Pension contribution rates: some good news
PMO announced yesterday some good news concerning our pension rate contribution.
“On 10 December, the Council adopted a decision on the amendment to the 2012 pension contribution rate. According to this decision, the rate will be amended from 11.6% to 10.6% of the basic salary, with retroactive effect from the 1st July 2012.
In January, you will receive via Sysper 2 a specific pay slip (pay slip 13/2013) which will show the calculation of the retroactivity.
For the year 2013, following the decision adopted by the Council on December 17, the pension contribution rate to the pension will be amended from 10.6% to 10.3% of the basic salary with retroactive effect from the 1st July 2013.
As a result, the calculation of this retroactivity as well as its payment will be included in the February 2014 pay slip.
These new parameters will be introduced in January 2014 (for the 2012 amendment) and February 2014 (for the 2013 amendment) in your monthly pay slip and your contribution will be adapted accordingly.”
Position about COPAS topics
Following the outcome of the COPAS meeting of
25/11/2013, the COPAS Vice-President (VP) has asked Mr Chirondojan to
immediately organize an extraordinary COPAS meeting.
By doing so, the VP expresses concern
on how the latest COPAS meeting was conducted, and astonishment for the alleged
superficiality of the discussion. She also complains about Mr Chirondojan’s
decision to avoid explicit voting procedures for each relevant issue discussed
(crèche fees, canteen prices, grants, WiFi @ lodgings, etc.), and declares it as
being very inappropriate.
Finally, while
asking Mr Chirondojan to call an extraordinary COPAS meeting, she also explicitly
requests the adoption of a voting procedure.We recall the COPAS VP that voting procedures are not the normal way decisions are taken in COPAS, as clearly emerging from the COPAS rules: “En règle générale, le COPAS œuvre en vue d'un avis consensuel. En cas de points de vue divergents persistants le COPAS se prononce à la majorité des voix. Le Président et le Vice-président ne participent pas au vote.”
Therefore, when the President concludes the discussion on each funding decision and asks if everyone is in agreement, in the absence of any objections he must conclude that a consensual agreement has been reached.
According to our information, no staff representative asked for a vote during the COPAS meeting, and all decisions were consequently adopted by the usual consensual agreement.
Since it was well known that important issues like the crèche and the canteen price increase were to be discussed, we wonder if the COPAS VP and the other COPAS staff representatives couldn’t have arrived better prepared to the meeting.
If a staff representative takes a position during an official meeting chaired by a Director and a diametrically opposed position the day after, their credibility is severely undermined in front of the management. And when such staff representative is the President of the CLP, the credibility of the CLP as a whole is at stake.
The above considerations would already be sufficient in themselves to make the request for an extraordinary COPAS meeting - aimed to discuss the same topics again – quite inappropriate. But there is even more.
The COPAS VP doesn’t seem to be aware that all decisions taken during a COPAS meeting are immediately effective (c.f. the COPAS rules: “Les décisions et les avis rendus par le COPAS sont immédiatement exécutoires...”).
It seems also evident that the request for a new meeting with a voting procedure is not put forward to confirm the position taken during the previous COPAS meeting – as this wouldn't make any sense. It means that the COPAS VP, after having approved all these proposals, wishes to:
-
put the mensa and our OIB colleagues who
work there at risk of being externalized;
-
put at risk the 30.000€ grant already allocated to the Cultural
Committee which is highly important for its work;
-
put at risk the implementation of an
essential social facility that makes the Ispra site more attractive to newcomers.
Luckily, the decision of the COPAS President to
hold an extraordinary COPAS meeting during the second half of January 2014
confirms that this new meeting will have no effect on budgetary decisions
already taken.
Canteen pricesWe wish to point out that the price increase for the mensa is backed both by political and economic reasons. Firstly, prices are blocked since 2010, causing an unbalance. Secondly, the externalization of the Ispra canteen is always presented as a possible option to make savings, both from a budget and from a staff point of view. Thirdly, the price increase should serve to finance the internalization of the Clubhouse and to rebalance other social services impairment. According to us, the CLP priority should be to keep our canteen internally managed, thus continuing to guarantee its current high quality, at a still affordable price. We believe that staff interests are protected not only by looking at one single component (the price), but by looking at the overall picture covering all social services and keeping in mind the particularly difficult economic and political context.
