Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The 3,500 officials of the Council went on strike on Tuesday 7 May to protest against reform of the staff status that is taking shape and which threatens their salaries and purchasing power.
The strike was organised by the Union Syndicale, the largest trade union in the European public service, the day before the Coreper meeting during which the Presidency's mandate for negotiation is to be approved (see EUROPE 10840). Trialogues on employee status will take place on 13 and 28 May and on 3, 11 and 18 June. An agreement is expected on 18 June, so that the Parliament and Council may adopt the reform in the autumn. The new status will take effect on 1 January 2014.
Felix Geradon, the deputy general secretary within the Union Syndicale (Brussels), told EUROPE that the strike had been massively followed in Council (90% participation, i.e. more than during the strikes in November and February). A general assembly is being held on Wednesday 8 May to take stock of the situation to see whether further action is required. European officials could lose 60% of their purchasing power over the next 15 years if the EU were to endorse reform of the status as it stands at present after debates within the Council's working group on status. The officials also denounce the plan to increase the retirement age from 63 to 67 years. Geradon explains that what frightens them the most is the way salaries are changing over time. The measures that member states want to take, he said, would make the European public service quite unattractive.
The call for strike only concerns the Council. European officials working at the European Commission, the European Parliament and in the other European institutions are not taking part in the strike movement.
Salaries and advantages of some 55,000 European officials are a constant subject of polemic. The German daily Die Welt caused a sensation at the beginning of the year by affirming that “4,365 European officials earn more than the German chancellor” (i.e. €21,000 per month). The European Commission denied this information saying that no official earns more than Angela Merkel. At most, the Commission officials earn €18,000 per month, the European executive body states. Gross salaries of European officials vary between €2,600 and €4,400 per month for support staff (secretaries, assistants, etc.) and from €4,400 to €18,400 for technical agents. To those amounts must be added many bonuses, including an expatriate's allowance that amounts to 16% of the gross salary, family allowances of around €400 per month/per child up to the age of 26, and schooling totally free of charge.
The latest information on careers (recommendations from the working group on status) is as follows: - there would be a reduction in promotion rates, but they would continue to be calculated as at present; - it would be necessary to wait three years instead of two before having the possibility of promotion; - limitation to the AD11/AD13 grades announced has been endorsed by the group (there would be a transition period until 2017 but access to the AD12 and 13 grades would be conditional on there being fewer than 12% of officials in these grades, which could block access throughout the so-called transitional period). (LC/transl.jl)