*Update 29.09.2022 Local Agents in Türkiye are now being paid in euro, thank you all for your support!* Original article: Generation 2004 finds the situation for Local agents in Delegation Türkiye [1] frustrating. We urge the administration to do the right thing: uphold the rule of law and principle of equal treatment. Abide by the outcome of the court case and comply with the instructions of the court. The pretext/excuse of a “lack of administrative” budget does not hold water. Losing a court case is not a daily operational business and therefore no institution should expect to be able to meet the financial liabilities under that business-as-usual budget item. The administration must seek the budget from whatever contingency resources are normally made available for such events. Here is a non-exhaustive list of ongoing and long-standing difficulties with respecting the local law for Local Agents (LAs).
- The administration has lost completely a court case [2] (translated [3]) In the name of “post-defeat negotiation” the pending financial remedy is 2 years overdue and yet the EU still makes no effort to settle the financial liabilities.
- LAs are suffering a depleting balance in the Provident fund [4] due to the wrong investment strategy of DG BUDG. The reported loss of the provident fund have reached 4%: equivalent to a year of provident-fund contribution by Local agents.
- There has been no salary increase for LAs [5], not event a fraction of inflation [6] of the host country has been addressed for many years.
- LAs are denied the benefits offered by Government of Türkiye [7], which allows an entitlement to a retirement salary from the local social security fund while continuing with an employment contract with the employer. LAs who have applied to have the retirement salary from social security were not offered the option to continue their work contract. This practice is despite the fact that many precedents have already been set in the same Delegation (colleagues who are retired in the social security system up to now continue to work in the Delegation);
- Vacant posts in the Delegation are not filled. Over the last 2 years, all LAs have been taking on extra work responsibilities whenever turnover happens. Workload assessment in Delegations (WLAD) has been a never-ending story and is used as a pretext to freeze all vacant posts. Do management ever ponder whether LAs, who are expected to do much more than they were recruited to do, merit fair evaluation of these additional responsibilities and a corresponding promotion?
Where there is a precedent for staff treatment, then this must be available to other staff in similar circumstances. Allowing only certain staff certain rights leads to favouritism and resentment. Further, exercising rights should not be dependent on the available budget. Similarly, vacant posts are not a “golden opportunity” to save money. Yes, staff can pick up this work, but long-term wither the work has to decrease or the resources increase, we can’t run on empty indefinitely.
Generation 2004 therefore insists on the following.
- That the administration stop procrastinating and address the financial remedies for lost court cases immediately.
- That the administration respect precedents and process all retirement rights of LAs in Türkiye without delay, if possible, for business continuity purposes, negotiate and work out a timeline to do so.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [8].