Cultural Committee
The Cultural Committee is an association registered under Italian national law; it acts independently and autonomously from COPAS and the CLP. Issues dealt by the Cultural Committee cannot be directly transferred to COPAS or CLP authority and responsibility.
COPAS is responsible for auditing grant use – making it, de facto, a super partes entity with no direct commitment or role in clubs and associations management.
The Cultural Committee is entitled, as any other club, to receive grants by COPAS. These grants are subject to a series of conditions laid down in the rules for clubs ("Règlement pour la reconnaissance et le fonctionnement des Clubs et autres associations du personnel").
These rules are the same for all clubs and associations – including the Cultural Committee. All clubs and associations must undergo the same rigorous verification process before being granted credits from COPAS.
The verification process is an indispensable requirement to safeguard credibility and transparency of the process and is not especially arduous.
Therefore, we believe that any attempt to set the Cultural Committee apart from the rules applied by COPAS to all other clubs and associations would be inadmissible for the Administration, and would be detrimental to the image of the Cultural Committee itself.
Concerning this year’s Cultural Committee grant, we are surprised by the superficiality of the Cultural Committee President who, on 11.11.2013, sent a note to COPAS containing several factual errors:
1. he refers to a grant request of 38.000€ for 2013, although it was for
35.000€
2. he states that COPAS didn’t provide any grant along the year, while
14.750€ were transferred by COPAS on 26.02.2013
3.
he states that the 29.500€ grant for 2012
entails a reduction over 2011, while in reality it is 10.000€ higher
Even more surprisingly, the COPAS VP not only
asks for a revision of the allocated grant before realizing she was misled, but
insists on such a revision even after these mistakes have been brought to its
attention!We recall that the analysis of the Cultural Committee request was carried out, as common practice within COPAS, by a representative of the Administration together with a staff representative, who agreed on the adequacy of the proposed 30.000€ grant. Questioning the amount of the grant is disrespectful of the work done by these two colleagues.
WiFi @
Lodgings
At the COPAS meeting on 25/11/2013, 70.000€
were allocated to the socially essential installation of Wi-Fi in the lodgings.
The LSC Executive Bureau decided to intervene
on this decision, via the COPAS VP, by means of a note addressed to Mr
Chirondojan (President of COPAS). In this note, the porte-parole of the LSC
Executive Bureau states that “the Bureau is very concerned on [sic] the
decision you [President of COPAS] are going to take”, and she asks the
President of COPAS “to suspend any relevant financial decision until an
exhaustive explanation will be provided”. The COPAS VP incorrectly indicates the
President as the sole responsible for decisions that have already been taken -
and NOT that are “going to be taken” - by all COPAS members. Moreover, according to COPAS rules, no ex-post external interference can
change its decisions. All procedural questions aside, we believe the
decision to invest in the socially important Wi-Fi in the lodgings represents
an extremely valuable, and too long-awaited, social service for newcomers, and
we are concerned at any attempt to delay its earliest possible implementation. We also remind that any unspent budget still available
at the end of year - also because of a lack of strategy chargeable to the COPAS
VP - is lost if not committed, possibly leading to a cut to the following
year’s social budget. Using this leftover budget for socially sustainable
initiatives should be supported, and not obstructed. Since Wi-Fi for newcomers has been one of the
most requested facilities for many years, we do not understand why the CLP
wishes to question it as not being a priority in the interest of staff.
In conclusion, we
invite the CLP to respect equal treatment for all clubs and associations, and
to demand them the highest standard of sound management to help maximizing
grant recognition for social activities and services by COPAS.We also ask the CLP to support Wi-Fi @ the lodgings by rectifying its unfortunate request to the COPAS President to put it on hold.
Salary adaptation 2011: we lost the battle but there’s still hope…
While there is no guarantee that the situation can be resolved with such a new proposal, the Commission has a duty to take all the necessary measures to ensure staff obtain what is rightfully due for 2011, and also for 2012.
R&D Ispra will keep you updated concerning this procedure that represents a very important step towards the correct allocation of roles among Commission, Council, Parliament and Court of Justice; we will contribute in order to obtain the best outcome for all staff.
