Vice-President Georgieva [1] meets Luxembourg staff reps
Following a first meeting with staff representatives on 21 November in Brussels which we covered extensively in our last newsletter [2], on 11 December, Vice-President (and Commissioner for human resources) Georgieva, together with her team and the senior management of DG HR, met with Luxembourg (LUX) staff representatives following an invitation of the LUX LSC.
From the outset, it was very encouraging to see that our new Commissioner actually listens to staff concerns and, at least according to our first impression, seems to honestly intend to address them. This is a very welcome change, compared to the previous administration. We can only hope that this new, positive approach is not blocked by, but equally reflected in DG HR.
Of course, whilst the problem of Contract Agents in Luxembourg was the primary topic of the meeting, other issues relevant to post-2004 staff in general were also discussed – such as the consequence of the 2004 reform further aggravated by the 2014 reform – starting with the low entry grades and uncompetitive salaries for ADs and scrolling down to ASTs and the lowest staff categories who end up with a salary below the local minimum wage.
The VP’s attention was also drawn to the problem of Luxembourg being marginalised as a location and getting less and less attractive due to generally bad career perspectives, i.e. slower promotions/reclassifications and limited possibilities for flexibility. These problems hit particularly hard staff in low grades further aggravating the structural problem. One example is the “relabeling” of AST colleagues’ posts to AST/SC (see also ps4 here and here), which has led to serious concern particularly in Luxembourg.
The 2004 and 2014 staff regulation reforms were again mentioned, where amongst other things, Mrs Georgieva said that conditions were changing in many international organisations and the problem is
that in such cases the current staff do not represent the future staff. Thank you Madame Vice-President, for hitting the nail on the head and summarising in one-line what has been happening since 2004!
The Vice-President explicitly and repeatedly promised that more frequent internal competitions will be organised; which although not solving all structural problems, may help to correct some of the mistakes committed over the past decade.
Regarding the issue of promotions being awarded solely on the basis of seniority, which Generation 2004 has been the only staff association to denounce – and of which the ongoing senior experts exercise seems to be a prime example – the Vice-President said that although difficult to change old habits, promotions should be based on merit. Madam Vice-President, as we already promised, you can count on the full support of Generation2004 in this regard.
As we wrote to you some days ago, we reiterated to the VP that “where there is a will there is a way, but where there is a political will, then there is a highway”.
Lastly, Generation2004 appealed to the VP not to propose a salary reduction for LUX strikers, at least for those in lowest categories. Whilst insisting on the equal treatment of all strikers, Ms Georgieva assured us that she would do her best to avoid consequences for staff, confessing that she even thought of offering part of her salary to help them. Madam Vice-President, we warmly welcome this honourable gesture. Together with all colleagues to whom we again extend this appeal, please take note of the fund that was opened for this end by the LUX LSC:
Vice-President Georgieva meets Luxembourg staff reps
Following a first meeting with staff representatives on 21 November in Brussels which we covered extensively in our last newsletter (see p2 here), on 11 December, Vice-President (and Commissioner for human resources) Georgieva, together with her team and the senior management of DG HR, met with Luxembourg (LUX) staff representatives following an invitation of the LUX LSC.
From the outset, it was very encouraging to see that our new Commissioner actually listens to staff concerns and, at least according to our first impression, seems to honestly intend to address them. This is a very welcome change, compared to the previous administration. We can only hope that this new, positive approach is not blocked by, but equally reflected in DG HR.
Of course, whilst the problem of contract agents in Luxembourg was the primary topic of the meeting, other issues relevant to post-2004 staff in general were also discussed – such as the consequence of the 2004 reform further aggravated by the 2014 reform – starting with the low entry grades and uncompetitive salaries for ADs and scrolling down to ASTs and the lowest staff categories who end up with a salary below the local minimum wage.
The VP’s attention was also drawn to the problem of Luxembourg being marginalised as a location and getting less and less attractive due to generally bad career perspectives, i.e. slower promotions/reclassifications and limited possibilities for flexibility. These problems hit particularly hard staff in low grades further aggravating the structural problem. One example is the “relabeling” of AST colleagues’ posts to AST/SC (see also ps4 here and here), which has led to serious concern particularly in Luxembourg.
The 2004 and 2014 staff regulation reforms were again mentioned, where amongst other things, Mrs Georgieva said that conditions were changing in many international organisations and the problem is
that in such cases the current staff do not represent the future staff. Thank you Madame Vice-President, for hitting the nail on the head and summarising in one-line what has been happening since 2004!
The Vice-President explicitly and repeatedly promised that more frequent internal competitions will be organised; which although not solving all structural problems, may help to correct some of the mistakes committed over the past decade.
Regarding the issue of promotions being awarded solely on the basis of seniority, which Generation 2004 has been the only staff association to denounce – and of which the ongoing senior experts exercise seems to be a prime example – the Vice-President said that although difficult to change old habits, promotions should be based on merit. Madam Vice-President, as we already promised, you can count on the full support of Generation2004 in this regard.
As we wrote to you some days ago, we reiterated to the VP that “where there is a will there is a way, but where there is a political will, then there is a highway”.
Lastly, Generation2004 appealed to the VP not to propose a salary reduction for LUX strikers, at least for those in lowest categories. Whilst insisting on the equal treatment of all strikers, Ms Georgieva assured us that she would do her best to avoid consequences for staff, confessing that she even thought of offering part of her salary to help them. Madam Vice-President, we warmly welcome this honourable gesture. Together with all colleagues to whom we again extend this appeal, please take note of the fund that was opened for this end by the LUX LSC: