*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!
*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
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
New competition – same old story!
*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
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
*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 …
Update on our September petition to stop the obligatory return to the office
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
*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
*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
Annual Salary Adjustment 2021 +1.9%
*Update 18.11.2021: this includes Contract Agents and this will be paid in December, thanks to everyone who got in touch!*
*Updates 19.11.2021: “Back to normal” in this case has to be interpreted as “the GDP is back to the pre-crisis level”. We have recovered some of the loss of 2020, but not all of it. We expect that we should go back to pre-crisis levels in 2022, at which point we should get the 2.5% update on top of whatever happens in 2022. [1]*