New working hours from 1st January 2014
Modifications to the standard working patterns (and to the informatics tools used for presence registration e.g. Sysper 2) and various services such as the staff bus and crèche are needed, and so is communication to staff about these changes. We would like to take the opportunity to thank our colleagues for responding to our survey on standard working patterns, the outcome of which we have communicated to the Ispra Site Director and the competent services – click here to read the letter.
Private Parking Privileges vs. Priorities
Often "the devil is in the details" and the issue of this message is definitely a detail. However we consider the wrong priority setting by the management as the devil in this case and we fear that it is just the tip of the iceberg. We received many complaints about a proliferation of the number of reserved private parking places for some privileged colleagues. Since a specific parking place is even in a restricted/pedestrian zone we have sent a note to the President of the road safety committee and asked him - since safety is at stake - to not allow private parking anymore in this zone and to check already granted permissions. We also have written that only in exceptional cases cars could be allowed in these zones, but without parking rights unless for colleagues with a reduced mobility. Further to that we insisted to apply the principle of equal treatment of all staff and that for parking areas the same rules should apply in Brussels as well as in Ispra. Since it was not safety related, we kept the following reflection out of our note: How is it possible that on one hand the JRC is involved in many positive initiatives like the commitment for EMAS registration and the recent sustainable mobility event, but that on the other hand a less sustainable car is parked in front of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability? We believe that this is a strong but wrong signal and not a good image for the JRC.
Salary adaptation: +0,5% or -0,6%?
Planning for temporary staff
Recently it has come to our attention that many units and actions in the JRC have been told to suspend (or not renew) recruitment of temporary staff. Staff policy, both for officials and temporary staff, is a fundamental pillar for the accomplishment of the mission of DG JRC and for the provision of the best possible service to our stakeholders. For this reason it is critical that staffing needs are planned and executed in the best possible way. Because of our concerns regarding the recent developments, we have sent a note to our Director General (please click here if you would like to receive it) which is being taken into consideration by the Resources Directorate. We hope that the reply will clarify the current state of affairs; at the same time we will monitor the situation and keep applying pressure on the administration to avoid any weakening of the scientific activities which are at the heart of the JRC.
JRC inaugurates the new “research centre”
Read the full article
Internet access in the JRC Ispra lodgings
We have received many request/complaints by newcomers who stay temporarily in the lodgings and who are "cut-off" from the Internet after hours, simply because in the lodgings they don't have Internet access. This means that, if not at work or in the Clubhouse (closed during the weekend and after 23h00), they don't have Internet access. Considering the many requests and because we believe that the lack of a basic 21st Century commodity gives a very bad first impression of the JRC to new arrivals, we have sent this note to ISM in which we request immediate Internet access for these new colleagues. As you can see in this document the Commission officially endorses a policy on Internet access; in its own backyard though it is partly still missing.
R&D Ispra sincerely hopes that this remarkable and embarrassing lack of a basic commodity will be dealt with soon with the available and easily applicable (not rocket science…) technology.
R&D Day: follow-up
Dear members,On Thursday 5thSeptember we held our R&D Day at Villa Borghi. It was a good occasion to meet colleagues willing to share their views on the role our trade union should play in our working lives. We would like to share with you a mind-mapwe have prepared and a summary of some of the main conclusions:
1. "Hot topics": the idea that every key-point of our working life will be followed by a particular person (or a small team) is still valid and we are convinced this is the right way to work. Over the last year we have been working on the following principal topics:
Correction Coefficient:Paul Nauwelaers
Staff Regulations:Paul Nauwelaers - Davide Auteri
JSIS:Davide AuteriGrantholders/AC FGIV scientific profiles: Robert Kenny - Salvatore Tirendi - Hans Nieman
European School:Hans Nieman
Career/Mobility:Gianfranco Selvagio
Newcomers:Clemens Wittwehr
Individual rights: Gianfranco Selvagio
IT + bureaucracy: Davide Auteri – Robert Kenny
The names indicated are those persons who have been mainly involved in these topics during the last year, but other volunteers are being added to the topics already given and on other issues (for example Ispra Site facilities and environment): don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s something YOU would like to follow: the more we are, the better we can work!
