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Stop the AST/SC exploitation NOW

Assistants, Junior Professionals Programme, Newsletter - 2021-06-16, Pensions, Petition, Secretaries and clerks, Staff Categories, Staff Regulations Reform Print This Post

*Update 13.10.2025 Point 6 below, internal competitions: there are to be 3 cross-function-group internal competitions which include AST/SCs, we look forward to seeing the eligibility criteria.*

*Update 23.09.2025: It’s now official: 50 AST/SCs are to have the (mis)fortune of doing an AST post without the corresponding AST promotion speed or career potential.  Check the Draft 2026 Commission budget: ’50 posts in the function group AST may be occupied by officials and temporary staff in the AST/SC function group to reflect the gradual phase-in of the AST/SC function group.’ (p. 955, footnote 1). While the Commission as a whole is set to lose 24 posts, the AST function group is to lose 121 (leaving 4398 permanent staff). No other function group is to decrease in size.* Continue reading Stop the AST/SC exploitation NOW →

Teleworking from abroad: YES, WE CAN!

COVID-19, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2021-06-16, Teleworking, teleworking from anywhere Print This Post

*Update 25.09.2025 1: TWA can now be combined with parental leave. 2: Details of the outcome of the court case (T-39/21) related to the removal of the expatriation allowance for some staff in the Parliament while working from outside the place of employment during Covid is added as footnote [**].*

Original article: Who said teleworking from outside the place of employment (TWA) [1] cannot be reconciled with the interest of the service and our duty to serve the public? Continue reading Teleworking from abroad: YES, WE CAN! →

The old guards maintaining the status quo in Karlsruhe and Geel

Elections, Electoral reform, Geel, Karlsruhe, Newsletter - 2021-06-16 Print This Post

*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 →

On career unionism and the fallacy of irreplaceability (long read)

Central Staff Committee, Elections, Local Staff Committee, Newsletter - 2021-06-16, OSPs, Social Dialogue Print This Post

To start with, lets clear the air and get this out in the open: the discussions between the administration and the staff (‘social dialogue (SD)’) via the elected representatives (‘staff representation (SR)’)  and the trade unions and professional staff associations (OSPs), are necessary. As DG Human Resources and Security (DG HR) puts it on the Staff Matters website, the social dialogue: Continue reading On career unionism and the fallacy of irreplaceability (long read) →

Newsletter editorial – 21-5-2021

Editorial, Newsletter - 2021-05-21 Print This Post

Welcome to this latest edition of the Generation 2004 Newsletter. This edition showcases the ingenuity and dedication on display among the winners (so far) of our ‘Wild West of Teleworking’ Photography Contest and we invite you to continue to send us your photos, bills and input. Local agents, you have until the end of June to decide whether to sign up to the working-conditions-reform package, we look at what’s involved. We have a lunchtime workshop on decoding and communicating with your co-workers. We report back on our discussions with HR and the administration on operation ‘return to the office’,  hot-desking/open spaces and on the provision of canteens in the future. We also ask you about your experiences of doing the annual medical outside the medical service.  This edition outlines the outcome of a case on age discrimination with regards to the survivor’s pension and describes what has changed with corporate credit cards.

All of us at Generation 2004 want to express a big Thank You to all our members who appreciate and support our work. Particularly touching was for us to see recently the following message on our bank account from one of our dear members : ‘Membership fee doubled – donation. Thank you for your great work’. Thanks for your feedback, it makes it all worthwhile!

‘Wild West of Teleworking’ Photography Contest: winners!

additional teleworking costs, Cost of living Luxembourg, IT kit for telework, Newsletter - 2021-05-21, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

Thanks to all of you who submitted photos of your home-office/kitchen-table/cupboard-under-the-stairs/garden IT setup and your increased bills and accommodation costs. We always appreciate your interaction and comments and you can still send us your teleworking photos and evidence of costs incurred: let us know where and how you are working! Continue reading ‘Wild West of Teleworking’ Photography Contest: winners! →

Get ready: the return to the office is starting in June

COVID-19, Newsletter - 2021-05-21, return to the office-new normal, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

At last, on Wednesday evening (19.05.2021) HR announced a date for the start of operation ‘return to the office’: from Wednesday 9 June onwards the Commission anticipates moving from phase 0 to phase 1. In practice, this means that while teleworking will remain the norm, staff will be encouraged to go to the office, still on a voluntary basis. The maximum presence in the buildings – to be complied with at all time – will be raised to 20%. The canteen in the Berlaymont building will be reopened. Continue reading Get ready: the return to the office is starting in June →

Hot-desking: do not mistake the finger for the Moon!

Newsletter - 2021-05-21, Open Plan Office, return to the office-new normal, Social Dialogue, Working conditions Print This Post

*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!*

In the COVID information meeting of 30 April 2021, the Director of Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB), Mr Marc Becquet, accused trade unions and staff associations (OSPs) of spreading fear and discontent among staff by sending too many messages and tracts on hot-desking and workplace arrangements. Continue reading Hot-desking: do not mistake the finger for the Moon! →

The future: no more lunch in Commission buildings

Childcare, Newsletter - 2021-05-21, return to the office-new normal, Working conditions Print This Post

If you were fantasising about returning to the office one day and resuming the usual lunch with colleagues [1], think again!

The new L107 (the ONE, Brussels), apparently the role model for all Commission buildings in the very near future – will not have a canteen, even though it will house more than 1500 staff – indeed, such a large number of people would fully justify the presence of a canteen. So, it seems that with the ‘new normal’, everybody who wants to eat in this showpiece Commission building will be treated to the following choice: either try to run faster than the others to get a spot at the – very small! – cafeteria in the building or lose a lot of precious time to go to possibly overcrowded canteens in other buildings. Continue reading The future: no more lunch in Commission buildings →

Reimbursement of the annual medical check-up during COVID

COVID-19, Health, Newsletter - 2021-05-21, PMO Print This Post

*One colleague was successful with a related Article 90 complaint*

Under Article 59(6) of the staff regulations, staff are obliged to undergo a medical check-up every year either via the institution’s medical officer or by a medical practitioner chosen by them. Continue reading Reimbursement of the annual medical check-up during COVID →