R&D alongside CA colleagues
Stop social dumping!
For our contract agent colleagues, the problem is first of all the workforce plan and the interpretation made by some technocrats within the administration, as officials and assimilated agents are registered on posts (temporary or permanent) and contract agents are only considered as “credits”, while the vast majority are assigned to permanent functions.
This policy encourages social dumping and not only creates disharmony at all levels of our institutions, but above all strengthens the Member States in their desire to destabilise the institution, like a Trojan horse!
In addition to its high cost, this personnel policy has become humanly and technically unmanageable.
The institution must start by putting in place a real career management policy for our AC colleagues, including fair and transparent procedures for access to higher function groups, TA posts as well as permanent officials.
Unlocking careers, strengthening social cohesion by “screening” all positions of responsibility would ensure greater consistency and satisfaction.
The range of grades for the reclassification of contract agents should be reviewed: promotions should be faster in order to value the work of colleagues and to reinforce their motivation.
The entry grade for newly recruited CAs should adequately take into account the qualifications and, very importantly, the level of responsibility that a given post entails.
The proposal to extend the duration of the contract is a step in the right direction and will allow the implementation of a real multi-annual policy of internal competitions allowing access to the status of civil servant with selection tests guaranteeing equal treatment between candidates and the objective character of the selection.
For AC colleagues leaving the institution, the Commission must ensure that their children’s school fees are covered until the end of the school year.
R&D has never made unrealistic and impossible proposals in relation to the Staff Regulations, with the promise of :
- thousands of tenure positions;
- granting of hundreds of TA contracts;
- widespread reclassification.
The new DGE for AC staff: i.e. how DG HR betrayed its promises and wanted to make savings on the back of the most vulnerable part of our staff!
During the negotiation of the new DGE for AC staff, together with its Alliance partners, and subsequently with all the other unions, R&D drew up a detailed set of specifications covering all aspects of the negotiations to be conducted and providing for all the measures to be implemented to meet the expectations of ALL our AC colleagues, regardless of the nature of their contract or their assignment to a DG, Office or Agency.
Unfortunately, the new DGEs are far from meeting all our demands and the expectations of staff. Indeed, right from the start of the negotiations, it became clear that the real objective of DG HR was far from the political commitments it had made. The real aim was to make savings on the back of the weakest part of our staff.
Thanks to the determination of R&D et des autres syndicats, and the other unions, some minor progress has been made. Nevertheless, much remains to be done to meet colleagues’ expectations and reduce precariousness.
R&D demands
- the implementation of a real job market accessible to all AC colleagues, including those working in executive agencies, allowing colleagues who have reached the maximum limit of 6 years in the Commission’s DGs to put their acquired skills at the service of other institutions;
- the organisation of a genuine career development policy for AC staff, including transparent procedures for access to higher function groups;
- increasing the reclassification rate for both AC 3 bis and 3 ter;
- the organisation, on a regular basis, of internal competitions open to AC colleagues with a guarantee of recruitment of successful candidates;
- the organisation of open competitions for the recruitment of AST/SC in order to promote access to civil servant posts for existing GFII CAs.