After a good, albeit strange summer break, the Generation 2004 newsletter is back.
In this issue we will report on the reply we got on a note we sent to DG INGESTAD [1] where we raised concerns over negative discrimination against Contract Agents and ASTs who were not allowed to participate in the recently launched internal competitions. As it turns out… as usual… we were “wrong” and there is no such thing as discrimination in the Commission… On a loosely related topic, we have analysed the participation and inclusion, or lack thereof, of JRC AST colleagues into the AD certification exercise for ASTs [2]. Yet again, absolutely no discrimination, which, in this instance, actually generates discrimination itself…
We also keep covering the CHAFEA debacle and the potential for the huge brain drain [3] that may result from the undergoing relocation of the Executive Agency’s services to Brussels.
To end on a more positive note we will also cover the recent introduction of a national-insurance card for colleagues in the Netherlands [4] and finally we cover the European Mobility week [5]‘s most famous feature: its car-free Sunday, with an emphasis on how it happened in Brussels!
This is all for now and more will come soon, meanwhile, enjoy the reading!
toolTips('.classtoolTips23','Contract Agents (CAs) were created by the 2004 staff regulations Reform. There are two types of CA: those with unlimited contracts, 3A [6] (‘indefinite’) and those with time-limited contracts [7], 3B [8]. CAs can belong to 4 different function groups (\'GF\') with different responsibilities and salaries [9].
As the use of contract staff becomes increasingly common, there has been a corresponding increase in the diversity of status and pay of the Commission’s workforce. For example, GFIV contract staff meeting the same minimum recruitment requirements (education and experience) as junior administrators may earn 28 % less. (European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [10]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff, point 61, page 34)
We have a working group dedicated to the dossier, and in December 2012 we addressed the first of many letters (\'notes\') about Contract Agents to Human Resources of all Institutions and agencies [11] (here is the cover e-mail [12]).
As a background you can see the report of the Commission to the Council regarding the recruitment of the contract agents in 2010 [13] (in French, COM(2011)802 final 23.11.2011).
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