U4U Circular
- N°56 –
20 June 2016
- Editor: G. Vlandas, Editorial Board
: P. Kéraudren, K. Slama, F. Andreone, J.-P. Soyer.
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U4U Circular |
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Pensions: How much did the 2014 reform of the Staff Regulations cost us? EUROSTAT has recently answered this question. This answer is important, as our pension scheme has been the subject of constant attacks intended to convey the false idea that it is out of control and about to 'explode'. Of course, these rumours are intended to prepare the way for other reforms and further sacrifices. However, the EUROSTAT study has the advantage of confirming that our scheme is in fine fettle and that staff have already paid dearly for the 2014 reform.
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Brexit, what if ?The withdrawal process according to article 50 : what is foreseen in the Treaty ? I am British, is my job at risk ? And what about my children in the European schools ? What U4U has to say ? Contextualisons la crise de confiance dans l'UE : écoutez un entretien avec G. Vlandas
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IDOC annual reportThe IDOC is the Investigation and Disciplinary Office of the Commission. It is responsible for ensuring that staff fulfil their statutory obligations with regard to ethics and integrity. It is sometimes required to provide the AIPN with opinions on sanctions that can include dismissal of those concerned. It has just published its 2015 activity report, a brief summary of which follows. In 2015, the IDOC concluded 101 cases, some of which had been opened during previous years, and began 94 new inquiries. Of these 94 new cases, 10 came from the EEAS and 5 from the executive agencies, meaning that of 33,000 officials, exclusively at the Commission, 0.003% were potentially* in breach of the Staff Regulations in 2015. This figure is very low. Among the 9 types** of infringement listed, 30 cases concern harassment or inappropriate behaviour and 20 are related to unauthorised external activities. Of the 101 cases closed in 2015, 31 were declared unfounded and in 30 no further action will be taken. 19 resulted in sanctions and 16 in warnings ***. Finally, these results show that staff are generally respectful of the ethical rules in the execution of their duties. These results are extremely important for U4U, as in recent years, for fear of external criticism, the administration has tended to focus on controlling staff members as if each individual were a potential offender, promoting a culture of suspicion. U4U, on the other hand, advocates a culture that encourages the development of talent, responsibility and trust. Talent management is a matter that should be dealt with as a priority, as it is in this area that the administration has the most work to do. * The inquiry could result
in a finding of "unfounded".
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DEVCO : U4U listens to you !U4U has recently visited all the building and offices of DG DEVCO in order to get the opinions of DEVCO colleagues on the recent development of HR policies and how they impact DEVCO in particular. These opinions were summarised and also discussed with the HR unit of DG DEVCO (see the document). U4U would now like to share the conclusions of this tour of DG DEVCO with you and discuss ways to improve the HR policies. The meeting will take place on 24 June at 12.45 in 5/A134, Loi 41 U4U a récemment fait le tour des bâtiments et bureaux de la DG DEVCO pour recueillir les opinions des collègues de la DEVCO sur les développements de la politique de gestion du personnel de la Commission et de leur impact sur la DEVCO. Ces opinions ont été synthétisées et discutées avec l’unité HR de la DG DEVCO (voir le document). U4U voudrait maintenant partager les conclusions de ce tour de la DG DEVCO avec vous pour voir comment améliorer ces politiques de gestion du personnel. La réunion publique se tiendra le 24 juin à 12.45 dans la salle 5/ A0134, Loi 41
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Evaluation of the 2015 Promotion exerciseA draft report concerning the evaluation of the 2015 Promotion exercise (corresponding to the 2014 evaluation exercise) is in the process of being written. This report, prepared by the Promotion Monitoring Committee, should be completed and released shortly. At this stage, the draft being circulated already provides some interesting information that lays to rest some received ideas. We have included a summary below. The report notes that the evaluation / promotion procedure in operation since 2012 continues to prove less wasteful of resources for the DGs than the old system. Moreover, fewer than 1% of colleagues have lodged an appeal against their rating. That is a very low figure. As for the promotion exercise, almost 30% of eligible colleagues were promoted in 2015. The Promotion Committee also has at its disposal the equivalent of around 5% of the promotions for staff who have lodged appeals against their non-promotion. For AD staff, 25% of appeals are successful, against just 20% of appeals lodged by AST staff. The suggested improvements include: a better adjustment of the distribution of promotions quotas per DG and per grade, refining the rules governing cascades, etc. U4U stresses the need to respect to the letter the budgetary resources in annex 1B and to ensure that the collective guarantees providing average careers acceptable to staff are also respected.
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Redeployment of AST secretaries to the DG GROWA pilot redeployment operation for secretariat staff is in progress at the DG GROW and other DGs. The AST secretaries are gradually being redeployed to other units of the DG to plug the gaps caused by retirement and the non-renewal of the contracts of contract workers. The aim is to reduce the workforce to one statutory secretary per unit between now and 2017. The certified secretaries who still perform secretariat tasks will, as assistants, have to devote themselves to a greater extent to tasks involving communication, human resources and support for Desk Officers in their operational duties. In addition, bearing in mind the reorganisation / centralisation of tasks currently in progress at the Commission, the secretaries will also be responsible for mail management. In total, this will mean an increase in tasks for the AST secretaries, as well as for the rest of the staff. How can well-being at work be guaranteed now?
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#goalforEUInterns of the European Parliament have launched an initiative called Let's face the refugee crisis together ! Kick out the indifference. Score your #goalforEU. Please sign the petition and join the challenge !
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