Certification exercise: common sense is back again!
With a message sent on 8th October, R&D denounced the chaos with the organisation of the certification exercise and the lack of coordination from DG HR (2014 certification exercise: does DG HR still talk to.... DG HR?)
The deadline
was set at 23:59 on 31st October 2014 - only a few days before the
publication of the promotion list - therefore excluding all colleagues who will
be officially promoted in grade AST5 around 8th November, with retroactive
effect to 1 January 2014.
R&D immediately
asked DG HR to postpone the deadline for the application so as to allow all
eligible colleagues to participate.
R&D is happy to see that our request – that is
also a request coming from the DGs – has been accepted and that the deadline has
now been set to 18 November at 23:59, and hence after the publication of
promotions for the exercise 2014.
Promotion 2014: who won the lottery?
In the last years the promotion exercise has gradually shifted from an administrative
procedure worthy of its name
to a mega lottery.
In order to transform the system into a black box, it was first necessary to introduce a massive dose of unpredictability. We have been unable to find the magic formula governing the distribution of promotion quotas by grade and DG.
Just to give you an example, DG DEVCO received 25 promotions in grade AD10 for only 17 officials having passed their average permanence in the grade, while the JRC received only 8 promotions for 13 officials with an average permanence in the grade.
DG DEVCO could therefore provide 8 fast promotions, while DG JRC couldn't even match
the target foreseen by the staff regulations.
The same situation occurs randomly in
many other grades and DGs.
Because of this incomprehensible distribution, some DGs were even forced to
provide a certain number of promotions to staff with less than 2 year
seniority in the grade (!!).
The winner of this special competition is DG TAXUD: in grade AD7, DG HR
offered them 14 promotions for only 3 colleagues having reached their average
permanence in the grade.
All other candidates, even in lack of 2 year seniority in the
grade, were promoted as well...! This perverse side-effect introduced by the obscure formula applied by DG HR may be perceived as insulting by the rest of staff.
The very same magic formula has also had the effect to increase by 20% (AD) and 26% (AST) the number of appeals presented to the promotion
committees, which have not been put in the condition to give remedy to
this unequal treatment due to the lack of possibilities for promotions assigned to them.
Promotion rates and "Šefčovič guarantees"
The promotion rates established in Annex IB of the Staff Regulations have not been respected in grades AD5, AD6, AST1, AST2 and AST3.
Why?
Because of the promotions provided through the famous
internal competitions, whose real purpose was repeatedly denounced by R&D (The Barroso Commission has exceeded all limits!).
Indeed, the cost of promotions of the over 50 AD temporary agents and over 20 AST temporary agents, largely coming from cabinets, was "paid" by the promotion exercise!
Additionally, Šefčovič guarantees
are not met for the 5th consecutive year in grades AST1 and AD5:
while our former Commissioner pledged that 85%
of civil servants in these grades would have been promoted in 3 years or less, reality shows that the
true percentage is only 65%.
Despite repeated
requests from R&D, DG HR has undertaken no action to enforce
the promised rates.
Conclusion
R&D is glad that President Juncker has announced plans to put fairness at the heart of political action.
That's what staff and staff representatives have always been calling for!
This should start with the introduction of corrective measures to stop this feeling of "lottery procedures" in order to return to a serious and fair management of the career development of staff.
R&D is ready to immediately start negotiations and discussions to improve the current situation.
Conclusion
R&D is glad that President Juncker has announced plans to put fairness at the heart of political action.
That's what staff and staff representatives have always been calling for!
This should start with the introduction of corrective measures to stop this feeling of "lottery procedures" in order to return to a serious and fair management of the career development of staff.
R&D is ready to immediately start negotiations and discussions to improve the current situation.
Timely decisions regarding contract renewals for CA staff
We feel confident in a smooth implementation
and a great improvement for all. Nevertheless, we invite any CA colleagues who
may experience unjustified delays to get in contact with us.
Juncker confirms it to R&D: the JRC remains a Commission DG!
We are happy to inform you that Mr Juncker has promptly replied to our last message addressed to him, in which we expressed our disappointment for his vague reply to our previous message.
This time he has provided clear answers to our unambiguous questions:
1. Can you confirm that the JRC will remain a Directorate General of the Commission, with a continuing mission to provide in-house scientific support to EU policies?
2. What are the differences and the relationship between the role of the Chief Scientific Advisor and that of the JRC?
3. Can you guarantee that the financial and human resources earmarked to the JRC until 2020 will not be reduced or shared with other European entities?
