Freelance translators ‘risk’ for confidentiality

Date: 07/03/02

By Martin Banks

PLANS for a shake-up in the European Commission's translation service could compromise the confidentiality of their work, staff unions claim.

Neil Kinnock, the Commission vice-president, will next month unveil his long-awaited proposals for dealing with the extra work-load which will be created when the EU takes in up to ten new countries in 2004.

He is expected to announce that 110 extra translators will be needed to help cope with enlargement.

Of this number, 60 will be based at the Commission in Brussels while the remaining 50 will work as part-time freelancers in member states.

Kinnock is also expected to propose that up to one-third of Commission work should be dealt with by freelance translators, compared with 20 at present.

The move is designed as a cost-cutting measure, but it is this aspect in particular that has angered trade unions representing the Commission's 1,300-strong army of translators, responsible for transcribing a mountain of documents into the 11 official languages. The coming enlargement of the EU will potentially double the number of official languages.

The Federation de la Fonction Publicque European (FFPE) says its concern over Kinnock's plans are two-fold.

'We fear it will adversely affect the quality of the translation service and, more significantly, could compromise confidentiality of the Commission's work,' said an official, who did not wish to be named. 'We deal with highly sensitive material and there are lots of people who are more than willing to pay good money to have access to translated work before it is seen by anyone else.

'I personally have been offered substantial sums - which I turned down - to supply material.

'Frankly,' the official added, 'our fear is that putting so much of the work out to freelancers will leave the door open to corruption. Unless freelancers are subject to the same checks and measures as full-time translators the temptation is obvious.'

Brendan Ryan, vice-president of the Union Syndicale, which represents 8,000 staff in EU institutions, argued that putting work out to freelancers was a 'false economy'.

He said: 'We are particularly worried that the quality of the work will be affected. One of the disadvantages of employing freelance translators is that, because many of them are unfamiliar with the Commission's technical language, their work often has to proof-read several times and double-checked.

'Another problem is that they are often recruited through agencies, so you don't really know who they are.'

Ryan, who yesterday (6 March) met senior Commission officials to discuss Union Syndicale concerns, added: 'The union would prefer the Commission to use more internal staff.'

The union's fears were dismissed by Kinnock's spokesman, Eric Mamer, who insisted that only non-confidential material would be given to freelance translators. 'They would be asked to translate only specific types of documents which would not be linked to the Commission's core business,' he said.

• Translators represent 8 of the Commission's 24,500 staff and the cost of the service is put at about 800m euro.

Plans for a shake-up in the European Commission's translation service could compromise the confidentiality of their work, staff unions claim.