AGORA election 2015 special LSC-EC

Union Syndicale
Election Special 2015
LIST 10
Better Together !
Election 2015
www.unionsyndicale.eu
Summary
3 Better Together!
7 The best promotion system is one
based on the social dialogue
4 Why to vote for the Union Syndicale?
8 Wages and Pensions
5 How to vote for the Local Staff
Commitee?
6 Contractual agents – no more job
insecurity!
9 JSIS: Members pay austerity twice
10 Return to respect
11 From social dialogue to social
monologue: Charity starts at home
Editeur responsable: Olivier PETSCH Secrétaire Général - Secretary-General Union Syndicale Bruxelles
Av. des Gaulois, 36 - 1040 Bruxelles Tél.: 02 733 98 00 Fax: 02 733 05 33
Dessins: Anita Bezrukova Campo
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Union Syndicale June 2015 - Election Special
Election 2015
Better Together!
Over the past years, our work environment has deteriorated in the Commission. The latest
reform of the EU staff regulations has caused the staff to doubt the Institution, its working
methods, its mission as well as the capability of its own representatives to secure its future.
Together with Union Syndicale, we can make things change.
Ewa Golianek, heads the voters
list of Union Syndicale.
European civil servant at DG
EAC, long-standing member of
Union Syndicale.
I am Ewa Golianek and I am heading Union Syndicale’s voters list for the Staff Committee. This
editorial is the perfect opportunity for me to show
you how committed I am to stand for each and
every-one of you, together with Union Syndicale.
The Barroso era has come to an end. It was marked
by a series of crises where Europe kept low-key.
Where are the values that underpinned the creation
of Europe after the Second World War?
As regards the management of the European public
services, we will remember the Barroso era for its
lack of social dialogue and its «fait accompli» policy,
turning a blind eye on its staff’s needs.
Through continued
investment in staff
committees, Union
Syndicale stands for
the rights of all staff
members, regardless
of their administrative
status.
The era was marked by:
An increase in working hours (37h30 to
40h), contributing to a greater work-life
imbalance.
Frozen wages, greater levy and 10% cut off
our purchasing power over the past years.
A blocking of careers
A growing number of colleagues unable to
cope with the changing working conditions,
the bullying and the teasing, in short with
more and more harassment.
Refund requests of medical costs rejected
by PMO on various and varying grounds,
more often than not unintelligible.
The AST group degraded with the creation
of AST-SC paid 30% less
An increasing job insecurity within the Institutions as the number of contractual agents
with fixed-term contracts increases.
Mission costs cut down, even cancelled
Open plan offices to save money
We urge President Juncker to resume a genuine
social dialogue so that the staff stops feeling like a
number, neglected and forbidden.
We need a strong and independent European Public
Service. It is the only way to help our Institution
solve its internal issues and help Europe live up to
political challenges.
I want you to feel heard, defended and supported.
All you have to do is trust in the trade union that is
best equipped to represent your interests, a wellbuilt trade union that advocates solidarity and has
always proven best at defending all staff members.
Join me, join us!
Because we are «Better Together!»
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Election 2015
Why to vote for the Union Syndicale?
During election weeks, you will be swamped with propaganda. All trade unions will promise
they will act upon the claims that matter to you and will represent you in an honest and responsible way.
With so much on offer why should you vote for
Union Syndicale?
1) United we stand! (A longstanding and solid Union).
Union Syndicale is the biggest
trade union in the European Public
Service. In the Commission, its
long-standing experience and electoral appeal made it a respected
counterparty for the administration.
The negotiations and cases we deal
with are highly technical. When your
interests are at stake, you can only
expect the best services.
2) A Union is more than the
sum of its members.
Union Syndicale represents colleagues in the main EU institutions and they report
to an Executive Committee elected on the basis of
a Statute. We are not a one-man operation. We are
a strong team, with one person at its centre. You.
3) Unity makes strength!
Divisions between the staff can only make us
weaker. We believe that the best service to our
younger colleagues is to extend to them the security
and the rights which have built the European civil
service. We fight the battles of today, with a vision
for tomorrow. We work for the whole European staff
family, not only for one generation.
4) One for all and all for one! (A full set of
instruments to defend your rights).
Every day, your rights come under silent attack.
