Working conditions

More than 12 days of annual leave remaining from last year?

COVID-19, disability and special needs, Health, Leave, Newsletter - 2022-01-13 Print This Post

*In 2023 it should no longer be necessary to request the transfer of days where it is a right thanks to our initiative [1].*

For those of you with surplus days of annual leave: check out the viable reasons for requesting that the days (in addition to the standard 12 days) be added to your 2022 quota: either for requirements of the service or for health reasons. Even if you do not fall into one of the categories listed, please discuss with your line manager rather than just assume the days are lost. Continue reading More than 12 days of annual leave remaining from last year? →

Zero net salary increase after advance in step!

Newsletter - 2022-01-13, Petition, Promotions, reclassification, Secretaries and clerks, Staff Categories, Working conditions, yearly salary update Print This Post

When is an upgrade not an upgrade? So, you didn’t get promoted or reclassified last year, but you’re due an upgrade in step and are looking forward to the (however small)  associated salary increase. The only circumstances where there is no increase in pay is in the last step in the grade: the salary there is always the same as step 1 of the next grade. So you reckon you’ll get something, right? Well… at the end of the day it might actually be nothing: zero. Continue reading Zero net salary increase after advance in step! →

2022 appraisal and promotion/reclassification exercises conference

Events, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, Promotions, reclassification, workplace bullying and harassment Print This Post

*Check out our 20.01.2022 update on this very topic*

2022 is here and with it comes the annual appraisal exercise [1] (Commission staff: 5 January for the launch of appraisal self-assessments and 12 January for reclassification self-assessments). It is crucial to understand how this works because it will play a huge part in how your career will progress.

Generation 2004 organises a conference to explain and offer tips. We cover how to prepare your self-assessment and your one-on-one interview with your reporting officer [2]. Continue reading 2022 appraisal and promotion/reclassification exercises conference →

Things to check before holidays start (Tips)

COVID-19, Health, IT kit for telework, Leave, Newsletter - 2021-12-16, PMO, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

Well done on getting though another year of a global pandemic! While that brings its own challenges, there are perhaps some additional things worth checking before your well-deserved Christmas and New Year holiday leave.

Collective action on the very discriminatory internal competition for temporary agents (TAs) only: to join our collective action please apply for this internal competition by 21 December 2021. Continue reading Things to check before holidays start (Tips) →

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 →

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 →

Position paper on canteens, cafeterias and water

Health, Newsletter - 2021-11-17, Working conditions Print This Post

*Update 23.11.2023 What is a cafétéria plus?[0]* Original article: Generation 2004 is aware of the difficulties the pandemic has imposed on the canteen staff and facilities and appreciates the contrast in simultaneously welcoming the gradual re-opening of canteens and cafeterias in Brussels while canteens in Luxembourg begin to require a Covid certificate (for sit-in, not for take away [1][2], from 1 November). Continue reading Position paper on canteens, cafeterias and water →

‘Balance’ or walking a tightrope? Greening the Commission

commuting, Environment, Mobility and Climate, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2021-11-17, return to the office-new normal, Social Dialogue, Teleworking Print This Post

*Update 09.10.2023 please participate in the Commission survey on the environmental impact of teleworking: deadline 11.10.2023. These emmissions must also be counted in greening the Commission!*

Original article: In the context of the recent COP26 in Glasgow, where it is stated that 197 countries reached a ‘balanced’ agreement’, we give you an update on the latest social dialogue on greening the Commission: reaching climate neutrality by 2030. Generation 2004 already raised many of these issues in October 2020 and requested a social dialogue then.  Continue reading ‘Balance’ or walking a tightrope? Greening the Commission →