Latest news on salary adjustment 2011 and 2012

Today the European Parliament has adopted the two reports on salary adjustments for 2011 and 2012.  If the Council approves the proposal, the situation for Ispra should be the following:
Salary 2012: 0,8% x 22 months = 17,6% of our payslip
Correction Coefficient 2012: 1,2% x 12 months = 14,4% of our payslip
For 2011, it is not clear yet if the Correction Coefficient will be applied as well, or if it will be a "frozen" year like 2013 and 2014.
In case the 2011 Correction Coefficient will be applied, we'll suffer a reduction of 0,4% x 12 months = -4,8%
So, in the best case scenario, we can expect 17,6% + 14,4% = 32% of our payslip ("one shot" arrears).
In the worst case scenario, we can expect 27,2% of our payslip (again, "one shot" arrears).
In all cases, we'll receive 0,8% salary increase for the future.

Salary adjustment 2011 and 2012

We inform you that today in COREPER it was decided to go for a 0% salary adjustment for 2011 and 0.8% for 2012.
This proposal will be discussed next 12 March at the European Parliament.
More information will follow.

February payslip: a small salary increase

Some of you asked us more information about the salary adjustments you found in your February payslip.
Here we are:
·         Our pension contribution rate has decreased from 10,6 % to 10,3 %, retroactively applied from July 2013.
As a reminder, our contribution rate already decreased from 11,6 % to 10,6 % with the January payslip - see the Regularisation salary slip of December 2013.
The 2011 contribution rate has still not been applied, the Court case is pending. Its value will depend on multiple factors that include the actual salary and pension contribution rates in force at the time of the Court sentence.
·         Our Varese correction coefficient increased from 92,3 % (2010 value) to 92,8 %, and it is applied retroactively from July 2013.
As a reminder, the 2012 and 2011 correction coefficients have not been applied so far, since they are linked to the 2012 and 2011 salary adjustments that are to be negotiated between the Commission, the Council and the Parliament.
Enjoy this (very small…) salary increase!

Choose a topic, have your say!

Have you ever wished to make your voice heard on a specific topic? Would you like to be the first to know about new issues concerning your working life? Are you ready to get an active role in our decision making process, by simply participating in targeted discussions from your office?
We hope your answers were positive. At R&D, we take your input very seriously and wish to be sure we really represent your ideas, and it should not take too much of your time to get involved with our activities.
So, how can you channel your contributions?  By participating to our thematic working groups and by being added to the dedicated mailing lists!
Currently the following thematic working groups have been activated:
1.       Careers (certification, internal competitions, reclassements, mobility, promotions, contractual agents, open competitions)
2.       Individual rights (salaries, pensions, correction coefficient, allowances, teleworking & flexitime, social security)
3.       Working environment (safety & security at work, offices/open space, new buildings, parking, asbestos)
4.       Social policy (Canteen, Crèches/Garderies, Clubhouse)
5.       JSIS (Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme)
6.       European School
7.       Environment

The reference persons for each thematic group together with the executive members will ensure that your valued input will be used constructively in the definition of actions and positions of R&D that will be presented to the administration.

Choose to take part in one or more of these 7 areas, and become an active R&D member!! With a minimal engagement, we can achieve better results. Let’s put our ideas together, and help us to make your thoughts to become our position, and better defend your interests!

Pension contribution rates: some good news

PMO announced yesterday some good news concerning our pension rate contribution.

“On 10 December, the Council adopted a decision on the amendment to the 2012 pension contribution rate. According to this decision, the rate will be amended from 11.6% to 10.6% of the basic salary, with retroactive effect from the 1st July 2012.
In January, you will receive via Sysper 2 a specific pay slip (pay slip 13/2013) which will show the calculation of the retroactivity.
For the year 2013, following the decision adopted by the Council on December 17, the pension contribution rate to the pension will be amended from 10.6% to 10.3% of the basic salary with retroactive effect from the 1st July 2013.
As a result, the calculation of this retroactivity as well as its payment will be included in the February 2014 pay slip.
These new parameters will be introduced in January 2014 (for the 2012 amendment) and February 2014 (for the 2013 amendment) in your monthly pay slip and your contribution will be adapted accordingly.”

Salary adaptation: +0,5% or -0,6%?

Our communication on salary adaptation raised the interest of many colleagues; therefore we are happy to share a table with you providing an even clearer summary of the situation. This table will explain why a salary increase of 0,5% or a salary decrease of 0,6% are both correct interpretations! We take the opportunity to reaffirm our active commitment on this very sensitive file and we’ll continue to take part in official meetings, to analyse data and to keep applying pressure on Eurostat and the administration to have a CC for Varese which reflects reality.

