No Xy Lo
La lettre du Syndicalisme Refondateur
xyloglossie : n.f. [pédant, humour] nom parodique donné plaisamment à la langue de bois
Humanitas
The human, human relations, human qualities: since when do we give up on them on the road to efficiency, on the slipping slope of every man for himself or when grasping on the wall of indifference?
In our relation with ourselves, with others and with the world in general, the common denominator is without doubt the fundamental concept of the human being, of humanity or even more abstractly humanism.
Outside our busy lives when we are free from the weight of our daily worries and when we take some time to recharge and look at the way we are, we act and react, do we spare any time to reflect about this fundamental concept?
Let us for a moment think about the quality of our relations with the others, let us see again the way take part in society, let us examine whether we keep the spirit of our moral obligations, our responsibilities and the true happiness which only comes from our essence as human beings amongst other human beings!
Our humanity compels us to act as such! The trade union activities is, in the best of cases and when one thinks about it, a concrete application of this humanity. To serve, to defend and to live in solidarity within our human micro-society are among the noblest goals of organised collective action.
In any case, this is the philosophical foundation of U4U, our daily ambition and the underlining logic behind all our efforts, namely to be in the service of the most vulnerable amongst us: colleagues with precarious contracts, 50+ etc.
It is a worthwhile ambition to re-build trade union action on fundamental human values.
Did you know it ? The misery of the administration or the administration of the misery ?
In the Commission, women represent 38.4% of the AD and men 61.6% (*). In contrast, 65.2% of the AST are women, and 34.8% of men. The same phenomenon is observed at the level of precarious staff which is in its majority feminine. There is no doubt that the Commission needs to continue its efforts for a better gender balance.
The Commission does not apply the promotion quotas set in the staff for the AD 13: thus last year the promotion quota was 9% instead of the 15% defined and this year it is still 9% instead of the defined 2015. U4U will suggest to the other trade unions a common action.
The first risk, already pointed out at the time of the annual balance sheets in AIDCO and the one related to the turnover of staff with precarious contracts. Things continue to be managed in an identical manner. Why not change, as demanded by 3000 signatories against precarious contracts in the Commission?
In RELEX, when dealing with individual files, it appears that priority is given to the diplomats of the Member States to the disadvantage of the colleagues already there. A first taste of what it is to follow with the transfer to SEAE? U4U will alert the people responsible about the damage of this policy.
Several thousand of our colleagues will be forced to leave for the SEAE. This is the greatest mobility in the history of the Commission and most importantly it is not carried out within the institution. In addition, the personnel concerned was not consulted and there was no "chambre d'écoute". U4U in cooperation with the other trade unions of the majority trade union alliance will challenge the administration on this issue.
Taking stock of the Evaluation and promotion exercices: 36% of the unanimous recommendations of the appeal committees were not followed up by the DGs (namely DGT, INFSO, MARKT etc..) and without any justification compared to the 14% and 4% of last year and the year before respectively. The moral of the story is that the longer the system remains the more absurd becomes its management. It is imperative to change the system as from 2011.
(*) Source: HR Report 2010
RCAM: The health insurance scheme of the Commission in danger ?
Within the framework of updating the accounts of the common health insurance (RCAM), it appears that the audit of the accounts showed an operational deficit of EUR 40 million for 2008 and 2009 i.e. an annual deficit of 20 million.
In order to balance the accounts, a first transfer of funds from the investment accounts was carried out and another second transfer of EUR 10 million is under way. Consequently, the reserve of the funds is decreasing and more so as interest rates are low meaning that the basic reserve funds are decreasing.
The reasons for this are not known precisely. The increase in the number of pensioners, the ageing population of the Commission and finally the turnover in a considerable number of precarious employees could give us some indication why without excluding other additional reasons.
The board of the PMO set up a working group to establish the status quo, identify the causes of this situation and to take measures in order to guarantee the viability of the system.
The first question to answer is whether this deficit is only financial or structural as well. The 2010 figures should make it possible to see this more clearly. La première question est de déterminer si ce déficit est conjoncturel ou structurel. Les chiffres de 2010 devraient permettre d'y voir plus clair.
Early Retirement
Commission Report to the Council and the European Parliament: evaluation of the implementation of early retirement (Article 9 Annexe VIII of the Staff Regulations & Article 39 of the Conditions of Employment of other Agents of the European Community) The Member States are asking for the abrogation of this statutory provision.
Articles 9 of the Annex VIII and 39 RAA of the Staff Regulations stipulate that 8 to 12% (average 10%) of the colleagues could opt for early retirement without any penalties. In its evaluation report for the last five years, the Commission indicates the institutions properly implemented these articles by applying the relevant regulatory provisions – namely an average of 10% in relation to the retirements of the previous year according to Article 52 of the Staff Regulations and the budget neutrality guarantee.
The Member States in the framework of the Statutory Group, considered that the Institutions were too generous despite the fact that they only respected the regulatory provisions. Under the pretext that budgetary balance could not be ensured in the long term, they invite the Commission to modify this possibility for early retirement by allowing it only for cases where there is duly justified interest for the service. They also ask the Commission to present a legislative proposal in the first six months of 2011 in order to modify the Staff Regulations and annul this provision.
We are asking the Commission not to give in to this new attack and to defend this regulatory provision for which the staff paid dearly in 2004 by accepting salary reductions, allowances and other aiming to maintain decent retirement provisions.
This is the second attack that the Member States launch against the Staff Regulations (see refusal to accept the method for salary increases in 2009). So the question now is: why should staff negotiate changes in the Staff Regulations whilst the Member States do not respect their part of the bargain?
The new competitions
The Official Journal C 285 A will pubish the following open competitions:
EPSO/AD/200/10 – Jurist trained in English, Scottish or North Irish Law
EPSO/AD/201/10 – Jurists trained in Spanish Law
EPSO/AD/202/10 – Jurists trained in French Law
EPSO/AD/203/10 – Jurists trained in Dutch Law
Administrators (AD 5) specialised in legal research.
Additional information can be found on the EPSO website.
Adhérez ! Cotisation 10 € (membres donateurs 50€)
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Editeur: G. Vlandas Responsable de la rédaction: R. Mohedano-Brèthes Équipe: J.-P. Soyer, F. Andreone, F. Linton, J.L. Noir, N. Pascall, S. Vlandas
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