Canteen price increase: the full story

22/01/2014 No comments
Staff and staff representatives have sent many messages about the price increase at the canteen, and as R&D we think it's now time to clarify certain aspects. The topic is complex and many of you are understandably irritated by the entity of the increase. Our position cannot be easily explained in a few lines, so we apologise if this message is longer than we would like.


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So, what happened?
During the meeting of the Canteen Committee that took place on 7 November 2013, staff representatives expressed their doubts concerning the proposed price increase and, considering the importance of this issue, decided that, according to a new interpretation of the rules, it was up to COPAS to take such a decision in the occasion of the meeting already scheduled for the following 25 November.


 OIB Proposals
OIB had presented to the Canteen Committee the following alternative scenarios:
i) stopping the service (considered as an "impossible" option),
ii) reducing the service by reducing staff (would lead to reduction of the level and quality of service offered),
iii) outsourcing as already is the case in Brussels and Luxembourg (which would bring only modest savings for the EC),
iv) increasing the prices (taking inflation 2010-2014 into account and to provide more staff, offering higher savings for the EC and making any outsourcing strategy unappealing)


 R&D position
Considering the intransigence of certain staff representatives, we had in the weeks beforehand initiated discussions with OIB presenting some suggestions that, if taken into consideration, would have possibly allowed for an overall smaller increase, spread over time. Concretely, we proposed to:
a) Distribute costs evenly by increasing prices not only of the canteen, but also for other sectors, including Piccola Mensa, director's dining room and coffee services for meetings and workshops;
b) Consider the phasing in of the proposed increase over a period of time;
c) Ensure that the canteen price policy and food offerings favour the consumption of healthy meals;
d) Verify the impact of the new 40 hour working week for staff employed by OIB which could potentially lead to productivity gains.


 What happened at the COPAS meeting
COPAS normally takes decisions by consensus (agreement of all administration and LSC nominated members). Indeed, on the occasion of the approval of the canteen price increase, the COPAS President (Ispra Site Director) clearly stated that without consensus he wouldn't have gone forward. Taking into consideration all the elements above, even the LSC President, who is also the COPAS Vice-president, expressed herself in agreement with the full price increase as presented by OIB. She explicitly rejected to postpone the discussion about the price increase because she considered not to have any elements to say that OIB's proposal was not correct. If OIB reassured her that they had taken into consideration all the possibilities, that the Commission doesn't offer any other possibilities, that despite all this we are not far from the situation of all our colleagues in other sites, honestly she didn't have any element to block such a decision. None of the staff representatives present at the COPAS meeting rejected the administration's proposal.


 The outcome

Unfortunately the contradictions of the LSC President, who firstly insisted on a position of no price increase, and then agreed on the full price increase at the COPAS meeting, led directly to the administration and OIB being given a free hand to implement their complete proposal.
Even worse, the fact that the LSC President soon after changed her mind and attempted to withdraw her approval, has led to the disastrous situation of a LOSS OF CREDIBILITY OF STAFF REPRESENTATION IN GENERAL. Furthermore this leads to a weakening of our negotiating power, especially in formal meetings when you are obliged to clearly explain and defend your position!
At this point we want to stress that R&D is not pleased with the resultant price increases, but at the same time was and is not a priori against reasonable and well justified adjustments, and we do believe that a more favourable result could easily have been achieved! In our opinion, refusing to recognise the reality - without considering the need to protect our social services as a whole - obviously didn't help.
This doesn't mean we have to agree on everything from the start, but it's also very true that a reasonable, common sense, well-argued and firm approach always pays best. A proper dialogue with the administration is more fruitful than a policy of burying your head in the sand.
This is what staff representatives are called for: full involvement in the issues allowing the possibility of negotiating from an informed and strong position. On the other hand, changing your mind according to whom is shouting louder, with an always-NO approach and without any strategy at all, is the worst gift that a staff representative can offer to staff.


 Wish to know more?
We warmly invite all colleagues wishing to receive more detailed information to contact our secretariat. We'll be happy to share with you in-depth analyses and data that are in our possession and we will also be happy to receive any sensible suggestions that you may have.
Finally, we promise to evaluate the impact of the new prices on the ongoing financial situation of the OIB and put necessary pressure on the Administration to make further adjustments if it turns out that the reality does not correspond with their forecasting.

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