Together with our team of lawyers and advisers,
we defend members and non-members with a
shield of legal advice and a sword of court actions.
Our list of achievements is exemplary. You should
contribute with your vote to make the Union Syndicale stronger, because we are the ones who won’t
leave you behind.
5) Do you still have any doubts?
Meet us in your DG and at our events!
Tomorrow’s Challenges
Implementation of the new Staff Regulations: this is a challenge
to be handled by engaged and reliable staff representatives.
Salary and pension: to safeguard rights for all generations
of staff.
Appraisal and Promotion: we must rebalance the system
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Union Syndicale June 2015 - Election Special
towards a more stable, fair and less arbitrary.
Provide real opportunities for career development of contract
agents to put an end to precarity
To make the administration face up its responsibilities
through a genuine social dialogue.
Election 2015
The elections of the Local Staff Committee: how to
The Local Staff Committee brings together staff representatives from different Trade Unions
vote?
and Staff Associations (OSPs). Its role consists mainly in advancing proposals in the field
of staff policy and in monitoring the Commission’s implementation of the Staff Regulations.
The OSPs
and that can protect and advance staff’s interests.
Unlike the Staff Committee, which plays an advisory
role, the OSPs have the power to negotiate and conclude agreements with the Commission on behalf of
staff. Such negotiations
revolve around key issues such as careers,
pay and pensions, the
work/life balance, social security, working
conditions and contract
agents.
Your vote therefore not
only goes towards electing the Staff Committee,
but also towards establishing each OSP’s
weight in negotiations
with the Commission.
If, on the other hand, you decide not to vote “list”,
or not even for a full 27 pairs of candidates, you will
be reducing your influence both on the make-up of
the Staff Committee and on the weight of the OSPs
at the negotiating table.
If you also decide to spread your vote between
candidates from different lists, you will be contributing to fragmenting and weakening all of staff
representation.
x
Voting Effectively
If you wish to vote effectively and for a strong trade
union presence:
Vote for list 10,
Union Syndicale.
The Administration will find before it a trade union
that constitutes a veritable opposition force, who
has proven its credibility over more than 50 years,
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Election 2015
Contractual agents – no more job insecurity!
Union Syndicale made all efforts to sit trade unions and the various agencies representing
contractual agents around the table as part of weekly workshops to try to find a common line
to advance on the Contract Agents (CA) file.
In addition to the reform, ACs bear the brunt of reorganisations in services. This causes structural job insecurity.
It is high time that decisions were made and responsibilities taken to keep this personnel category motivated and
dedicated to the European cause within our Institution.
We call on all trade unions to stand for this vital cause
and we rely on their support:.
Here is what Union Syndicale offers as sustainable
solutions for the staff and for services:
Recruiting and mobility:
Same CAST for all institutions and agencies. This
should allow for more inter-institutional mobility,
among others
CAST organised on a regular basis, in line with
the posts to fill in and the needs of services: no
more obsolete and costly reserve lists that create
false expectations.
uHarvest and maintain
experience
uDo not waste valuable
resources
A database and a centralised service in charge of
managing vacancies in the Commission, agencies and other institutions to better manage AC’s
careers and make better use of their skills and
expertise.
Providing ACs with a job search tool to enable
them to look for other jobs and allow or facilitate
voluntary or involuntary mobility as is the case
in times or reorganisations. This will allow for respect of the standards and statutory obligations.
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Careers :
Creating a real career advancement system
based on merit.
A real access to training to develop skills
Open the transition between function groups
to avoid blocked careers for skilled and trained
staff.
Include TA positions in the database of vacant
posts.
Provide targeted internal and external competitions also to keep skills in institutions /
agencies
Things will not improve without a social dialogue worthy of the name. The Commission must face up the
situation and improve it by taking on board the relevant
claims made on behalf of colleagues and services.
It is the only way to uphold an efficient civil service.
The 40 hours/week are a disaster in specialised
sectors (crèches, kindergartens, workshops,….).
We call for humane solutions for the professionals
whose jobs do not allow them to work from home,
use flexitime or take a break.
Further to the review conducted by Union Syndicale
end of 2014 we call for negotiations on the implementation of the Staff Regulation.
Election 2015
The best promotion system is one based on the social dialogue
Unlike other civil services, ours is a career based system where each official progresses
through a series of grades and sometimes categories each bringing higher levels of responsibilities, entitlement to certain posts and rewards.