2.Communication: this element is and will remain a key-point for us. We’ve done our best in the last months to improve this aspect (e.g. by the several lunch break R&D Cafés, messages to our members, polls, etc..) but a lot more must be done. We are planning to employ new tools in order to be more effective and especially to get systematic feedback from you as R&D members.
3.Identity: staff not involved in trade union’s activities aren’t always able to understand the difference between the functions of unions and the Local Staff Committee, and sometimes also between the unions themselves. We hope you as R&D members could always trust our positions and can clearly recognise the R&D trademark behind our actions, both at individual and political level. But it’s time to clarify what we offer and what we do. This naturally leads to the final point… 2.Communication: this element is and will remain a key-point for us. We’ve done our best in the last months to improve this aspect (e.g. by the several lunch break R&D Cafés, messages to our members, polls, etc..) but a lot more must be done. We are planning to employ new tools in order to be more effective and especially to get systematic feedback from you as R&D members.
4. Services: apart from R&D "traditional" activities such as language courses, training for open competitions (new courses coming soon…stay tuned!) and the R&D Cafès organised in the past months on different topics, you'll see us around with some new "events" dedicated to newly-recruited people and “old” colleagues.
Does all this stop here? NO! Our “to do list” will be ready and available in the upcoming weeks but we always need your input and suggestions! Only in this way can we be YOURstaff representatives. Tell us what's going on in your institutes, units and offices and important issues that concern you: we'll do our best to represent you and to raise your voice to make your rights count. So don't forget that our office is always open (building 63) and please feel free to pass by for more information, to give us your feedback or just for a chat!
Cost of Canteen services
For the sake of completeness, we wish to provide you with the answer given by Mr Crandon – Head of Unit OIB Ispra – that was not disclosed in the message from the LSC.
We wish to make it clear that R&D Ispra does not support the position of the LSC President on this issue and you may also refer to our note sent last year to the attention of the President of the LSC after the position taken by a trade union in Ispra regarding a similar topic.
Contractual Agents: the effects of the Reform
Several Contractual Agents whose contract will end shortly contacted us to inquire about the possibility to work again for the Institutions once the reform has entered in force.
Most probably CAs whose contract ends in a period of time (6 months probably) close to the entry into force of the new staff regulations will have the possibility to keep their job and have another 3-year-contract. Former CAs who already had 3 years of contract within the institutions may have the possibility to work for other 3 years without taking part to a new EPSO test. Of course everything has to be settled in the negotiations related to new General Implementing Provisions (the rules governing the implementation of the Staff Regulations in each Institution) related to the recruitment of CAs. It is clear that these new regulations will only open possibilities, the agent must also fulfill the needs of the service, in other words, no contract extensions or renewals will be guaranteed.
Furthermore, it is expected that internal competitions may exceptionally be opened to Contract Agents FG II, III, IV but with tight restrictions (i.e. already having 3 years of service and with access only to certain kinds of competitions based on grade and function group). Only up to 5% out of the total amount of recruitments may come from these internal competitions.
Note that we give this information based on information currently known; more details and certainty will be obtained upon the revision of the General Implementing Provisions.
R&D Ispra will follow this file very closely in order to support the legitimate expectations of the Contractual Agents, and will be available to answer any questions you may have. In the meantime we recommend existing CA staff to discuss the options with their direct superior.
Reform: R&D Ispra analysis of the proposed agreement
With this message we want to provide you with our analysis and some reflections on the proposal/agreement on the reform from the point of view of the content rather than the form of the process that lead to it, since we believe that you will be more interested in what it means in practical terms than in the negotiations and the formalities as such.Before going to the analysis we want to stress that we are by no means happy with the agreement and that it can be only considered as a "least bad" result as compared to what could have been the case. We shouldn't forget that the whole exercise was not meant to improve all benefits for staff or to "repair" the mistakes of the reform of 2004. No, it is just a money saving operation that was executed under political pressure from many Member States, which will in fact not really save so much money in the end. The Member States proposed a major deterioration of the staff regulations, e.g. by the elimination of the expatriation allowance; application of the levy to family and other allowances; cutting pension entitlements by as much as 20%; raising pension contributions by 36%; pension age up from 63 to 67; recruiting future secretaries and clerks on 20% lower salaries, just to mention a few of their demands. We agree with the sentiments of our colleagues of the European Parliament and we want to quote them here: "If it had not been by the firm stance of the EP all these measures would had seen the Official Journal. We feel we need to express our thanks to President Schulz, rapporteur Roth-Behrendt and JURI chair and shadow rapporteurs for their defence of a permanent, independent and competent European civil service."
