Gość: Central Staff Comm
IP: *.192-241-81.adsl-dyn.isp.belgacom.be
18.06.08, 14:09
Message to the Staff
"Contractual Agents Policy"
Subject: Resolution of the Central Staff Committee on a Policy for Contractual
Agents
In its calendar of activities for 2008, adopted at the beginning of this year,
the Central Staff Committee has worked on the policy for contractual agents in
the Commission, the offices and the executive agencies.
Following a long and comprehensive debate, the Central Staff Committee
unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at identifying a number of problems
which should be resolved quickly in the interests of all contractual agents
and the institution in general.
Given the current situation, it is clear that DG ADMIN needs to reinforce its
actions with regard to the homogeneous interpretation and application of the
rules in all services and agencies where there are contractual agents. This
is an essential condition in order to defend the rights and interests of
contractual agents.
The Central Staff Committee will continue to keep you informed of all
developments in this area and we remain at your disposal should you require
any further information.
CS, President. Central
RESOLUTION OF THE CSC
POLICY FOR CONTRACT AGENTS
IN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
During the plenary sitting of 13 and 14 March 2008, the CSC adopted the
following resolution
Having regard to the provisions of the conditions of employment of other
servants (CEOS);
Having regard to Article 79 of the CEOS, according to which, the Commission
will submit an annual report on recourse to contract agents, which indicates
the number of agents, the level and the type of employment, the geographical
distribution and the budgetary resources by function group;
Having regard to the institutions, agencies and other bodies referred to in
article 3bis of the staff regulations which make use of contract agents,
these should present, within the framework of the budgetary procedure, an
annual indicative estimate of the employment of contract agents by function
group;
Having regard to the need to have an overall and coherent political framework
on the matter while taking account of various types of contracts;
Having regard to the various practices according to the places of employment
and/or the DGs concerned which calls for a better control at central level in
order to ensure the equal treatment of contract agents regardless of their
service and/or place of employment;
Having regard to the very high recourse to both temporary and contract agents
in certain services (RELEX, JRC, offices, agencies etc);
Having regard to the need to organize a certain mobility or rotation of
contract agents in the interest of the personnel, the agencies and the
institution in general;
Having regard to the interest to define best practices and to consolidate the
policy on contract staff;
The CSC adopts the following resolution:
• Overall policy on contract agents. To date, contract agents account for, on
average, more than 12% of personnel. This percentage can reach 75% in certain
services. This situation is not without an effect on the organization and the
operation of services as well as on the way in which the Commission carries
out its duty. Certain DGs and services make use of numerous contract agents
while others employ external service providers. The CSC asks for a
multi-annual overall policy framework on the recourse to contract agents. As
the "staff policy plans" of agencies, this multi-annual framework established
by each individual DG under DG ADMIN supervision will have to include an
analysis of the needs in respect of the tasks to be carried out, the
agency/institution concerned, the job profiles, the types of job, the nature
of the tasks (permanent, operational, administrative, technical), the number
and the type of contract agents.
• Essential and non essential tasks – group core/non core. The conclusions of
the working group on essential tasks and those of the remuneration group have
to be finalised and subject to joint discussions in order to clarify the
situation and to facilitate the recruitment procedures. An analysis of the
situation in the JRC should also be carried out, as the recruitment of CAs
there is carried out with fewer and fewer controls and this leads to
uncertainty for colleagues and services. It is therefore important to ensure
a better system of controls when setting up the executive agencies for the RTD
family so that the same drifts do not occur as with the other agencies.
• Statistical data. Within the framework of these discussions, the CSC wishes
to have all the statistics concerning the contractors' population, their
distribution by DG, their place of employment, their grades, their career
profiles, nationality and the number of recruitments envisaged in the years to
come, to justify the number and the level of posts to the staff representation
and budgetary authority. The CSC requests this information to check the
permanence or otherwise of the tasks currently carried out by the contract
agents.
• Recruitment and classification of the contract agents. The CSC notes the
importance of harmonizing the recruitment policies of contract agents in order
to ensure their equal treatment and to facilitate their mobility. The CSC has
been informed that contract agents passing EPSO tests for a given function
group and who are listed in the database envisaged for this purpose have been
offered contracts falling under the lower function group. The CSC considers
this situation unacceptable and calls on the institution to ensure the strict
and homogeneous application of the statutory provisions.
In this regard, the CSC emphasizes the situation of certain ACs who at the
time of the reform were systematically classified at a level lower than the
tasks performed, and that situation continues even today. The success of CAST
27 should enable a better correspondence between the tasks and the function
group.
Finally, the CSC asks that work on the remuneration levels be concluded in
order to bring real and systematic solutions to the problems encountered by
colleagues, in particular in Luxembourg. The cost of living is so high there
that contract agents and their families are forced to share accommodation with
others. This intolerable situation generates a very important "turn over" of
staff that one should analyze in detail.
The CSC wishes to have statistics on the use of the databases CARL and CAST 25
and 27. The CSC suggests checking the candidates' selection and eligibility
criteria before their registration in the database CARL in order to avoid a
waste of time both for the candidates and for the services.
• Working conditions. In view of the confusion between the various statutes
and the lack of clarity in the development of the policy with respect to
contract agents, the CSC considers it important to address a whole series of
discriminations reported as regards working conditions (working hours,
overtime for certain categories), allocation of offices, health, safety and
health, social security benefits (loans, credit card…), access to training etc.
Contract agents 3 bis – Article 85 of the Statute
The contract agents 3 bis are recruited to work in the Directorates-General
for the Commission in order to carry out manual tasks or administrative
support (Function Group I) or to work in the offices, agencies,
representations and delegations. These contract agents can receive open-ended
contracts.
• Stability of the contracts. The CSC wishes the procedure and the criteria of
access to the unspecified contracts to be defined clearly in order to ensure
transparency in the recruitment of contract agents. For example, access to a
contract of unlimited duration is different according to the function group
and the services. A contract of unlimited duration is possible after 5 year