Working conditions

Extension for your decision on the new local agent conditions – 31 June 2021

Local Agents, Newsletter - 2020-11-19, Working conditions Print This Post

See our first article on the modernisation of local agent (LA) conditions of employment. 

Extension of timeline for LAs to decide whether or not to sign up to the addendum for LA conditions 

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and the situation of European External Action Service (EEAS) HR Unit BA.5 being rather under-staffed, there is a delay in preparing the local-law reference guide for 140 delegations. Therefore, the initial deadline for signing up the addendum has now been extended to 30 June 2021. See Joint Decision ADMIN(2020) 45 for details. 

Continue reading Extension for your decision on the new local agent conditions – 31 June 2021 →

2020 The yearly salary update: time for the exception clause

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Eurostat has published its 2020 report on the yearly salary update. While in the recent past this update was essentially a percentage number, this year the exception clause introduced in the 2014 staff regulations, will be triggered for the first time.

The relevant provisions regarding the exception clause are in Annex XI, Chapter 5, ‘moderation and exception clauses’ of the Staff Regulations. The provisions do not make for easy reading for non-lawyers, but essentially the exception clause consists of two ingredients:

  1. A decrease in the European Union’s gross domestic product (GDP)
  2. A positive specific indicator

Continue reading 2020 The yearly salary update: time for the exception clause →

Do you want to be able to telework from outside your place of employment?

New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2020-10-23, Newsletter - 2020-11-19, Staff Regulations Reform, Teleworking Print This Post

You have shown that teleworking is possible, but do you want more of it and are you being consulted? [1]

Article 20 of the staff regulations stipulates that ‘An official shall reside either in the place where he is employed or at no greater distance therefrom as is compatible with the proper performance of his duties. The official shall notify the Appointing Authority of his address and inform it immediately of any change of address.’

Therefore, the outcome of any future teleworking decisions might affect us all. These choices could  impact everything from the multiannual financial framework (MFF) to the European Green Deal, to all 6 pillars of the new HR strategy to the money you take home every month: the 16 % expatriation allowance / 4% foreign residence allowance and potentially the coefficient (if any) that applies to your salary.   Continue reading Do you want to be able to telework from outside your place of employment? →

New HR Strategy – Modernisation or opportunism? The European Green Deal and the multi-annual financial framework (MFF)

Environment, Multiannual financial framework (MFF), New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2020-10-07, Staff Categories, Working conditions Print This Post

Contrary to what we might expect during the COVID-19 health crisis, DG HR is moving forward with its “new HR strategy” regardless. Although for Generation 2004 it is unclear what the concrete improvements of the previous HR reform launched by Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva were: the most visible outcome was the creation of centralised AMCs. According to DG HR, the past staff surveys should provide quite a good understanding of that HR reform: now that is an innovative way to do an assessment of a policy, one could say. Continue reading New HR Strategy – Modernisation or opportunism? The European Green Deal and the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) →

COVID-19: Return to office put on hold

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Generation 2004 continues to closely monitor the developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on our institution and our working conditions. In the last two weeks we have had two meetings with DG HR to discuss all the issues related to the pandemic and the way forward. Generation 2004 stated that the return should only happen when the pandemic situation improved: when there was a lower possibility of contagion. Continue reading COVID-19: Return to office put on hold →

New teleworking guidelines and teleworking from abroad: here we go again!

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In our July newsletter we informed you of our actions to guarantee fair and consistent application of the new teleworking guidelines throughout the Commission, especially as regards the possibility of 2 weeks of teleworking from outside the place of employment [1].

We wrote a note to DG FISMA concerning their overly strict interpretation of the rules, and received a positive reply to our request.

However, we decided to ask for your feedback – both in that article and through an email sent to all our members – on the procedures in place where you are and on the outcome of your request.

As a result, we were flooded with messages stressing the very different procedures and layers of approvals necessary to be granted these 2 weeks of teleworking in different DGs and different parts and sites of the Commission. Continue reading New teleworking guidelines and teleworking from abroad: here we go again! →

Indomitable spirit. Taking on the institutions and winning!

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Probation reports cannot and should not be used for promotion purposes.
With impeccable timing, here we have evidence of what’s possible beyond the promotion appeals process. We encourage you to read the case (T-511/18) of a colleague’s long and arduous journey to hold the Commission to account which, on the way, clarifies the rules on what evidence cannot and should not be used in a promotion evaluation, in addition to detailing the obstacles and misinformation encountered in this colleague accessing their own medical file.

‘Thus, an end-of-probation report, even if it contains a certain number of observations on the official’s or other staff member’s fitness for work, cannot, in principle, be taken into account by a promotion committee.’ (137) Continue reading Indomitable spirit. Taking on the institutions and winning! →

Modernisation of the Local Agents working conditions

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For over 3 years all trade unions and EU delegation staff committees have been working with the administration to finalise the exercise of modernising Local Agent (LA) working conditions.

Although Generation 2004 participated in two rounds of social dialogue meetings in the EEAS in May, the decision was however finalised without our involvement as written in our article “Nihil de nobis, sine nobis!”. Although the power to adopt the last three implementing rules was delegated to Continue reading Modernisation of the Local Agents working conditions →

A national-insurance card for colleagues in the Netherlands

Health, Newsletter - 2020-09-28, Working conditions Print This Post

If you work for the Commission in the Netherlands, you might have had some problems in the past with your health care, due to the lack of a health-insurance card. This results in additional costs for JSIS members, e.g. the “passantentarief” when you are not registered with a general practitioner (GP) and, since the JSIS does not issue a Dutch health-insurance card, you simply could not register with a practitioner.
In order to remedy this problem, the PMO has negotiated with a Dutch health insurer, CZ. The resulting agreement should guarantee a non-discriminatory treatment of JSIS beneficiaries under primary cover. Please note that the agreement does not apply to beneficiaries under top-up cover (they should already have a health-insurance card from their primary cover).

Update 05/10/2020: Following enquiries by colleagues, we have reached out to PMO to clarify who exactly is eligible for the CZ card at the moment. Right now, the CZ card is limited to active colleagues and pensioners who reside themselves in the Netherlands (and their family, if they reside in the Netherlands as well). Once the new system is running smoothly, PMO might consider extending the card to cases like staff members not residing in the Netherlands but whose children reside and study in the Netherlands. We will keep you informed.

Continue reading A national-insurance card for colleagues in the Netherlands →