In the light of this, it is realistic to at least have a look at the agreement in detail to be able to look at the real outcome, rather than focusing on emotions. Bear in mind that with the completely diverse population of staff, i.e. "old" before 2004 staff, "young" after 2004 staff, CA's, TA's, end of career, start of career, singe staff, staff with family, "expats", etc. it is impossible to find a compromise package that minimises the dissatisfaction of everybody to the same extent. For the Member States the old slogan "divide and conquer" seemed to be the strategy.
The analysis of the agreement was presented and discussed in the R&D Ispra meeting of Thursday 27 June open for all our members and with their valuable input we arrived at the following interpretation (see link). In the agreement there are many elements that continue with the deterioration path started with the 2004 reform. However, there are also some improvements (i.e. 6 year contract agents with also possibilities of internal competitions; automatic payment adjustment clause (method); increase of salary grid and recruitment level for AST/SC; increase of promotion rate of AD5 - AD7 colleagues; insertion of clause supporting the European Schools) and flexible working-time arrangements.If the agreement will be accepted by the EP, the task for the staff representation will be to try to minimise the negative impact of the application of the new rules and to continue with the defence of the EU and its staff.
Strike on 26/6
At this moment the technical reading of “the proposal” for the amendment of the Staff Regulations is going on and we don’t know yet what the outcome will be. It looks like the current proposal may be subject to further changes. Though we think that a detailed understanding should be the basis for the decision to strike or not, R&D Brussels (under umbrella of the Front Commun Intersyndical) calls for a strike tomorrow. We, R&D Ispra, haven’t made an in depth analysis of the consolidated compromise yet, but considering the limited time we express our loyalty to the position of R&D Brussels. As already communicated in previous messages the decision to strike or not is totally yours. At this link you may find the full text of the proposed modifications of the staff regulations that could be of help for you to decide.
Our consideration on a possible strike
We have received several questions from members on the position of R&D Ispra considering the message of Vice President Šefčovič and the strike notice that was issued by the trade unions. Based on what Šefčovič said R&D Ispra thinks that it is worthwhile to wait for the final texts and the outcome of tomorrow’s trilogue before calling for a strike. If a final agreement is along the lines explained by Mr Šefčovič we believe that it is – although certainly not ideal - a realistic and acceptable compromise. If however, the devil is indeed in the detail and the final texts deviate significantly and negatively from what is on the table now, the option for a strike is still open.We’ll keep you informed in the following days.
Latest news about annual salary adaptation
The sentence will most probably be given after the summer. Note that the hearing of 2 July concerns only 1 out of the 3 actions (2 lodged by the Commission and 1 by the Council) currently pending for the 2011 salary adaptation.
In case the Commission wins (the 3 actions), it means that all staff will be entitled to a salary increase of 1,7% , less 0,4% for Ispra-based staff due to a slight decrease of our Varese 2011 correction coefficient. The net 1,3% increase would normally apply retroactively as from July 1, 2011, but we don't know if any interest could also be added.
Similar cases are still pending for the 2012 salary adaptation (+1,7% and +1,5% correction coefficient) and the reduction in pension contribution (2011: -0,3% and 2012: -1%). R&D will keep you informed of future developments.
Update: trilogue reform
This morning we attended a meeting with Mr. Frutuoso de Melo (Deputy Director General DG HR) to update staff representatives on the discussions of yesterday’s trilogue.
The main topic discussed in the trilogue was the method for the annual salary adaptation. An agreement now seems to be possible on a proposal from the European Parliament which is very close to the initial proposal of the Commission. The main change would be the presence of a “moderation” clause according to which the adaptation would be split into two halves when the increase of purchasing power is over 2% (half paid on 1st July of year before - as was the case with the previous method - and half paid on 1st April of the current year).
