Legionella in building 101
NOTE TO THE ATTENTION OF
MS I. SOUKA – DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND SECURITY
AND
MR V. SUCHA – DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Subject: Legionella in building 101
We contact you as R&D Ispra and CISL-Fir since we received from concerned colleagues of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) a message sent on 16 April 2015 (see attachment 1) by Mr Dan Chirondojan on
behalf of both the Ispra Site Management (ISM) and the Medical Service.
The case regards a previous message (attachment 2) sent on 17 March by JRC ISPRA INFOPOINT 100-101 to all staff of building 101 stating that, due to extraordinary maintenance, no sanitary hot water would be available in
building 101. This message was repeated for several days (attachment 3) without further details about the purpose of the works.
One month later staff received the above cited message of Mr Dan Chirondojan mentioning that already on 17 March 2015 "Legionella bacteria was detected in one tap of the hot sanitary water of building 101. As precautionary
action, in consultation with the Medical Service, the hot water supply in all building 101 was immediately suspended and technical steps taken to ensure a sufficiently high operational water temperature to eradicate any
potential risk".
Though we appreciate the action immediately taken in March, we are deeply concerned about the non-communication of the detected Legionella contamination to the occupants of the IHCP building by both ISM and the
Medical Service. In addition the building concerned is also frequented by visitors of the many meetings that the IHCP is organising and appropriate information was not given to them either.
We would like, therefore that a proper and adequate communication flow to the staff will be re-established immediately, and all relevant information concerning the actions taken to detect the source of the problem (not made available yet) are urgently communicated to the JRC staff. Furthermore, we would like to know your opinion whether Art. 8.3 of the COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption is applicable or not.
Parents' Association President: really sure you know the full facts?
Unfortunately, instead of getting first-hand information from a reliable and trustworthy source like the R&D website, he preferred to spread outdated information - aiming at contesting the validity of R&D initiative about the Garderie bus.
If he had checked the facts, he would have discovered that the Ispra Site Director on 2nd April confirmed to R&D that:
"The WG came back to COPAS with two main
recommendations:
- To address to CASS a request for additional budget; this was done and the response was to find a
solution locally, no additional budget
- To discuss with the parents benefiting of this
service and to convince
them to contribute to the financial support of the service"
For the sake of completeness, we include hereafter the unfortunate masterpiece of the president of AGSEV:
Subject:
|
Bus transportation from European school to the GARDERIE
|
Date:
|
Tue, 14 Apr 2015 14:48:55 +0200
|
From:
|
parents association <parents.association@jrc.ec.europa.eu>
|
To:
|
parents association <parents.association@jrc.ec.europa.eu>
|
Dear
Parents,
We
have taken note of a communication in which it refers to bus transportation
from European school to the GARDERIE, communication which argues that "
the JRC management is ready to support the concept that in Ispra parents will
have to pay…" for this transport
This
information does not correspond to reality.
AGSEV has followed with deep attention this issue and we can then communicate that when the coop. of transports asked JRC management to intervene, if necessary, to give funds for this service, the Site Management has expressed its positive opinion.
LSC
also expressed a strongly positive opinion.
In addition, various trade unions were unreservedly in favour of financing this transport.
As AGSEV we had confirmation of this, through reading of the minutes of various meetings.
In addition, various trade unions were unreservedly in favour of financing this transport.
As AGSEV we had confirmation of this, through reading of the minutes of various meetings.
We remember that a specific working group has been made in order to propose solutions to the problem, and we are waiting for the results
As
Parents Association we are convinced that this transport should not be on
charge of JRC staff, as it is an activity of great social importance, given
also flexitime changes for JRC employee
We are aware that they are currently taking place vote for the renewal of the LSC. For this reason, we prefer not to mention the name of the trade union, to avoid any possible manipulation of the parents position.
We simply wish to inform you that, in light of the documents that we have read, the mentioned notice of 7th of April, does not correspond to reality.
We are aware that they are currently taking place vote for the renewal of the LSC. For this reason, we prefer not to mention the name of the trade union, to avoid any possible manipulation of the parents position.
We simply wish to inform you that, in light of the documents that we have read, the mentioned notice of 7th of April, does not correspond to reality.
Of course all documentation is available to
anyone want go in deep.
