LSC elections in Ispra and Seville 

Oooops! R&D did it again!
                   

For an unprecedented 4th time in a row,  R&D was again the most voted Trade Union in the Local Staff Committee (LSC) elections in Ispra and Seville (17/11/24 – 4/12/24).

AnotherR&Dimension and Seville Voice registered together almost 43% of all votes!

The staff sent once again a clear message of appreciation, trust and confidence to our candidates, recognising their work, seriousness, transparency and dedication in addressing staff issues 

THANK YOU! We thank those who supported us, and we will appreciate even more, if those who didn’t vote for us share with us their concerns. No matter these reasons, our battles will continue!
 

These results consolidate the role of Federal R&D as the leading Trade Union
in the Social Dialogue of the European civil service!

The guidelines for new ways of working, anti-harassment, and missions were discussed at the highest level and implemented in the past three years. We have made sure that the Ispra and Seville site-specific issues were considered and supported the physical visits of the Central Staff Committee to these sites. We have worked in detail regarding the access to the Italian Health system and the understanding of the local coefficient, incl. urgent measures to mitigate the negative impact on staff.  In Seville, R&D has underlined its support via the Seville Voice list towards developing the new building and establishing an own Local Staff Committee, which would put this site in the same conditions as the others. The collaboration of R&D colleagues in the Local and Central Staff Committees asserted staff interests towards the administration, avoiding that unreasonable, detrimental to staff, decisions were taken.

We are all the more proud that these results have been achieved without renouncing the common values that constitute the basis for action of all R&D sections. Federal R&D , the first union at the level of all institutions is above all a community of values!

R&D has not worked in isolation! For R&D it has never been a matter of boasting of being the leading Trade Union by dividing the staff representation: we have always JOINED FORCES with all Unions based on an attitude of mutual respect.

Hence, the R&D sections in the different Local Staff Committees extend their sincere gratitude to the colleagues from JRC Ispra and Seville for this remarkable success, which came notwithstanding the challenging timing and political circumstances. In the light of budget constraints, ever increasing workloads and new priorities in the Commission, it is important that we all stand together. These results will add to the ones from the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economical and Social Committee and many other Institutions confirming the highest positioning of R&D as the leading trade union of the European Institutions!

Standing up for one set of Staff Regulations for all institutions and places of employment, protecting the rights of the colleagues, the equality of treatment, the transparency of procedures, fighting against abuses, preventing the erosion of the service ... always at the heart of the R&D action.

For R&D, standing up for a scingle set of Staff Regulations and protecting the values on which our civil service is based have never been, are not, and will never be an empty slogan! In all negotiations, we highlight the best practices of each institution and demand equal treatment of colleagues regardless of their institution or place of employment.

Within each institution and in all places of employment, we demand transparency of procedures, we oppose abuses and "parachuting" .... we defend the rights of colleagues by also offering the help of a pool of specialized lawyers to guide, help and serve you better.

Solidarity always at the heart of R&D action       

Solidarity being the foundation of our joint action, we do not spare our efforts to assist and defend our colleagues in precarious situations, without ever making deceptive promises, nor playing demagoguery.

Cristiano SEBASTIANI,
President

From 18^th - 20^th of November, all the statutory staff will be invited to vote for the new composition of the Ispra/Seville Local Staff Committee (LSC). The LSC has a fundamental role in the defence of staff rights and plays a key part in the verification of the correct application of the Staff Regulations and other local provisions. Please find here a guide how the LSC elections work.

R&D Ispra will be present as list 5 - anotheR&Dimension.

It is of paramount importance to have a strong and reliable Staff Committee. For that reason we are asking to renew your trust in us and support our guidance of the Local Staff Committee that we have had during the last three-year mandate, thanks also to the concrete work of the elected members of anotheR&Dimension. Please find below the list of our candidates and a summary of our programme. A more detailed programme is available here.

The Staff Committees ensure the application of the Staff Regulations. Voting for their composition is a right and a duty of each one of us; don't miss the chance to make your voice heard!

 ISPRA SALARY ADJUSTMENT 2024

We would like to clarify some aspects of the annual salary adjustment that have been circulating recently, following the publication of the Eurostat Report.

Firstly, it should be noted that the basic salary grid (TBA) for staff has increased by 8.5% over the past year (to July 2024), in accordance with the "méthode" set out in the Staff Regulations, with an intermediate adjustment of 3% in January 2024 and the balance in July 2024.

Most unfortunately, for Ispra however, we will not see an increase in the net salary received due to the effect of the correction coefficient, which has decreased from 0,95 to 0,869 over the last year.

 
Based on the available official data, a working group has been established within R&D to analyse the circumstances that has led to such a significant decrease in our correction coefficient this year and the aspects that have had the most significant impact on its calculation. Some initial reflections and suggested actions are reported below:

• The weight attributed to housing prices in different countries/locations contributes  greatly to the results of the calculations. In particular the rental prices have decreased significantly in Varese compared to Brussels over the last year.
• Additionally, some of the data comes from the survey (family budget survey) that is normally proposed to staff every 5-7 years. The last survey for Varese dates back to 2016, and for this reason it is no longer current, and does not take into account the effects of the post COVID-19 pandemic and the recent period of high inflation. Eurostat had in previous reports stated its intention to perform a new survey within 2024, which it unfortunately has not implemented.

We are currently planning the following actions: 

• We will request a review of the data currently used for the calculation of the 2024 correction coefficient.
  
• We will request a new survey to be conducted promptly, so that the determination of the next correction coefficient is more in line with our reality, and request that these surveys are performed at more frequent intervals.
• We will explore further “intersindacale” administrative actions.

