Local Staff Committee

Promising and selling unicorns

Brussels, Elections, Geel, Ispra-Seville, Karlsruhe, Local Staff Committee, Luxembourg, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, OSPs, Outside the Union, Petition, Petten, Promotions, reclassification, Social Dialogue, Staff Categories, Working conditions Print This Post

*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:

  • Your inbox is filling with largely indistinguishable e-mails asking to vote for union X or union Y, because they have done SO MUCH for you in the last year (although for some of them, you cannot remember ever having seen any action or results).
  • The e-mails contain a hodgepodge of measures that they are demanding, often defying any sense of reality: unicorns, rainbows, a guaranteed lottery win … 

Continue reading Promising and selling unicorns →

Update on our September petition to stop the obligatory return to the office

Brussels, COVID-19, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, return to the office-new normal Print This Post

Latest update 24/11/2021: Work Done!!!  (quote from DG HR communication: “…the minimum presence of one day per week will for now be only on a voluntary basis…”)

Please add your signature! We already have more than 1000 signatures to our September petition in support of our note to Mr Hahn. We sounded the alarm concerning the premature push to Phase 3 of the Tentative plan for gradual return to the office before the worries and issues voiced by staff were addressed. Continue reading Update on our September petition to stop the obligatory return to the office →

Wake-up call for the administration – Voter apathy and low voter turnout

Brussels, Elections, Geel, Ispra-Seville, Karlsruhe, Local Staff Committee, Luxembourg, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, Outside the Union, Petten Print This Post

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 →

How should Teleworking evolve in Delegations after Covid?

EEAS, Elections, Outside the Union, return to the office-new normal, Teleworking Print This Post

Many of you wonder, since there is no legal basis for teleworking in Delegations, what will happen when the pandemic is over?

Will we still have Teleworking in Delegations?

Will we finally follow the rest of the Commission: teleworking has already been in force in Headquarters and other EU sites for more than 10 years! Continue reading How should Teleworking evolve in Delegations after Covid? →

Do you think harassment or bad managerial behaviour improved in 2020?

Local Agents, Newsletter - 2021-11-17, Outside the Union, workplace bullying and harassment Print This Post

The mediation service has published its 2020 annual report showing that the number of cases reported is much lower compared to previous year(s).   One cannot help but wonder:  is that because harassment/bad managerial behaviour really improved, is it because colleagues are fed up with the ineffectiveness of the available harassment fighting procedures, or is it simply a partial story: it does not show how many cases never started because the other side refused to engage. (Yes, mediation is voluntary and the mediation service can do nothing when only one side is willing.) Continue reading Do you think harassment or bad managerial behaviour improved in 2020? →

2025 where are we now?

Brussels, Elections, Electoral reform, Geel, Ispra-Seville, Karlsruhe, Local Staff Committee, Luxembourg, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2021-10-12, Outside the Union, Petten Print This Post

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? →

The ONE: is this the future of the European civil service?

Brussels, Luxembourg, Newsletter - 2021-10-12, Open Plan Office Print This Post

*Update 24.11.2023: Can any of you send us a photo of the new flexible-working ‘toolkit‘ inside a locker?[*]*

*Update 22.02.2022: we’re hearing that colleagues are changing DG in order to avoid open space/hot-desking. Is this you? Get in touch, we’d like to hear from you!*

Original article: No assigned desk and a cold pasta Bolognese from the vending machine: is this the future of the European civil service? If you want a glimpse of the latest building being showcased as the future the administration is designing for the EU civil service, come with us and visit ‘The ONE’, aka L107. This, the future workplace of some 1700 Commission staff from next year, comes not long after the dynamic open spaces set up in DG BUDG, DG TRADE, and is soon to be followed by the new Publications Office (OP) (POST-Mercier) and the Jean Monnet 2 (JMO2). Continue reading The ONE: is this the future of the European civil service? →

Thanks to your support, fairer and more transparent election rules adopted!

Brussels, Elections, Electoral reform, Local Staff Committee, Newsletter - 2021-10-08, Newsletter - 2021-10-12 Print This Post

Thanks to your overwhelming support, the Generation 2004 proposals which aimed at ensuring fairer and more-transparent staff representation elections were adopted with 90% in favour during the Brussels and Commission Representations in the EU staff general assembly (24.09.2021).

Why we needed change Continue reading Thanks to your support, fairer and more transparent election rules adopted! →

An appeal from a Karlsruhe-based coffee addict

COVID-19, Karlsruhe, Newsletter - 2021-10-08 Print This Post

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 →