Best regards,AGSEV President
Best regards,AGSEV President
_______________
We cordially suggest that the president of AGSEV stops defending the administration and starts acting in the real interest of staff and parents: in case of need, R&D is ready to provide him all the necessary support.
ElectoParade
Since R&D works only with facts and not unfounded allegations, we here publish the proof that the issue regarding the representativeness of the list Seville Voice was generated 100% because of internal communication problems within Generation 2004 itself.
This is the message sent yesterday evening by a Generation 2004 representative at JRC Seville to his leader in Brussels (Stefan Grech - Chair, Generation 2004 adf):
From: [name deleted for reasons of privacy]
Sent: 09 April 2015 22:33
To: GRECH Stefan (CDP-OSP)
Cc: DI PIETROGIACOMO Maria Paola (JRC-SEVILLA)
Subject: Sevilla Voice list
Dear Stefan,
I understand your point that you do not like see Generation 2004 associated to the Seville Voice list. Paola has suggested to correct the pre-election declaration and to declare the 11% as independent, which I hope will resolve the issue. My apologies for my mistake and the trouble this has caused. Nevertheless, I believe that the protracted situation is partly caused by the absence of a local staff committee in Seville and I hope that we will see some progress on this in the near future.
Best wishes, [name deleted for reasons of privacy]
Sent: 09 April 2015 22:33
To: GRECH Stefan (CDP-OSP)
Cc: DI PIETROGIACOMO Maria Paola (JRC-SEVILLA)
Subject: Sevilla Voice list
Dear Stefan,
I understand your point that you do not like see Generation 2004 associated to the Seville Voice list. Paola has suggested to correct the pre-election declaration and to declare the 11% as independent, which I hope will resolve the issue. My apologies for my mistake and the trouble this has caused. Nevertheless, I believe that the protracted situation is partly caused by the absence of a local staff committee in Seville and I hope that we will see some progress on this in the near future.
Best wishes, [name deleted for reasons of privacy]
ElectoParade - Top Vergognation
To mitigate the anxiety of the above-mentioned Trade Unions for their imminent electoral results, we wish to issue them some prizes:1) Prize "TAOfazzi 2015" to TAO/AFI for its message explaining the reasons pushing all candidates from all Trade Unions to become staff representatives:
“to each of the 290 candidates we can associate one of the following reasons;
- To solve personal problem/s .
- Possibility of leaving the service without the obligation of justifying the absence.
- To create relationships with VIP (Director General, Commissioners,...) to gain personal benefit.
- Have access to confidential information.
- Power trip.
- Lack of motivation in the service.
- Don Quixote.
- Robin Hood.
- Take a "selfy" with a VIP to decorate the wall of his office.
- Travel (missions).
- Handle information.
- Indicate in the annual appraisal report "Completed tasks in the institution's interest."
- To bring votes in the list.
- Exhibitionism...”
Thanks to their extraordinary performance, TAO/AFI also wins the prize "Best LSC weakening action 2015" awarded by the Administration, and the gratitude of all candidates for finally making them feeling part of the same united body, sharing the same values and principles.
2) Prize "8 March" to USI for its public recognition of the hard work, commitment and dedication of Ms Paola Di Pietrogiacomo in favour of Seville staff.
3) Prize "Scajola 2015" to Generation 2004, which received a quota of representativeness from Seville Voice without his knowledge.
4) Prize "Dummy Bullhorn" to TAO/AFI and SAVE Europe for their sensationalistic relaunch of the alleged electoral fraud of Seville Voice.
5) Prize "Lapalissade" to SAVE Europe for its discovery that "voting for one Union or for another isn't the same thing".
6) Prize "Voglio vivere così..." to SAVE Europe for its accusation of camouflage to Seville Voice, when they present ISCA (100% SAVE Europe).
7) Prize "Coitus interruptus" to SAVE Europe for noticing only one out of four ex-Caterpillar candidates standing for elections.
For full climax, 2 are standing with R&D, 1 with Generation 2004, 1 with CISL and 4 are no longer candidates.
Many thanks to all these Trade Unions: we wish them a good electoral result to continue having fun!! ---)))
2) Prize "8 March" to USI for its public recognition of the hard work, commitment and dedication of Ms Paola Di Pietrogiacomo in favour of Seville staff.
3) Prize "Scajola 2015" to Generation 2004, which received a quota of representativeness from Seville Voice without his knowledge.
