z Newsletter article

Brave new world at the Commission: the day the staff representation was abolished

Elections, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, Social Dialogue Print This Post

I wake up and it is just another ordinary day. I prepare breakfast and get my child ready. Then head to the crèche before going to the office.

But to my great surprise, the crèche is closed. Nobody seems to be around. When I finally spot someone I know, I ask what is going on. Maybe a strike? “Not really. Weren’t you informed? This service is not provided any more to Commission staff. You need to find a place in a local crèche. And considering how crowded they are, good luck!” Continue reading Brave new world at the Commission: the day the staff representation was abolished →

Home office kit – assembling the chair

IT kit for telework, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, Teleworking Print This Post

*Update 05.02.2024, this offer is still open. Check out the instructions on assembling or adjusting​ the chair.* Original article: As you hopefully know, the Commission is offering most (but sadly not all [1]) of us a home-office kit including an ergonomic chair [2]. After having battled for so long on this topic, the team of Generation 2004 did not want to let the opportunity pass to test-drive this offer and participate in this scheme as well. The ordering process is relatively painless, although delivery of the chair took a couple of weeks. From the outside, the chair looks to be of good quality. So, if you are still hesitating whether the offer is worth the trouble, we can recommend it. Continue reading Home office kit – assembling the chair →

Internal competitions – Time for collective action!

Assistants, Central Staff Committee, Contract Agents, Internal Competitions, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, Petition, Professional mobility, Promotions, reclassification, Secretaries and clerks, Staff Categories, Temporary Agents Print This Post

*Please see 27.01.2021 update*

In the wake of the announcement by DG HR of yet another very discriminatory internal competition (IC), Generation 2004 organised a conference to debate the matter. According to our analysis, this IC excludes over 16 000 potentially eligible candidates. Although other institutions allow anyone who meets the education and experience criteria to take part, the Commission is definitely doing it differently. Continue reading Internal competitions – Time for collective action! →

EPSO CBT/internal competition training: January

Events, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, Training Print This Post

Generation 2004 is organising more training: computer-based multiple-choice test (CBT) training and AD5 internal competition training.

CBT (verbal, numerical, abstract) in English

This training is to provide you with techniques to pass the CBT phase of any European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) competition. Check ongoing EPSO selection procedures for CBT dates.  Continue reading EPSO CBT/internal competition training: January →

Newsletter editorial – 2-12-2021

Editorial, Newsletter - 2021-12-02 Print This Post

Welcome to this latest edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter, where we present our take on the recently announced internal competition and we invite you to come and discuss it with us or to sign up for training.  We look at the 3 ongoing elections: the low voter turnout, and the unicorns being promised and we encourage you to please use your vote! We’ve also collected all of your recent questions in a FAQs on ASTs and provided updates on our September petition to stop the obligatory return to the office and on the recent changes in compulsory presence.  We’ve even run through (almost) the whole alphabet to answer (almost) any question on the staff representation: dive in!

Enjoy the reading and, as usual, let us know if we can help with anything!

New competition – same old story!

EPSO, Events, Internal Competitions, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, Outside the Union, Staff Categories Print This Post

*Update 08.07.2022: you can also take the same action (apply and appeal the rejection) for the 2022 internal competitions. We are also organising training for August 2022.*

Another Internal Competition has just been announced which is exclusively open to Temporary Agents (TAs), i.e. mainly cabinet staff (‘parachutage’?) as well as our JPP ”Jeunesse dorée”. Oops HR did it again Continue reading New competition – same old story! →

No more compulsory weekly presence in the office

COVID-19, Health, Newsletter - 2021-12-02, Petition, Working conditions Print This Post

DG HR announced yesterday evening (24/11/2021) that going to the office one day per week will not be an obligation any longer. Therefore, teleworking 5 days a week will be possible for all, except critical staff. However, those of you who would like to come to work can still do it!

The obligation to telework four days per week does not apply to staff:

– who cannot perform their tasks remotely;

– who have to be in the office to ensure business continuity.

You mobilized for months on this important issue, you discussed it at length on My Intracomm, you contacted us through hundreds of emails and phone calls. More than 600 of you commented Commissioner Hahn’s message that stated: “All of us in principle will be at the office at least one day a week”.

And more than 1.000 of you signed our petition to Commissioner Hahn to support our note of 16 September 2021, where we asked him to postpone the forced return to the office. Already in September, it was clear that this Commission strategy to force people back to the office could carry major risks. Continue reading No more compulsory weekly presence in the office →

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 →

Newsletter editorial – 17-11-2021

Editorial, Newsletter - 2021-11-17 Print This Post

Welcome to this latest edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter. We announce the annual salary adjustment, provide updates on the current situation and future developments with the canteens and take a look at what’s happening with the greening of the Commission. We’ve organised several (virtual) meetings with different groups over the next few days, please come along!  The working time and hybrid working rules FAQs now incorporates updates from the last meeting and one of our members is making history by challenging the publishing of a post at AST/SC level when it should be a higher level.  The Promotion/reclassification exercises 2021 has officially ended, but if you appealed and were unsuccessful, we can help you with an Article 90 complaint.  We offer training for those transitioning towards retirement. We also discuss the mediation service annual report showing fewer cases: is this something to be celebrated or an incomplete picture?

Enjoy the reading and, as usual, let us know if we can help with anything!