24/10/2014

Certification exercise: common sense is back again!

Certification exercise: DG HR departments talk to each other and common sense is back again! The deadline for the introduction of applications has been postponed to 18^th November!

With a message sent on 8^th 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 31^stOctober 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 8^th 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.

15/10/2014

Timely decisions regarding contract renewals for CA staff

A new internal administrative procedure has been put in place at JRC Ispra with the aim of ensuring contract agents will always be informed in a timely manner regarding a possible renewal or non-renewal of their contract. We are pleased to note that the new procedure is in line with our previous request in which we expressed our belief that our CA colleagues deserve to have decisions that affect their professional and family life to be made and communicated as soon as possible. Once the new procedure is fully phased in, every CA colleague should receive a formal notification no later than 3 months before contract expiry.

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.

09/10/2014

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)

********

In a continued effort to reduce spam, we are going to change the way we address our messages to staff. To continue receiving our R&D Voice messages, please subscribe to our new dedicated mailing list. You can easily unsubscribe anytime, if you wish so!

Additionally, you can get our Press Review alerts by subscribing to our dedicated mailing list: be always informed about press articles which are relevant for the JRC!

08/10/2014

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...

06/10/2014

PMO hesitates, R&D bridges the gap!

Following our request to re-establish an individual rights sector at Ispra, we regret to inform you that we have received a negative answer from the Director of PMO.

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.

04/10/2014

R&D Newsletters: we hate spam!

Like you, also R&D hates spam!

That's why, in a continuous effort to improve our communication, we wish to propose ourselves as the first "spam free" Trade Union of JRC Ispra and of the European Commission.

We wish to deserve your trust, and we are confident you will enjoy our messages because you appreciate them, and not because you forcedly receive them.

To further reduce possibility for annoyances, you are entitled to subscribe to targeted content newsletters, depending on your preference.

Subscription to our newsletters is free: if later on you change your mind or are no longer interested, you can easily unsubscribe by simply clicking the ad hoc link provided in each of our messages.

Wish more? Become a member of R&D, and get your ringside seat for our reserved top news and announcements!

02/10/2014

Role and positioning of the Joint Research Centre within the Commission: follow-up

"Dear Mr Juncker,
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