Staff unions threaten more strike action

Date: 07/05/1998

By Rory Watson

THE European Commission is facing the possibility of another one-day strike within the next fortnight if it fails to settle fundamental differences with the staff unions over internal reforms.

The unions are continuing to raise the spectre of a further 24-hour stoppage on 20 May. Last week's industrial action brought the Commission to a halt as staff protested over the lack of consultation on possible changes to their salaries and working conditions.

The date has not been chosen at random. It is the day Commission President Jacques Santer and his colleagues will hold a special seminar to examine the role the institution should play in the 21st century and the internal reforms needed to carry it out.

There is no suggestion that this Commission meeting will discuss staff salaries or employment regulations. But the high-level group which is to be established to work on the short strategy paper prepared for the meeting by the Commission's Secretary-General Carlo Trojan may broach these issues later.

Personnel Commissioner Erkki Liikanen met union leaders yesterday (6 May) for the first time since last week's strike, to try to resolve the outstanding issues.

These include union consultation on any possible changes to the staff employment statutes, a reassessment of employee appraisal procedures and the status of officials on fixed-term contracts.

Meanwhile, one of the major stumbling-blocks between the two sides has quietly disappeared.

Liikanen's refusal to declare 'null and void' the informal 'issues paper' drafted by former Commission official Tony Caston, raising ideas for possible reform, was the final trigger for last week's strike.

The unions had unsuccessfully demanded that the 59-page document be taken off the Commission's website. Liikanen refused, arguing that such a move smacked of censorship and infringed an individual's right to self-expression.

But on the day of the strike, the paper, which had been consulted by more than 1,000 officials, was quietly and without any announcement removed from the site.

Supporters of reform argue that the document had served its purpose in kick-starting the wider debate on reform of Eu employees' salaries and employment conditions, and so was no longer necessary.

But its removal will undoubtedly be seen as a victory by the unions, who were also jubilant that 93% of Commission staff answered the strike call.

The exact figure, however, will only be known next Friday (15 May) when officials will have to return forms declaring whether their absence was because they were on strike, ill, or on holiday.

One outcome of the dispute is a move, mainly by younger Commission officials unhappy at the way events have escalated, to establish a new staff association.

The several hundred people involved have been communicating with each other by e-mail over the past few weeks and are currently drawing up the new organisation's statutes.

"There is lack of transparency on both sides. The management is riding roughshod over procedures and the unions are doing a lot of damage by not recognising the need for reform. We do not want to take over from the staff unions, but we want to improve dialogue and promote a constructive approach," explained one of those involved.