Latest news about annual salary adaptation

We are glad to inform you that the hearing before the Court for the case Commission vs. Council on the 2011 salary adaptation will take place on July 2.
The sentence will most probably be given after the summer. Note that the hearing of 2 July concerns only 1 out of the 3 actions (2 lodged by the Commission and 1 by the Council) currently pending for the 2011 salary adaptation.
In case the Commission wins (the 3 actions), it means that all staff will be entitled to a salary increase of 1,7% , less 0,4% for Ispra-based staff due to a slight decrease of our Varese 2011 correction coefficient.  The net 1,3% increase would normally apply retroactively as from July 1, 2011, but we don't know if any interest could also be added.
Similar cases are still pending for the 2012 salary adaptation (+1,7% and +1,5% correction coefficient) and the reduction in pension contribution (2011: -0,3% and 2012: -1%). R&D will keep you informed of future developments.

Court Case Correction Coefficient 2010

Today 21 March 2013, the Tribunal delivered the sentence of our F-111/11 case (available only in French).

In spite of all the efforts we did to straighten out the distorted 2010 correction coefficient, the Civil Service Tribunal rejected our appeal.

We will study carefully the long sentence with our lawyers, will assess what steps can be taken and we will come back to you shortly with more detailed information.

Note that the similar case F-112/11 (Dalmasso) on the same subject is also rejected.

R&D cafè: Multiannual Financial Framework

During the recently concluded European summit (7/8 February 2013) the Council approved the Multiannual Financial Framework programme 2014-2020; the conclusions can be found at this link. Last Monday 11/2 the vice-president of the European Commission Mr Šefčovič discussed the MFF with the trade unions which gave us the possibility to understand better the Commission view of the programme. As regards Heading V (see pages 39/40 of the MFF conclusions) on the administrative expenditures (salaries, European Schools, etc.), a cut of €2,5 billion has been foreseen (€1 billion more than the Commission’s initial proposal) together with the confirmation of the already announced staff cut of 5% for the period 2013-2017. Furthermore, it has been proposed that no salary adaptation will be applied for the next 2 years, while it is not clear yet what it will happen to the solidarity levy. The European Parliament will now evaluate the Council proposal: it's up to the MEPs to decide whether to accept or reject it, but no amendments are possible.

Negotiations will be carried out in the coming weeks: if you want to know more or express your views please come to the R&D Cafè that we are going to organise by the end of February. Stay tuned!

Correction coefficient 2012 and annual salary adaptation

Concerning the 2012 Correction Coefficient, we are glad to announce that the negative trend of the Varese correction coefficient has stopped, for the first time since many years.

Legal case against correction coefficient 2010

As you know, 534 staff members working on the Ispra site lodged an appeal (ref. F-111/11) in October 2011 against the Correction Coefficient that came in force in 2010.
R&D Ispra has always been the leading force for this dossier.
The hearing took place at the Civil Service Tribunal in Luxemburg on 27 november 2012.

R&D Café: join us and have your say!

Your R&D representatives are currently working on several topics of importance to the staff and the future of the JRC.
We would like to inform you about the status of these issues, and at the same time receive your feedback about them.
To this end we have planned a series of informal encounters in which your R&D colleagues dealing with each topic will
present the latest developments after which the floor will be open for comments and discussion. And then a coffee!

In order minimise the disruption to your work schedules, we have planned the meetings from 13:00 to 13:45. 

Calendar
Reform: what is happening to our staff regulations?   22/11/12 – Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
ACGH: from Grantholder scheme to AC contracts     05/12 /12 - Room 3 (bdg.36)
Correction Coefficient: latest developments               11/12/12 - Amphitheatre (bdg.36)
European School and attractiveness of the JRC Ispra 02/13 – date and venue tbc
Research at the JRC: possible future scenarios          02/13 – date and venue tbc

Future topics for next meetings:
Ispra site, Administrative burden, Trade unions' role

 

We want to listen, inform and act!

We are really looking forward to a large turnout: please invite your colleagues too!
We remind you the Secretariat is always open if you want to pass by personally.

We go to Court!

Please find in this link the precise text of the appeal lodged by our lawyer Maître Orlandi, last Monday (24/10) to the Civil Service Tribubal against the incomprehensible evolution of the 2010 Correction Coefficient Varese.

We hope that you understand that it is impossible for us to translate it in English and Italian. However, we are available to answer to any question you may have on this subject.

We would like to thank explicitly the "father" of this dossier Paul Nauwelaers, for all the work done and everybody who participated or sent us useful documentation.