4) Prize "Dummy Bullhorn" to TAO/AFI and SAVE Europe for their sensationalistic relaunch of the alleged electoral fraud of Seville Voice.
5) Prize "Lapalissade" to SAVE Europe for its discovery that "voting for one Union or for another isn't the same thing".
6) Prize "Voglio vivere così..." to SAVE Europe for its accusation of camouflage to Seville Voice, when they present ISCA (100% SAVE Europe).
7) Prize "Coitus interruptus" to SAVE Europe for noticing only one out of four ex-Caterpillar candidates standing for elections.
For full climax, 2 are standing with R&D, 1 with Generation 2004, 1 with CISL and 4 are no longer candidates.
Many thanks to all these Trade Unions: we wish them a good electoral result to continue having fun!! ---)))
Bus European School Varese - Ispra Garderie
Are Ispra staff "children of a lesser God"?
Read on and judge for yourself!
NOTE TO THE ATTENTION OF MR D.C. CHIRONDOJAN
DIRECTOR OF THE ISPRA SITE (sent on 1/4/2015)
Subject:
Bus Transport from European School of Varese to Ispra Garderie
Dear Mr Chirondojan,
We
wish to come back to the issue of the bus transport from the European School of
Varese to the Ispra garderie, for which an acceptable long-term solution still
needs to be found.
Already
many months ago, some staff representatives exchanged messages urging all
parties involved to sit at a table together
with PMO in order to identify a solution that, according to our understanding,
could have been easily achieved.
To
our knowledge, this meeting with PMO
was never convened.
We
wish to draw your attention to the information published on MyIntracomm
about education allowances where it is clearly stated that “…your child is
attending one of the European
Schools (primary or secondary level) and using the school transport
service. In this case, it is imperative that you introduce an education
declaration via SYSPER each year to enable the PMO to pay the
organisation administering the school's transport service directly on your
behalf.”
There
is no doubt that PMO is indicated as the entity being in charge of paying
transport fees directly on behalf of Commission staff; no derogation for Ispra
or the JRC is mentioned.
Assuming
that PMO cannot pay for the transportation from the school to the garderie
conflicts with the provisions of Commission
Decision of 16 December 2013.
Declaration
of transportation to the garderie is available in Sysper (see annex), and this
service is commonly available in Brussels (see for instance the rules of bus
transport of the following schools: UCCLE, WOLUWE, IXELLES, LAEKEN).
Following
an inquiry to PMO, we have received further confirmation that the route home-->school-->garderie
is fully covered by PMO itself for parents who are entitled to receive an
education allowance from the 1st primary year onwards, without any need for
these parents to contribute to it.
We understand that at Ispra a proposal to relapse the cost of this bus transport to parents benefiting from this service – via an OIB increase of garderie fees – is under discussion.
As R&D, we strongly regret any deviation from practices applied in the rest of the Institution, and we would regret even more a solution ending up in additional unjustified costs for parents at Ispra – further penalising Ispra staff compared to the rest of Commission staff, and reducing the Ispra site attractiveness.
For the reasons above we urge you, once again, in your capacity of Ispra site Director and President of COPAS, to take immediate contact with PMO and start looking for a real and permanent solution, within the current frame of Commission rules and practices, and without any unjustifiable budgetary impact on concerned staff.
Kind regards,
Hans Nieman
Vice-President
Cc: J.P.
Michel, R.
Crandon, A.
Koletsos, V.
Sucha
Reply from Mr Chirondojan (received on 2 April 2015)
Dear Mr.Nieman,
Dear Mr.Nieman,
Thank you for your message.
I would like to inform you that the issue of the bus transport from Varese to Ispra Garderie was intensively discussed in the last three meetings of COPAS. You might know that in order to ensure the continuity of the service for 2015, COPAS decided and I implemented this decision to allocate 35K EURO from COPAS budget to the Cooperativa managing the service. Moreover we decided to establish a Working Group (WG) that looked further into this issue aiming to find a long-term solution. The WG came back to COPAS with two main recommendations:
I would like to inform you that the issue of the bus transport from Varese to Ispra Garderie was intensively discussed in the last three meetings of COPAS. You might know that in order to ensure the continuity of the service for 2015, COPAS decided and I implemented this decision to allocate 35K EURO from COPAS budget to the Cooperativa managing the service. Moreover we decided to establish a Working Group (WG) that looked further into this issue aiming to find a long-term solution. The WG came back to COPAS with two main recommendations:
- To address to CASS a request for additional budget; this was done and the response was to find a solution locally, no additional budget
- To discuss with the parents benefiting of this service and to convince them to contribute to the financially support of the service
The WG has discussed with PMO, but no solution was identified.
