Message to the Staff Contractual Agents Policy 1

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
    • Gość: C S C Message to the Staff Contractual Agents Policy 2 IP: *.192-241-81.adsl-dyn.isp.belgacom.be 18.06.08, 14:13
      A contract of unlimited duration is possible after 5 years in the EACI, after
      twice 3 years in the EACEA and after 3 years in the Offices. The CSC considers
      that access to the contract of unlimited duration has to be facilitated and
      carried out as soon as possible.

      It is advisable to clarify the differences in interpretation of the statute in
      particular as regards renewal and extension of the contract, which has an impact
      on the rights of the contract agents. It is necessary to define a clear
      procedure regarding the granting of an open-ended contract and the possibility
      of reaching a higher function group as a result of success in an EPSO selection.
      The conditions of cancellation of the contracts have in addition to be specified
      just as the payment of unemployment benefit in the event of non-renewal of the
      contract.
      • Notice under the open-ended contracts (TA and CA). According to Article 47 of
      the CEOS, "notice cannot start to run during the period of maternity or sick
      leave, in as far as the latter does not exceed any three-month period." This
      results in certain concerns when CAs sign their contracts. Indeed, this
      provision supposes that in the event of serious illness beyond the three months,
      the Commission is free to lay-off such personnel with the heavy social
      consequences that this implies. The CSC requests clarifications on the
      interpretation of this clause and guarantees for its personnel.
      • Career structure, mobility and rotation policy. The staff representation
      considers that it is urgent – four years after the implementation of the staff
      regulations - to define a career structure for contract agents and in particular
      regarding the policy of mobility and/or of rotation of contract agents in the
      RELEX family. This career structure has to be coordinated at least between DGs
      ADMIN, RELEX, JRC and COMM to define a coherent framework and to define
      guarantees for the contract agents. The CSC also attaches a great importance to
      mobility, in particular regarding the future of our colleagues in the
      delegations. The CSC particularly worries about the fate of contract
      agents in delegations which, within the framework of rotation, would not be in a
      position to accept new assignments.
      • Exercise of reclassification of contract agents. TTo avoid the difficulties
      that arose in the 2007 exercise, it is advisable to re-examine the procedure in
      order to reinforce the central role of both DG ADMIN and Staff representation
      and thus to ensure a better application of rules. The CSC asks for clarification
      of the situation of those who were neither evaluated nor reclassified at the
      time of the previous financial year and to take this into account in the coming
      financial years.
      • Mobility policy for contract agents. A harmonization of the EPSO selection
      procedures and of the practices of recruitment would make it possible to
      facilitate mobility and the retraining of contract agents between agencies and
      services. This has obviously to be improved in order to give genuine career
      prospects and maintain motivation. A database or list of job vacancy notices has
      to be set up for the various types of profiles for the Agencies, Offices, RELEX,
      delegations and Headquarters in order to ensure clear information for the
      contract agents. It goes without saying that the staff representation should be
      able to fully assume its role in these procedures.
      Contract agents 3 b) – Article 88 of the Statute
      These contract agents can be recruited on a temporary basis by the DGs of the
      Commission to replace officials absent due to illness, maternity leave, etc; to
      compensate an acute lack of manpower during very busy periods or to carry out
      tasks provisionally and to bring a reinforcement in specialised fields in the
      event of a shortage of staff having the necessary skills. The agents recruited
      under this type of contract are engaged for short durations: three years maximum.
      It is obvious that both the letter and the spirit of the Statute are neglected,
      and that within several services, contractual agents are used for structural
      purposes, often with great confusion as to what tasks they are expected to
      perform. With this in mind, the case of the JRC is particularly worrying.
      Indeed, there is need for an urgent clarification in order to set the conditions
      under which these contracts can be granted.
      • Unemployment and Social Security cover. An important gap in the law exists at
      the level of wage security for CAs and TAs who are incapacitated from work or on
      maternity leave, which occurs at the end of a contract the duration of which is
      between 12 and 18 months. Indeed, such a situation leaves the agent without any
      remuneration and doubtless without effective cover, for a certain duration. The
      CSC asks that provisions be taken in order to avoid such situations and that the
      Commission put in place a reserve fund to put forward the amounts necessary if
      they are incapable of shortening the current payment delays. Lastly, the
      Commission should take into greater consideration the employability of such
      personnel in order to facilitate their reintegration into the local labour market.
      • Pensions. Various problems are encountered by CAs who have to make a transfer
      of their pension rights towards their national system after completing their
      employment in the Commission. This aspect raises other problems such as the
      transfer in the event of the death of the agent; the double national and
      Community tax on the amounts; the possibility, or not, of transferring these
      amounts to the new Member States. The CSC asks for the clarification of all
      these points as soon as possible and the adoption of a provident fund.
      • Social policy. The current situation as regards repayment of medical expenses,
      of housing and of integration is sometimes very difficult to manage for the
      contract agents in view of their low monthly income level. The situation is
      particularly difficult in Luxembourg. The CSC asks that urgent solutions, such
      as the granting of an additional echelon, be proposed.
      The CSC calls on the trade unions and staff associations to take this resolution
      into account within the framework of the discussions to come on the new general
      implementing provisions.
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