What we are doing for you

Welcome back, we hope you enjoyed your holidays.
What can you expect from us during the next 4 months?
a) Tomorrow, Wednesday 7/9 at 10:00 (New Auditorium – bdg. 58)  there will be an Assembly on the Correction Coefficient. We will inform you on how we foresee to continue our legal battle in Court.
The actual proposal of the Commission for the new method would mean that the 2010, 2011 and in particular the 2012 Correction Coefficient will have a permanent negative impact on our salaries from 2013 on!
Please, join us tomorrow for a more detailed explanation.
b) We are participating in the working group (GTR) organized by DG HR and EUROSTAT trying to protect Ispra for a further decline of the CC in 2011.
c) We are actively participating in the negotiations with DG HR on the New Commission Reform. We will continue to encourage the Commission to increase the role of the JRC within the Institution.
d) Our people are active in the different appraisal and promotion committees, trying to help those colleagues who lodged an appeal against their 2010 CDR.
e) We will continue to push for further investments to improve the site. As you can see, our efforts have led already to some remarkable results. Some others are still under construction.
These are only a few examples of what we are doing at the moment. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you would like some more information or support on whatever subject. We are there for you!

PS: an info that might be useful for those who rent an accommodation: if you gave a “Libretto di Risparmio al Portatore” to your landlord for the 3 months guarantee, please note that according to a very recent Decree, the value of a Libretto must  be less than 2500 EUR after 30 September 2011, otherwise a penalty of 3000 EUR is applied!
Ref.: http://www.posteitaliane.it/resources/bancoposta/pdf/normativa_antiriciclaggio.pdf

Correction Coefficient Varese

As expected the art.90 appeal against the manipulation of the Correction Coefficient has been rejected (see AIPN's answer). This is no surprise but of course you as a R&D member expect more from your Trade Union. From the beginning we have been clear that it will be a long road and sadly enough a legal battle is the only possibility to correct what has been incorrectly calculated and equally importantly, to keep this issue in the spotlight.

Especially now!

WHY?

Because the Commission has proposed, in its new reform proposals, to establish the yearly correction of the new Correction Coefficient based on the Local Inflation Data and no longer on the purchasing power differences between Brussels and Varese.
In principle this doesn't sound so bad but please be aware that the starting point for this new method is of fundamental importance. If we were to get a yearly inflation correction starting from a CC of 92,3 ; an effective salary reduction of 7,7% for staff working in Ispra would have been fixed and established for the entire duration of the new method!
We are now ready to go to Court to defend our rights. We have asked all Trade Unions in Ispra to participate in the costs.
Our first estimate of the costs is around 20.000 Euro.
As far as we know we have 8 Trade Unions in Ispra:
R&D
Cisl
SE
USI
FFPE
SFIE
TAO-AFI
U4U
We have asked each Trade Union to pay 2500 Euro, in order to start the court case.
R&D Ispra is now waiting for their reply.

Art. 90 CC US-I: our position

Some of you have asked us if it would make sense to participate in the new art.90, recently launched by US-I.

Art. 90 CC - Act now!

As promised, we have prepared a complaint based on art. 90.2 of the Staff Regulations against the unjustified decrease of our Correction Coefficient to 92,3%.

Formal complaint (art.90) against correction coefficient Varese

R&D is about to finalise a complaint to the appointing authority, according to art. 90 of the staff regulations, in the context of its decision to lower the correction coefficient (CC) for Varese to an unacceptable value of 92,3%.

Correction Coefficient and Contractual Agents

R&D Ispra informs you about the latest development of two important issues that have major impact on the attractiveness of the Ispra site. These staff policy related issues are the Correction Coefficient and the future of Contractual Agents.

Correction Coefficient Ispra

We are sorry to inform you that the meetings with the Administration and Eurostat haven't led to the desired improvements of the Correction Coefficient.. The Administration tried to assure us that the work was done in the best professional way. But still, we don't accept that the inflation difference between Brussels and Varese is 1.2 % and that at the same moment the CC for Varese undergoes a nearly 5 % reduction. organised in a simple way and the calculation of the CC is no exception to this rule. It is a very complex calculation mechanism laid down in the ・gmethod・h which has been accepted by the social partners in the past. This "method" is not just a simple comparison of the inflation in Brussels and Varese.

What does this mean in practice?

This means a reduction of our salary by:

4,8% (CC 97,1-92,3) + 0,43% (special levy increase)

- 0,3% (pension contribution) - 0,4% (basic salary adjustment)

This in consequence leads to a reduction of our purchasing power by:

4,53% salary reduction + 1,2% (inflation ISTAT for Varese)

The Court sentence on the 2009 Salary Index cut is expected within the next months. Let's hope that the court will take a technical decision and not a political one. The current political situation doesn't really make things easier and the agreements made should be respected by all parties involved but it is obvious that something went terribly wrong and that we cannot stop here.

5,73%

4,53%

Even after the concessions made by Vice-president Šefčovič, it was not possible to really go into the detailed data.