquired rights… and acquired disadvantages
Social dialogue on Temporary Agents
The Decision on Temporary Agents (TAs) has been reported to the next Commission.
Last May, Director of HR.B ‘Talent Management & Diversity’, C. LEVASSEUR presented and hastily pressed for approval of the draft decision on TAs at the European Commission (EC), a proposal setting out new selection procedures and working conditions. The initial draft decision was not a mere update of the current GIPs for the purposes of the service, but a radical change on our institution’s HR policy. Continue reading social dialogue on Temporary Agents
Generation 2004’s Contract Agents’ NEW initiative to get rid of inequality in the EU Workplace
Having in mind the current wave of Euroscepticism, at Generation 2004 we believe it is time to defend the ‘European project’ and a common political agreement that fosters equal treatment between all staff categories. On the 4th of April 2019 Generation 2004 took the initiative to call for an “inter-syndical” meeting with all trade unions and staff organisations in order to discuss the situation of post-2004 staff in the EC. Generation 2004 not only organised this “inter-syndical” meeting, but made a point of being represented by several elected contract agents. Continue reading Generation 2004’s Contract Agents’ NEW initiative to get rid of inequality in the EU Workplace
The Commission still does not believe in the intelligence of its staff!
Internal competitions should be conceived as a challenge and an opportunity, rather than as a source of problems. Obviously, it should be a tool to motivate staff at all levels and to retain the most talented and motivated employees from different categories. Internal competitions should provide an opportunity for staff to apply their skills and knowledge to areas beyond of their current jobs, should give the feeling that the institution is concerned about staff growth and at the same time provide avenues to reach individual career goals.
However, like any weapon, internal competitions need to be handled with care!
This time, again, the recently announced Internal Competitions show how the public institution treats and consequently demotivates talented and qualified staff. It seems that big EU slogans like Talent management and Career development are just empty words without any meaning. Continue reading The Commission still does not believe in the intelligence of its staff!
7-year rule for non-permanent staff – What does it imply?
Generation 2004 has clarified the new provisions following the social dialogue with HR and trade unions!
The 7-year rule applies to non-permanent staff for specific tasks or for specialised tasks (if the skills are not already available within the institution):
- temporary agents (TAs)
- contract agents (CAs)
- agency staff (‘intérimaires’) (up to 3 years of services are not taken into account for the 7-year rule)
Continue reading 7-year rule for non-permanent staff – What does it imply?
The 6-year rules
There are two 6-year rules in the Commission:
The 6-year rule for Contract Agents (CAs) – which makes it impossible for a CA 3b to work for more than 6 years in the Commission. This rule is enforced very strictly, no matter how hard you work(ed), you are fired after 6 years if you are a CA 3b.- The 6-year rule for the Staff Representation – which imposes that staff representatives cannot be seconded to the staff representation for more than 6 years over a rolling period of 10 years [1]. The purpose of this healthy rule is to ensure that staff representatives stay in touch with the services of the Commission. Indeed, the staff representation benefits from 41 full time secondments which allow them to sit the joint committees where staff issues are discussed with DG HR but also to represent the voice of the staff. When a staff member gets a secondment, they leave their service for a period of time during which they work for the staff representation, just like when someone is seconded to another organisation in the interest of the service. The danger of course is that he or she may lose touch with reality, which highlights the need and importance of the 6-year rule. Generation 2004 has always been worried about these secondments, we know too well that the staff representatives of 2004 did nothing to defend us back then and instead traded our rights against access for them to grades that they would not have been able to reach beforehand. In the end, we have, however, taken the secondments because if you are not present in the relevant meetings, things proceed without you.
Why a job description is so important for a CA career?
…My Head of Unit always told me that my job description is not very important for my CA’s career, because it should only form the basis of my job specification. As a result, my job description presents a broad, general, and written statement of a specific job, based on the findings of a job analysis. It only includes generic duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope, and general working conditions of a job along with the job’s title, but never my effective, often additional, performed tasks…
Generation 2004 offers contract agents two arguments that highlight the importance of a good job description: Continue reading Why a job description is so important for a CA career?
The pink bubble of wishful thinking and the truth about AST career future
On 8 March Generation 2004 organized a lunchtime conference dedicated to the career prospects for AST colleagues. The date was chosen deliberately as a reminder for the predominantly female gender ratio in the AST category. And while at a parallel event organized by DG HR on the same day, colleagues were presented a pink-optimistic picture about the career prospects for females in the Commission, we spoke facts (see presentation here): since 2004 there was a deliberate policy of juniorisation of recruitment with a consequent even more deliberate framing of the recruited in the AST category. Continue reading The pink bubble of wishful thinking and the truth about AST career future