This career system does not in itself give any individual
a right to promotion which is based on merit after comparison between staff of the same grade and category.
The basis for that procedure is to be found in article
45 of the staff regulations which gives the elements on
which the comparison of merit is to be based: the annual
performance review, ability and conduct, responsibility
and mastery of languages.
The fact that there have been three different systems
used over the last years shows how uncomfortable the
Commission is. When faced with the pressures from
certain Directors General who want to be able to promote whoever they want, often harming less high profile
but equally deserving colleagues along the way, DG
HR often exceeds the red lines in the staff regulations.
u
Job satisfaction
u
Reward merit
u
Transparency
u
Predictabilité
u
Clear rules
This always causes an avalanche of appeals by colleagues who object both to the result of their evaluation
and to not being promoted. Of course, it is the general
discontent which underlies most of these appeals but
the administration prefers to address the symptoms
rather than the cause and thus constantly tinkers with
the evaluation and promotion procedure in the hope,
comforted by certain unions, that this will stop the
avalanche.
A recent ruling by the Civil Service Tribunal has just
flagged up rather pointedly a couple of things which
are generally ignored in the Commission, namely that
reports have to be written in such a way as to ensure
comparability and an actual comparison between
those officials of the same category and grade who
are eligible for promotion has to take place. Naturally,
since the ruling concerned an official of the EEAS, the
Commission doesn’t seem interested despite the fact
that the promotion system in place there is the same
as the Commission’s.
True, establishing a reporting and promotion system
which genuinely ensures comparability isn’t easy but
nor is it impossible. The points based system, since
abandoned, was close. But many other approaches
are possible: standardising certain parts of repots,
introducing questionnaires or tests and possibly give
assessors a better overall picture.
Of course, ensuring comparability across the board in
grades where the number of officials can be numbered
in the thousands is no easy task but shortcuts aren’t the
solution. That’s why Union Syndicale has always been
against quotas per DG which is the current system.
Assuming that no perfect system exists, we should at
least seek a system which the bulk of colleagues can
accept and that is transparent, predictable and fair.
Such a system can only be possible after a genuine
discussion between the administration and staff representatives taking account of past experience and
respecting the staff regulations. The system needs to
be agreed and not imposed.
To achieve that, the mind set in the administration has
to be turned towards a constructive dialogue but, sadly,
that is far from being the case for a large part of the
administrative hierarchy in the Commission.
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Election 2015
Wages and Pensions
The method for adjusting our wages was introduced in the 1970ies after long struggles led
by staff members, alongside Union Syndicale, to end the relentless deterioration of our wage
conditions.
When the previous Method expired end 2012 the
Council tried to scrap the automatic wage indexation system. However, in the end Member States
reluctantly had to accept a full automatic system that
came into force with the new Staff Regulations on
1 January 2014. This was the only means to avoid
recurrent conflicts and multiple appeals.
That decision has turned out to be the only positive outcome of a reform that was overall badly
managed, badly
negotiated and
contrary to the
staff’s interests.
uKeep stability
uContinuity
uAvoid risk and
degradations
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The 2014 Method
will be in force until 2023. However
until the Council
and the Parliament adopt the
next method, the
current one will remain in force as
long as necessary. The same percentage of adjustment will apply to pensions, benefits, allowances and
wages altogether.
Union Syndicale believes that the staff should not
be pay the price of the epic and pointless battles
Council and Commission have been waging against
each other in the past. We all know that this resulted
in trivial adjustments - 0,1% in 2010, 0,0% in 2011
and 0,8% in 2012, which all led to a significant loss
in purchasing power.
Union Syndicale June 2015 - Election Special
Union Syndicale strongly contested the legislator’s
decision to not apply the new Method in 2013 and
2014, two years when neither wages nor pensions
were adjusted.
Union Syndicale has filed an appeal against this
decision which continues to increase the loss of our
purchasing power.
Our pensions are on the other hand guaranteed by
Member States through the budget. Member States
commit to paying them even if the European Union
ends in dissolution. Such a scheme protects us from
a financial disaster that could strike our pension fund.