This moderation clause is only related to the change of purchasing power, the inflation would always be reflected in the annual salary adaptation. It was explained that this moderation clause, if it had already existed over the past 20 year period, would have been applied only one time, in 2009.
The topics for discussion at next week’s trilogue will focus on careers and pensions. Regarding careers, the EP might also be open to negotiate with the Council a link between high AD grades and responsibilities.
Concerning other measures, the Commission is maintaining its position.
R&D training for open competitions
Thursday 16th May: 9 – 13; 14.30 –
16.30
Study of competencies
In-tray (only AST 3)
Case Study (AST3 / AD5)
Friday 17th May: 9 – 13; 14.30 –
16.30
Oral presentation (AD 5)
Group Exercise (AST 3/AD 5)
Structured interview (AST 3/AD 5)
If you are interested in participating please fill in the
form at
this page.
R&D members can join the course on payment of a €20 fee
and have priority for registration. Non-members are welcome to participate on
payment of a €60 fee.
JSIS - Cassa Malattia
If you have undergone problems with specific reimbursements
(medical treatments now negatively affected by the new coefficients are marked
red at
this link) you can now lodge your own complaint by using the document at
this link.
We take the opportunity to thank all our colleagues who
filled in our JSIS Survey.
We are happy to give all staff our support with this
important topic.
Furthermore, R&D is now pleased
to offer our members a dedicated Help-Desk concerning problems encountered with
the service offered by them: please feel free to pass by the
Secretariat or to make an appointment with our R&D colleagues if you wish
to avail of this service. We’ll do our best to help you and try to find a
solution, and your privacy will be safeguarded at all times.
Nuovo distaccamento di vigili del fuoco
Read the full article
R&D Cafè and survey on JSIS (Cassa Malattia)
If you have undergone any kind of problem (late reimbursement,
refusals, prior authorisations, extremely penalising application of the new
parity coefficients, etc) or if you are happy with the service provided, please fill in the short anonymous survey form at this address.
The deadline to respond is 9/4.
During the R&D Café on 10th
April at 13 (Amphitheatre – bdg.36) we will present a summary of all
responses and a discussion of the conclusions. We will also provide you with
details concerning an Article 90 complaint
we have recently submitted against the new parity coefficients (which affect
the payment thresholds for medical expenses reimbursements – see Complaint No. R/231/13) for the JSIS
introduced on 1st January 2013. A template for
use by all staff for further Article 90 complaints against specific expense
claim settlements will also be presented, which we hope will be
useful when specific problems are encountered during this year.
Further to the general information we are collecting in the
survey, we are of course happy to give you our support with any specific issues
you may have: please feel free to pass by at the Secretariat or to make an
appointment with our R&D colleagues if you wish. Your privacy will be
safeguarded at all times.
R&D survey on JSIS (Cassa Malattia): follow-up
Court Case Correction Coefficient 2010
In spite of all the efforts we did to straighten out the distorted 2010 correction coefficient, the Civil Service Tribunal rejected our appeal.
We will study carefully the long sentence with our lawyers, will assess what steps can be taken and we will come back to you shortly with more detailed information.
Note that the similar case F-112/11 (Dalmasso) on the same subject is also rejected.
Parliament pushes for change to the MFF
The vote of last Wednesday does not imply that the whole MFF negotiations will have to start from scratch, it was only an intermediate step in the co-decision procedure. The Parliament will give or refuse its consent on the MFF in July 2013.
With the vote of last Wednesday, the Parliament expressed its concern about the following main points:
- a lack of transparency and respect of the EP role during the negotiations of February
- the need for flexibility in the budget between different items of expenditure
- the need for a mid-term review of the MFF, after the establishment of the new Commission and EP
- no roll-over of 2013 unpaid bills into the new MFF
The EP is clearly showing to the Council that its increased power given by the Treaty of Lisbon has to be taken into account. The fact that the EP is counterbalancing the Council is positive for the defense of the European project and the public service that makes it possible!
In this context the reform of the staff regulation is not expected to enter into force before Jan 2014 at least.
For more information on the vote of Wednesday we invite you to have a look at the Parliament press relase and the Commission press release.
We remind that you can find more information on the MFF and the reform on the R&D website.
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