In brief, he replied that:
1. The JRC will remain a Directorate General of the European Commission
2. Resources already earmarked to the JRC until 2020 will remain untouched, thus they will not be shared with other European Research entities
3. A decision concerning the role of the Chief Scientific Advisor has not been taken yet. Whatever decision will be taken, it won't have any negative implication on the role of the JRC.
During this crucial phase of transition towards the settlement of the new Commission, we'll continue to be on the lookout for any change possibly affecting the future of the JRC and keep you timely informed. Subscribe to our mailing lists below to avoid missing any important news!
Reply from MR Juncker to R&D (pdf note)
Reply from MR Juncker to R&D (pdf note)
********
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2014 certification exercise: does DG HR still talk to.... DG HR?
R&D has
repeatedly complained about the lack of social dialogue with DG HR in recent
months. Nevertheless, a new step was taken recently: DG HR does not speak to DG
HR! Here's an example....
Certification exercises were traditionally launched before
the end of the year, with an application period that was extended after the
publication of the promotion announcement. This allowed colleagues who were
promoted to grade AST5 during the promotion exercise in question to apply to
the certification exercise and thus satisfy one of the conditions of
eligibility (minimum grade AST5 at the closing date of the call for
applications, without any requirement of seniority in grade).
However, the 2014 certification exercise was launched on 30 September
(see administrative information) and, to the
astonishment of many colleagues and of R&D,
the application period closes on 31 October 2014, at 11:59 p. m, just a few
days before the planned publication of the administrative information on the
closure of the promotion exercise! De facto, all colleagues who have been told
they were proposed for promotion to grade AST5, and who will be officially
promoted probably around 8 November (with retroactive effect from 1 January
2014), are not eligible since, on 31 October, their promotions will not yet have
been officially confirmed!
What will R&D do?
R&D advises all
colleagues in this situation to submit a complete application and indicate that
they have the required grade at the time of their selection by their DG
R&D asks DG
HR to extend the application period to 15 November so that all affected colleagues
are eligible
R&D also
wishes to remind DG HR that there are several courses in Syslog (organized by
DG HR!) with the purpose of improving internal communication: it seems that several places are still
available...
PMO hesitates, R&D bridges the gap!
In his reply, the
Director claims that Ispra-based staff – as well as staff of other remote sites
– receives a level of service comparable to that offered to staff working in
Brussels and Luxembourg.
Additionally, he
doesn’t share our view that the Ispra site population is sufficiently large to
justify the reopening of a local individual rights settlement office; staff
cuts are also mentioned as a limiting factor.
Unfortunately, we
know from experience how far sometimes reality is from the idyllic picture
drawn by the Director; in fact, when special cases arise, our colleagues frequently
encounter major difficulties in getting adequate responses.
We still hope that
the PMO Director will revise his decision in the future.
In the meantime, we
invite all of you, especially newcomers, to submit to us any issues you are
facing with the assessment of your individual rights.
This service
will be freely available to everybody; we’ll try to fill the gap and be your local
interface with PMO.1, as we have already done successfully for “Cassa Malattia”
reimbursement claims(*).
We are confident
our PMO colleagues in Brussels will be pleased to help us provide an efficient
service to Ispra staff.
(*) We are happy that an official helpdesk
service for Cassa Malattia has recently been made available. R&D requested
this service many times in the past, and we thank PMO for putting it in place.
We will continue to offer supplementary Cassa Malattia assistance to our
members.
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Role and positioning of the Joint Research Centre within the Commission: follow-up
Yesterday we received the reply to our letter of 11/9/2014 sent by Mr Selmayr on your behalf; we were disappointed to find that it failed to provide answers to the fundamental concerns of Joint Research Centre (JRC) staff.
Yesterday we also followed the hearing of our proposed new Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Citizenship. His interventions, combined with your reply - which unfortunately missed the opportunity to clearly explain the implications of the new arrangement - haven’t contributed to reassure JRC staff about their future role.
Therefore we urge you again to provide concrete answers to the following questions:
Can you confirm that the JRC will remain a Directorate General of the Commission, with a continuing mission to provide in-house scientific support to EU policies?
What are the differences and the relationship between the role of the Chief Scientific Advisor and that of the JRC?
Not less importantly, can you guarantee that the financial and human resources earmarked to the JRC until 2020 will not be reduced or shared with other European entities?
We strongly believe that answers to these questions are due to JRC colleagues to keep them correctly informed and motivated."
Note sent to Mr Juncker on 2 October 2014 (original version)
Note sent to Mr Juncker on 11 September 2014
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