This is the reason why Union Syndicale is concerned
about half-baked proposals from other trade unions
to set up an actual pension fund. It would imply
that Member States need to immediately pay vast
amounts of money that they don’t have on hand. It
would in turn allow Member States to request that
staff members pay a bigger share for their pensions.
To us, it looks like a fantasy inspired by the liberal
system we live in. That fund would be subjected to
highly speculative market fluctuations. Should this
happen, the payment of pension benefits to present
and future pensioners would not be guaranteed
anymore.
Union Syndicale will keep close tabs on this highly
sensitive issue. Inter-generational solidarity relies on
a steady and sustainable system. If worse comes to
worst, Union Syndicale will mobililise all staff members around the issue. It is our social asset that is at
stake. We will not let anyone put it at risk !
Election 2015
JSIS: Members pay austerity twice
Frozen salaries, the Method and other negative statutory changes, such as the decline in
recruitment levels, precarious contracts and career-limiting measures are mainly to blame for
the fall in revenues, hence the deficit recorded by the JSIS between 2008 and 2013.
Frozen salaries, the Method and other negative statutory changes, such as the decline in recruitment levels,
precarious contracts and
career-limiting measures
are mainly to blame for the
fall in revenues, hence the
deficit recorded by the JSIS
between 2008 and 2013.
In 2014, expenditure decreased and the Administration referred to the savings as the result of «tighter
management». In reality,
these savings stem from medical and bureaucratic decisions
unbecoming of an EU institution. See below the most controversial examples of what PMO put its members through (often
the weakest ones) over the past two years. It is worth noting
that PMO often acted on basis of its own medical advisers:
uTransparency
uClear reimbursement
rules
uHuman treatment
uSmarter management
of available resources
Restrictive application of criteria allowing for prolonging
serious illness, including for heavily handicapped people;
Setting up administrative criteria aiming at rejecting cost
refund (e.g. : costs relating to cancers that were treated
after 10 years) ;
More expenses deemed as « non fonctional », therefore
not refundable under article 72-3 ;
Obligation to submit receipts and invoices according to the «
INAMI » template even though the rules do not foreseen it;
Lack of flexibility regarding minor anomalies, even though
the latter do not affect the veracity of the declared expenses;
Reluctance to consider mental illnesses or depression as
serious illnesses
Functional mailboxes and help desk telephone support
cancelled and replaced by answering machines that offer
no appropriate support to seriously ill patients, isolated
patients and older patients ;
The new on-line reimbursement system does not take into
consideration the numerous affiliated partners who do not
know how to do PMO work (process documents on-line) or
are not fit for these kinds of tasks (age, acute ilnesses, etc.);
This makes no sense and shows no consideration
whatsoever for the weakest affiliated partners. In the
longer run, these austerity measures and mismanagement
will clearly not solve structural problems (lower revenues),
let alone the relentless increase of medical costs.
PMO does not manage the sickness insurance scheme
as a prudent administrator. Hence, they are failing their
80.000 affiliated partners (workers and pensioners).
Union Syndicale (US) urges the Administration to respect
the Staff Regulation and its implementing rules.
US demands transparency, fairness and a genuine approach to social and human issues, focussing on the weakest. An open social dialogue is the only way to manage the
sickness insurance scheme wisely. These funds are made
up of all EU staff’s contributions. It is their social asset.
US proved that austerity is NOT the only way to solving
structural problems.
In the meantime, US will carry on denouncing the abuses
of the current policy and will continue standing up for its
aggrieved affiliated partners at court.
US demands an open debate with the Administration to
consider other cost saving measures than that of depriving
its affiliated partners, particularly the weakest.
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Election 2015
Return to respect
The Staff regulations which came into force on January 1st 2014 with the support of certain
Unions considerably worsened our working conditions within the institutions. Nobody would
deny that.
The Implementing Provisions which were adopted by the
Commission made things even worse.
uHumans, NO numbers
uBuild mutual trust
uEqual treatment
Flexitime which was meant to make it possible to reconcile
working life and private life was emptied of all its purpose
by the way it was implemented by the administration. (For
example by decreeing that the number of days of annual
leave that could be carried forward would be reduced by
any days of time off in lieu (récupération) that you had)
Union Syndicale abhors these practices and will fight them
all the way through the Court.
