The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is one of the largest directorates-general (DGs) in the Commission. With its scientific profile it takes pride in its innovative and modern endeavours. JRC practices the remote way of working, in line with the Commission guidelines, but also benefits from it to foster cooperation among its multisite structure of 6 locations across Europe.
Continue reading From Paper to Digital: A voting practice update is necessary
*** Update: You can find the presentation of the conference here. ***
Generation 2004 would like to invite you to a conference for staff in JRCs sites dedicated to the topic: ‘Everything you always wanted to know about Pensions rights’.
This conference will follow the regular Lunchtime conference on Pensions Transfer Out, the two events are independent, but together will give a wide overlook on Pensions rights in the European Commission. Continue reading JRC event: pension rights
*Update 23.07.2024 HR says its not feasible to have e-voting at Geel and Karlsruhe, once more money is cited as a factor, are we surprised?*
Original article: Digitalisation is everywhere: we pay electronically, we get our news and movies digitally and we even meet online. While some types of human interaction would, ideally, never be replaced, many routine administrative activities can certainly benefit from going digital. Nevertheless, it’s important to include those who will use new systems and procedures in the decision-making process: while we might save on queuing with e-Voting, are we maybe missing out somewhere else? Continue reading Is e-voting the right tool for the JRC?
*This article was published in November 2021 in response to promises made during Brussels, Karlsruhe and Ispra elections. Here are the Karlsruhe 2021 results.*
On allowances to cover the additional costs of teleworking and other promises
It is election time for many sites of the Commission and there are two unmistakable signs for this:
The local staff committee (LSC) elections for outside the Union, Ispra/Seville and Brussels have all had to be extended (see below).
For outside the Union the issues raised are long standing. Continue reading Wake-up call for the administration – Voter apathy and low voter turnout
Commission-wide, Generation 2004 has 33% of the vote as of June 2024. Some context: there are eight ‘local’ staff committees (LSCs) and one additional non-LSC staff committee which we mention in the table below.
The 8 LSCs are sometimes called ‘sections’ since all together they contribute to the Commission-wide Central Staff Committee (CSC): Brussels, France, Geel, Karlsruhe, Luxembourg, Outside the Union (CLP-HU) and Ispra and Seville (yes, a shared LSC). Continue reading 2025 where are we now?
I started here at the JRC Karlsruhe not so long ago. The second lockdown was in sight, not optimal for a change of country and work environment. I am from a coffee-loving place, born and raised with a coffee culture, and my first sight on entering the JRC in Karlsruhe was the prominent placing of the Cafeteria with a professional espresso machine – what a nice working place! Continue reading An appeal from a Karlsruhe-based coffee addict
*Here are the 2021 Karlsruhe election results.* Original article: The infinite depths of (Commission) space. The final frontier: the Joint Research Centre (JRC). Its mission: to boldly go where noone (Commission official) has gone before: research, innovation, digitalisation, green deal … Really? Also at the JRC Karlsruhe and Geel?
What happened there? Continue reading The old guards maintaining the status quo in Karlsruhe and Geel
Uniform and fully democratic electoral rules throughout the Commission, synchronised electronic elections at all sites and, last but not least, a separate local staff committee (LSC) for Seville: these are the key elements of a proposal for staff-representation reform developed by Generation 2004. We have been raising these issues in one form or another since at least 2013 and have actively led on related efforts to address these three points on several occasions. Continue reading The same electoral rules for all!
The numbers speak an unmistakable language. The success rate of JRC ASTs in the certification procedure is considerably below that of ASTs from other DGs. While JRC’s ASTs accounted for approximately 9.5% of all ASTs in the Commission in 2019 [1], henceforth considered to be the benchmark, their share of certifications is much lower and persistently so (Figure 1): Except for a one-off-high in 2016 with a share of 7% (although still below 9.5%), the share of certifications in other years was much lower. Continue reading Certification in the JRC – one size does not fit all
