Meeting of the Secretariat on 13/10/2015
The meeting decided on the text of a petition to be launched ASAP :
Contract Agents act decisively in 2015 !
The Decision on the Implementing Procedures Decision for Contract Agents (CAs) working for the European Commission should be adopted as soon as possible in order to better integrate the 6500 CAs in the services and should then serve as the model for similar decisions taken for CAs by executive agencies, the External Action Service, the European agencies and of course the other EU institutions. The trade-unions have been called to negotiate.
However the negotiations with DG HR still run too slowly. They started in 2013 and we still have no implementing procedures in late 2015! It is very worrying that many CA colleagues, who supported this reform since 2009, have already left the Commission without any chance to benefit from the much awaited new policy. The Collectif des Contractuels requests a rapid progress of the negotiations in order to allow the CAs in their current 5th and 6th year of contract to benefit before the end of 2015 from the rules on internal competitions and mobility towards the executive agencies and other offices.
The Collectif des Contractuels has discussed the current proposals made by DG HR and develops an approach that is in line with VP Georgieva’s policy for using the best talents within the Commission.
To fully support a rapid progress of the negotiations, the Collectif des Agents Contractuels proposes 12 objectives that we ask you to support by using the links above this message.
The 12 objectives proposed by the Collectif des Contractuels are:
1. Internal competitions for CAs to become permanent officials should take place every 2 years, using fully the means foreseen by the Staff Regulations adopted in January 2014 (5% yearly, which means 10% once every 2 years). We demand the first round of internal competitions to be published by the end of 2015!
2. Procedures for reclassification (“passage de groupe de fonction”) should include both CA 3bis and CA 3ter and be made possible after 3 years of service as only condition of eligibility; these procedures should be applicable every year.
3. CAs currently working in European institutions and who have already passed an EPSO selection for a superior function group /grade, should automatically be reclassified on the respective superior function group/grade, with new tasks corresponding to their new function group. CAs performing higher tasks than the function group where they have been classified should be given a higher function group contract according to the nature of the tasks they actually perform.
4. CAs currently working for the European Commission and whose name is on a Laureate Reserve List for permanent officials should automatically be entitled to his/her permanent official position.
5. Annual Performance Evaluation should be implemented for all CAs (3ter and 3bis) and the criteria should be similar with the ones applied for permanent officials. This evaluation should be put in place after the second year in order to enable a comparative assessment of contract renewals after 3 years and will also support a better promotion system for the CAs.
6. Full transparency of CA vacancies published at the European Commission, including delegations, representations, offices and executive agencies, as well as the EEAS. All CA vacancies should be published in Sysper and made available to all staff. We require a performant Internal Job Market which will support the priorities forwarded by the Vice-President Georgieva with regard to Career Management. Allowing the mobility of CAs within the European Commission’s DGs and services should be a first step towards a serious career management process.
7. The mobility measures and the transparency of vacancy publication system should serve as a model of good practice for the other EU institutions. The Directors General-Secretaries General of all these entities meet monthly and the Commission’s representatives have a legitimate opportunity to recommend the model to all other authorities, inviting them to merge into a single Internal Job Market and Mobility scheme.
8. All CAs currently working for the European institutions and who have given satisfaction should be able to have their contract renewed without extra examination.
9. CAs working in the Executive Agencies should benefit from similar conditions with the CAs working at the European Commission. Social Dialogue should be included in all agencies, to protect the rights of CAs and integrate them in the Inter-Institutional Mobility Programme and in internal competitions.
10. External Specialised Competitions should be organised as soon as possible, encouraging CAs with high expertise to join the Commission in permanent positions at sufficiently high grades reflecting their expertise. This will motivate all expert CAs, particularly the ones working in the EU delegations, representations, offices and executive agencies, as well as EEAS, to plan their career within the Commission or EEAS and not outside!
11. Children going to the European school or kindergartens / nurseries should be allowed to finish/graduate their school year in their respective education institution, no matter in what month of the year the parent (CA) terminates his/her contract, without having to pay extra fees (“minerval”) at the European Schools or paying contributions to kindergarten if both parents have become unemployed.
12. The new recruitment policy of CAs should be streamlined. CAs 3bis should be directly employed indefinitely (subject to assessment within the normal probation period) unless there are specific reasons of service not to do so; CA 3 ter should be systematically employed for a first period of three years (subject to assessment within the normal probation period) unless there are specific reasons of service not to do so, and then renewed for a second period of three years.
Vice President Georgieva presented her priorities on Talent Management in July 2015, expressing her admiration for the high quality of the staff working for the European Commission. She presented a new strategy for the HR management, stating that the right person should be in the right position, at the right time. This policy should fully inspire the current negotiations on the CAs and be actually reflected in its final results.
The Collectif des Contractuels is dedicated to the core objectives in this negotiation with the Administration, protecting the interests of all Contract Agents.
Collectif des Contractuels, Bruxelles, 20 October 2015