We are also planning to organize a more detailed information session to discuss with you the results of our analysis and have an open exchange with staff. We remind you that this issue will be discussed during the upcoming plenary sessions of the LSC (Local Staff Committee) and the CSC (Central Staff Committee) with full involvement of all the staff representatives, to ensure that this important topic is given due attention.

The Executive Committee R&D Ispra

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 Recently another trade union sent a message containing information regarding the intermediate salary update in June. The explanation of the adjustment calculation and the method was well explained.

Unfortunately, the net effect on the pay slip for staff based in Ispra in June will be - 0.1% (retroactive to January 2024 : - 0.6%),  because of the highlighted increase of 3% in the salary grid is more than neutralized by the nominal reduction of the coefficient corrector for Varese of 3% (from 0.95 to 0.92).

From our understanding, the situation for salary adjustment at the end of this year will be probably more positive.

The R&D Ispra Executive Committee

The Article 72(3) and how it must be applied by the PMO:
For R&D fairness and solidarity are not just empty words! 

The Article 72(3) is one of the best “hidden secrets” of the Staff Regulations, but also one of the aspects that demon¬strates the solidarity dimension of our Staff Regulations. 

A dimension that is all too often neglected in the implementation of the statutory provisions! 

Indeed, Article 72(3) provides for an additional “special reimbursement” by the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) when individual affiliates face very high medical expenses. In particular, Article 72(3) reads:

‘Where the total expenditure not reimbursed for any period of twelve months exceeds half the official's basic monthly salary or pension special reimbursement shall be allowed by the appointing authority, account being taken of the family circumstances of the person concerned, in manner provided in the rules referred to in paragraph 1.’

As it can be immediately understood, this is a very important article because it can provide additional financial support when a colleague has medical problems that involve very high costs, which is a major additional, sometimes dramatic, problem for the lowest paid colleagues.

On an almost daily basis, we come across colleagues who are indeed faced with large financial expenses and don’t really know that they may be entitled to apply for a special reimbursement.

And the Paymaster’s Office (PMO) is unwilling to provide affiliates with an automated system that automatically calculates the amount of money an individual is responsible for over the last twelve months.

It is left to individual colleagues to calculate their own expenses, to compare them with their basic salary and to decide whether or not to submit the “special reimbursement request”

For R&D, this is unacceptable, both because the PMO would easily have the tools to automatically calculate the “rolling 12-month expenditure not-reimbursed by JSIS” of each JSIS affiliate at any given time, and also because the colleagues with very high medical expenses are often not in a position to make such calculations.

R&D requests that PMO include in each individual's JSIS page an automated calculation of the rolling 12-month expenditure for medical expenses, as referred to in Art. 72(3)

R&D will continue to push for the introduction of a screen in each affiliate's personal space in JSIS (or PMO Mobile) that automatically calculates the sum of the personal expenses over the last twelve months. In this way, colleagues could easily check whether they are eligible or not.

How can someone apply for a “special reimbursement”?

If an individual Affiliate estimates that he/she has incurred medical expenses that exceed half of the basic salary, then the Affil¬iate can submit the dedicated application form1. 2 . The special reimbursement rate will then be as follows3

•  a 90% reimbursement of the amount exceeding half your basic salary if you are a member and no one else is insured under your name; for example, if you are single and have no children;
•  a 100% reimbursement of the amount exceeding half your basic salary if there is at least one other person insured in your name, such as your spouse.

When applying Article 72 (3), in order not to penalise colleagues working in the countries with low salary correction coefficients, the PMO must consider the salary actually paid, taking into account the correction coefficients

In this respect, the Court of Justice has already clarified that the basic salary to be taken into account when applying Article 72 (3) is the salary actually paid, taking into account the correction coefficient: 4
 

‘(…) 15. ’15 It follows from the foregoing that to assess correctly the extent of the financial burden placed on an official who is seeking a special reimbursement, the living conditions of the place of his employment must be taken into account and consequently the special reimbursement provided tor in Article 71 (3) of the Staff Regulations must be calculated, not solely in accordance with the salary referred to in Article 66, but on the basis of the real salary adjusted by the weighting provided for in Article 64 whose purpose is precisely to take account of the living conditions in the place of employment.” 

This is a very important aspect to consider in order to ensure fairness and solidarity!

To give an example, if a colleague works in Croatia (where the correction coefficient is 84.8%) and has a basic monthly salary of 3000 €, what this colleague actually earns each month is not 3000 € but 2544 €.
Thus, according to the abovementioned case law, Article 72(3) must be applicable to this colleague if the medical expenses for the past 12 months would be higher than 2544/2=1272 € and not if the medical expenses for the past 12 months are higher than 1500 € without applying the salary correction coefficient.

Conclusion

Disregarding the salary actually paid when applying Article 72(3), denies the solidarity and fairness at the heart of this Article, creates a situation of unequal treatment between colleagues from different places of employment and it is detrimental to those colleagues working in Member States already penalised by a salary correction coefficient below 100%.

If you are in any doubt as to how Article 72 (3) should be applied to your case, or if you are faced with decisions by the PMO that do not seem right to you, please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance from our team of specialists and Lawyers.

R&D is always at your side!
 

Cristiano Sebastiani,
Chairman
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1.  In English: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/Documents/health/demande-rembspecial-en.pdf
2.  In French: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/Documents/health/demande-rembspecial-fr.pdf
3. https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/staff/EN/health/reimbursement/special-rules/Pages/special-reimbursement.aspx
4. Affaire 115/83 :  eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:61983CJ0115