Kinnock faces first major battle with staff unions

Date: 14/10/1999

By Simon Taylor

EUROPEAN Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock is heading for his first big clash with the institution's staff unions as he seeks to change the way officials are consulted over working practices.

The unions have accused the Commissioner for administrative reform of trying to undermine their role in representing employees, and are demanding that he withdraws his proposals and goes back to the drawing board. "Kinnock is trying to cut the influence of the unions but we will fight this," warned Louis Rijnoudt, president of the European Civil Servants' Union FFPE.

The unions' anger has been prompted by a letter which Kinnock sent to all Commission officials this week pointing out that the existing arrangements for consulting staff had not been changed since they were drawn up 25 years ago and calling for a "fresh start".

In his letter, Kinnock suggests that the role of the institution's central staff committee, which is made up of representatives elected by all the Commission's 16,000 officials, should be strengthened by increasing the number of staff working for it full-time. He also warns that the practice of funding some 50 full-time union officials "can no longer be reasonably justified".

Kinnock adds that discussions with the unions should in future focus on the most important issues for all staff such as pay and pensions, leaving "day-to-day matters" to be dealt with by the committee.

He also says negotiations between the Commission and unions should be conducted "with organisations which can demonstrate a reasonable level of representativeness". Aides explained that this could be achieved by insisting that unions must have a minimum number of members - yet to be specified - before being allowed to take part in talks.

Kinnock's aides point out that fewer than half of the Commission's staff are members of a union and say the changes are designed to improve dialogue with all the institution's officials. "I have no desire to take away your right to be heard," says Kinnock in his letter. "On the contrary, these changes should help us break the negative cycle of mistrust and hostility which benefits nobody."

But Rijnoudt warned that the staff unions would not accept any attempt by the Commission to "set the unions against one another", and called on Kinnock to withdraw his proposals and start again. The unions fear that bolstering the role of the central staff committee, which is a purely consultative body, at the expense of the unions would give the staff less of a say in the way decisions are taken.

The dispute comes on top of furious protests from staff over the way the Commission handled the recent shake-up of the top jobs in the institution. More than 200 staff have written to Kinnock and President Romano Prodi criticising the treatment meted out to the head of the Commission's external affairs service, Philippe Soubestre, who was only given 12 hours' notice of the decision to force him into early retirement.

The changes reflected the new Commission's determination to ensure senior officials do not stay in the same jobs for too long and key posts are no longer 'flagged' for certain nationalities. Kinnock is expected to apply the same principles to lower-grade officials over the coming months.

But disquiet over the way the director-generalships were allocated and decisions have been taken on other staff moves are likely to make his task more difficult. "People are asking: 'If they can treat directors-general to whom they have a debt of loyalty like that, how are they going to treat us?' " said one union official. "The staff will not take this lying down."

European Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock is heading for his first big clash with the institution's staff unions as he seeks to change the way officials are consulted over working practices.