Dear Contract Agents:

We call on you to join us in this important collective action to undertake a review of the current Staff Regulations (SR) in preparation for future negotiations on a new SR. As Contract Agents we must be better prepared and avoid being left behind or worse.

Given a number of factors including the current context of persistent high inflation and a war in Europe, we firmly believe that a reform of the SR will become inevitable. We must be better prepared to fully engage in these critical SR discussions and have our own legitimate arguments and expectations for CAs vis-a-vis the Administration who are already working on different proposals and scenarios.

It is painfully obvious by now that the current SR has no gameplan for CAs. The Administration is aware of CA issues but unable/unwilling to introduce the much-needed reforms to address our legitimate professional expectations. CAs have long demanded a career perspective yet there is still little incentive to do better and few possibilities of obtaining a permanent contract as an Official.

The CA SR Taskforce believes that the new Staff Regulations represent an unmissable opportunity to obtain real improvements for CAs.

To be better prepared, we propose to carry out an independent legal analysis of CA employment conditions in the framework of the current SR, and to develop a strategy with proposals for changes to be shared with policy makers that will be involved in the next round of negotiations to review the SR.

Commission Trade Unions may have good intentions and show public support but so far they have a poor track record and have been unable to negotiate any substantial improvements for CAs since 2004. The little victories achieved in the meantime, were in fact initiated by active CAs who lobbied hard for improvements but we can do more!

We propose you to engage an experienced lawyer to put together a legal and regulatory digest, perform an analysis of the digest, identify elements of inequality, possible discrimination and provisions conflicting with general EU principles of labour law and the EU Charter of Human Rights. Finally, the lawyer will draft a set of proposals for improvements and amendments to the current SR that will be presented during the negotiations through both formal and informal channels.

To carry out this vital work, we need support from each and every CA, in all EU institutions, in all places of work, CAs of all grades, both CA3a and CA3b.

Legal fees are estimated to be in the range of €14/16,000 and the assignment will take approximately 4 months to complete. Funds raised will be used for the sole purpose of actions aimed at improving the working conditions of Contract Agents.

A dedicated bank account has been established for your contributions. Please support us in this action and make your contribution today.

Suggested minimum contribution: € 30 – you can transfer more if you wish!