Union Syndicale is also very aware of the fact that nobody
in charge of the new staff regulations seems to care about
the effect that longer working hours have on parents who
have to collect their children from the crèches , the extra
stress in their daily life and the health impact on themselves
and those children.
Nobody seemed to care about the consequences of a
longer working day, imposed without negotiation or compensation on many colleagues’
mental and physical health in the
Commission.
Nobody seemed to care about the
way the medical service would
handle ever more requests for time
off on sick leave, depression, and
burn-outs. Not to mention the additional stress caused directly by the
PMO’s constant refusals to make
refunds as it becomes ever more
inclined to nit-pick, sometimes, il-
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Union Syndicale June 2015 - Election Special
legally in applying often incomprehensible rules.
Sometimes the answers are easy:
The administration intends to make people work more
and more at any cost to them in its efforts to show how it’s
saving money.
A string of false truths and sad bean counting which leaves
no place for human beings.
A sad administration made up of dehumanised accountants.
Since 2014, Belgian law requires employers to set-up
systems to prevent employees’ psychological and social
harm of whatever nature. Presumably, our administration
will set-up some sort of penny pinching mechanism to pay
lip-service to Belgian law in the way it seems to like doing.
Union Syndicale, on the other hand, actually wants colleagues to be respected by the Commission, their employer. The Commission’s very role should make it aspire
to be a model employer which is far from being true today.
Union Syndicale demands that the administration finally
take the measure of how many of our colleagues are in
real difficulties in the workplace and set up a genuine social
network to help them face up to those problems. Whether
they be personal or work related or even harassment, it
is no longer acceptable to go on with the past piecemeal
approach to these problems which deserve a genuine
solution.
Union Syndicale will carefully monitor the Commission as
it puts in place the mechanisms to deal with these issues.
If the Commission is to provide a quality service it needs
to have staff which can provide that quality which means
motivated, respected and with a degree of well-being.
Election 2015
From social dialogue to social monologue: Charity starts at home
Union Syndicale is the
largest union represented in the institutions
since 1975. It has the
means and the know-how
to support staff in real
ways both at an individual level by covering the
cost of appeals against
decisions by the administration and collectively in
the case of social conflict
through its strike fund.
uStop monologuing
uStart real dialogue
uWe are US serious
partners
Over the last few years, unilateral decisions by the Commission and surveys filled in by staff have replaced the
social dialogue based on consultations with the staff unions. At the same time, the administration has used the
crisis to justify general cost cutting exercises which have worsened working conditions and developed temporary
and insecure jobs.
The keys to social dialogue are:
1. The respect for fundamental rights including
the right to organise in a union and to collective
bargaining
2. Organisations representing employers and employees which are strong and independent and
have the knowledge and abilities to participate
in social dialogue
3. The political will and commitment of all parties
to participate in the
social dialogue
4. Appropriate institutional support
The Commission and the
other institutions no longer respect the principles
of the social dialogue and
do not organise it properly. For example, despite
numerous requests from
Union Syndicale, the
institutions did not put in
place a tripartite body to allow union representatives
to negotiate at inter-institutional level with the member
states during the 2014 reform. This meant that the unions in the Commission did not participate in the social
dialogue with the European Parliament nor the Council
where the future staff regulations were decided.
This attitude of the administration wasn’t evident only
during the reform of the staff regulations: over the last
ten years, there have been innumerable refusals by the
administration to accept consultations on matters that
were essential to staff.
Thus, the Commission has ceased to be a partner in the
social dialogue. It does what it wants or whatever the
Council wants or sometimes just what the Commission
assumes the Council wants it to do. It ignores what the
staff and staff representatives want and usually discovers it at its cost when the Court of Justice rules against
the Commission. This will
surely happen soon on the
evaluation and promotion
system set up despite practically all the unions being
against it.
The Barroso commission
removed the social dialogue
and replaced it by the Court.
And, lo and behold, it’s the
decisions of the Court that
one after another cancel
the Commission’s actions.
Sadly, M. Barroso will no longer be around to be held
to account. The harm has been done and the staff no
longer trusts the institution.
Today, the Juncker Commission displays the social
dialogue in big letters on its buildings. Union Syndicale
says that charity starts at home and rather than lecture
at the member states the Commission should resume
a social dialogue worthy of the name in-house.
June 2015 - Election Special Union Syndicale
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