If you state that you "have received further confirmation that the route home > school > garderie is fully covered by PMO itself for parents who are entitled to receive an education allowance from the 1st primary year onwards, without any need for these parents to make any financial contribution", I would kindly ask you to communicate officially to COPAS members the solution identified with PMO and I invite you to the next meeting COPAS to present it. Based on the discussions in the plenary, the COPAS Committee can decide further actions.
- To discuss with the parents benefiting of this service and to convince them to contribute to the financially support of the service
The WG has discussed with PMO, but no solution was identified.
If you state that you "have received further confirmation that the route home > school > garderie is fully covered by PMO itself for parents who are entitled to receive an education allowance from the 1st primary year onwards, without any need for these parents to make any financial contribution", I would kindly ask you to communicate officially to COPAS members the solution identified with PMO and I invite you to the next meeting COPAS to present it. Based on the discussions in the plenary, the COPAS Committee can decide further actions.
Best regards,
Dan Chirondojan
Our reply to Mr Chirondojan (sent on 2 April 2015)
Dear Mr Chirondojan,
Best Regards,
Hans Nieman
Vice-President
Dan Chirondojan
Our reply to Mr Chirondojan (sent on 2 April 2015)
Dear Mr Chirondojan,
Thank you for your message, which confirms the correctness of our information, and namely that no long-term solution has been identified so far and that a recommendation to ask parents to pay for the service is imminent.
The central issue that we wished to point out in our previous message is that staff working in Brussels have a right to a free transport service from school to after school care, a right that is not defended for JRC staff working at Ispra: we strongly regret that the JRC management is ready to support the concept that Ispra staff rights are different and inferior to those of staff working in other sites.
We also regret that you don't seem to have taken the time to go through all the information provided in our message which would have convinced you that PMO normally pays for this service in Brussels. Since finding a contact in PMO seems to be a "mission impossible" for most of involved stakeholders, we are happy to inform you that it is quite easy to find the person in PMO.1 responsible for "Contrôle des allocations scolaires" on the Commission Directory. In order to obtain definitive confirmation, a colleague of ours asked this contact person: "I am about to move to Brussels and I would be grateful if you could answer the following question (information on the schools websites is not very clear to me): My son will take the bus from home to the school in the morning but I need that in the afternoon he goes to the garderie. Is it possible to have this kind of service, i.e. home-school-garderie? If yes, is the whole cost covered by the Commission through your service or the parents need to contribute to it?" PMO.1 answered: "Your son will be able to take the formula home-school-garderie for the use of the European School bus. They will charge us a complete fare for this use and you won't need to supply."
It must be remembered that COPAS members, both administration nominated and staff representatives, were astonished that the JRC management had passed this issue onto COPAS last year, without JRC management having made any serious attempt to resolve the issue at institutional level. You insist on putting COPAS at the core of the discussion despite all COPAS members agreeing since the beginning that COPAS was not the appropriate body entitled to find a durable solution, and that access to COPAS credits was only an emergency one-off.
COPAS, being a local body, and its ad hoc WG, was clearly only able to evaluate possible options which could be implemented locally in extremis to avoid closure of the service in the absence of a more appropriate institutional solution - we would expect you to be aware that for this reason a formal discussion between the COPAS WG and PMO never took place.
Further to your question to "communicate officially to COPAS members the solution identified with PMO" and your invitation to present it at the next meeting COPAS, we wish to inform you that Trade Unions have no institutional role to send official communications to COPAS members and we invite you to do it in your capacity as COPAS President. Furthermore, unfortunately, we have no authority to deal with PMO directly and on behalf of JRC management.
We hope that the evidence we have passed on to you will now be used by all relevant stakeholders to the benefit of our colleagues using the ES Varese – Ispra Garderie bus service and we reiterate, even more firmly, our request that the JRC organise a meeting with PMO urgently to ensure full respect of the rights of Ispra-based staff.
Best Regards,
Hans Nieman
Vice-President
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