Unfortunately our petition No. 1243/2021 to stop the unfair treatment of AST/SC staff is no longer making progress at the European Parliament. While this AST/SC petition is stopped, our petition on Contract Agents is still live so, if you haven’t done so already, please add your signature! The EP does not allow us to transfer signatures, so even if you signed the original petition please also sign the one at the EP: add your voice to the others already there!
With a letter of 05/07/2022, the European Parliament (EP) informed us that that the EP Committee on Petitions (‘the Committee’) has begun its examination of our AST/SC petition.
The Committee considers our petition to be admissible since the subject matter falls within the sphere of activities of the EU, under the terms of the EP Rules of Procedure.
The Committee requested that the European Commission conduct a preliminary investigation into the various aspects of the problem based on the information we have submitted. It will continue its examination of our petition as soon as it is in receipt of the necessary information.
Here’s a summary of the issues we raised (more detail can be found in the original article and our FAQ).
1) Very slow promotion speed
2) Very limited promotion quota
3) Very small net salary increase
4) Minimum pension by design
5) AST/SC staff asked to do AST jobs
6) Internal competitions
7) Certification procedure
8) Junior Professionals Programme.
The Committee felt, moreover, that the issues raised in our petition should be submitted, also, to the Committee on Legal Affairs in the EP within whose terms of reference it falls and decided as a result to refer it to the Committee on Committee on Legal Affairs for information.
With a letter of 12/07/2022, the EP provided us with the Commission answer to the EP request to conduct a preliminary investigation into the issues that we raised in our petition.
As regards the AST/SC access to internal competitions, the Commission replied to the EP as follows:
‘In line with its new HR strategy, the Commission will better define the functions to be performed by AST/SC staff. This will also take into account the evolution of the secretaries’[*] tasks in the post-COVID-19 work environment and determine the ideal repartition of staff between AST and AST/SC and the ideal size of the AST/SC population.
Once that is finalised, and considering the population in place at that time, the Commission will also consider whether to open certain AST competitions to the AST/SC officials and temporary agents. This option will need to be carefully assessed, because successful laureates should not bear a loss in terms of remuneration (AST/SC2 step 3 gain more than AST1/2 and AST/SC5 gain more than AST3).
In any event, should a decision be taken in this direction, the frequency, profiles, and number of laureates of such competitions will have to be aligned with the recruitment needs and with the establishment plans and budgetary means available to foster budgetary neutrality.’ [Bold is not present in original]
In conclusion, the European Commission stated that it ‘does not consider that the AST/SC staff members are treated unfairly’. Obviously, we strongly disagree with this statement, and we will continue to fight hard, by any legal means possible, for improving the working conditions of our AST/SC colleagues. We keep our eyes open for the promised clarification of AST/SC tasks in the new HR Strategy.
In the meantime, please sign our ongoing Contract Agent petition at the EP website, take part in our collective action, attend our events and make your voice heard on MyIntracomm/have your say, otherwise it’s likely we will only beautiful words and still be looking for any corresponding, tangible improvements.
All staff members working in the Commission, irrespective of their type of employment or the length of their contract, deserve a motivating and rewarding career. (Commission response to Petition No 0117/2021, 30.09.2021)
As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us or leave a comment below.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.
[*] We remind you that those in the function group ‘secretaries and clerks’ (AST/SC) are all staff in pre-2004 C and D function groups, so those described here as ‘secretaries’ are, in reality also drivers, ushers and body guards (see our explanation).
