*Update 29.01.2024, the petition has been closed with no clear follow-up. We have contacted the Parliament for clarification.* Original article: Please sign the European Parliament (EP) Contract Agent petition: let’s make some noise! Petition No 0117/2021 has been on the go since 2021 and needs your input to keep moving! Let’s make a push in this, a brand new year, to get as many signatures as possible! The issues listed are as relevant today as they were when the petition was first opened: there has been no meaningful improvement. Please don’t let this action disappear through lack of support, we need momentum! This petition is open to everyone everywhere: let’s show our solidarity! Please register at the EP website and sign the petition there. Share this petition anywhere you can, we need to get those numbers up!
The petitioner criticises the 2004 and 2014 reforms of the EU staff regulations, which created a system in which the date of recruitment is more important for career development than merit, qualification, and professional expertise.
The Commission has continuously replaced permanent officials with Contract Agents (CAs), with CAs currently representing over 22 % of the Commission’s workforce.
Although contractual staff is only supposed to perform “non-core tasks”, they do the work of permanent officials without being recognised accordingly.
Moreover, there is an increase in harassment cases associated to tensions between permanent officials and CAs.
The petitioner therefore demands the elimination of structural unfairness and the implementation of the principle of “equal pay for equal work”.
To this end, she proposes a series of measures to improve the working conditions of CAs, including permanent contracts for those working on permanent tasks, fair reclassification rates, better access to the EU institutions internal job market and preferential recruitment over external applicants. (Petition No 0117/2021)
The number of signatures shown for any EP petition is not generally a good indicator of how important a given issue is, but can easily be misread as such. For any of you doubting the usefulness of signing an online petition (‘clicktivism’), it’s often more powerful than it’s given credit for, why not make a start today?
‘… clicktivism is one of the most prevalent forms of contemporary political participation that is quick, easy and can be incredibly powerful when performed individually or as a collective. It is also a means of lowering the barriers to politics that dominant power structures and processes have put in place to restrict what politics is, and where it can be performed.’ (Oxford University Politics blog)
Please make the time (about 5 minutes) to register on the EP petitions site and sign petition No 0117/2021. We know that your time is precious and we appreciate your help! Once you’ve registered you can sign any petition there: make your voice heard!
We appreciate that 1 415 of you signed our original 2020 (EUsuvey) petition in support of contract agents (thanks!). As an example of the barriers mentioned above, it is not possible to transfer an already-existing petition across to the EP platform. While we dislike the duplication of asking you to sign more than one petition on the same topic, our 2021 EP AST/SC petition (opened directly at the EP) was closed without action, suggesting that the EUsurvey stage is useful. Please don’t let the CA survey suffer the same end as the AST/SC petition!
Generation 2004 shares your frustration at the general lack of progress on CA and AST/SC[1] (and many other) issues, particularly when we see the same issues being raised again and again. We will keep you posted on this action and related events.
If you have any comments or questions, or you wish to share your experience, please do contact us or add a comment below!
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.
[1] The promise of AST/SC colleagues being permitted entry to an AST competition is significant and we look forward to seeing it when it is published.
