Letter to Sabrina Depicker

SALARY INDEXATION

Articles 66 (12) and 66a (13)

From the FFPE EUROCONTROL – Friday 19 November 2021

Dear Sabrina,

The FFPE considers that the measures proposed in the last Covid message (#63 of 19/11/21) concerning telework are inappropriate and should be modified.

The reasons are the following:

·         From a legal point of view, the Organisation has a duty of care for the safety and health of its staff. This is clearly stated in Article 1C of the Agency’s Staff Regulations (see extract below).

Article 1C

Officials in active employment shall be accorded working conditions complying with appropriate health and safety standards at least equivalent to the minimum requirements applicable under measures adopted in the relevant Member States.

·         In this COVID crisis, we are clearly leaving the usual and statutory framework of telework since it is now imposed by the Belgian Government and such a decision is imposed on Eurocontrol.

·         The Administration proposes that staff should be entitled to 2.5 days of telework, so not all staff subject to this rule should be considered as performing essential functions. Therefore, the mandatory 4 days should apply and the Agency should not issue conditions more restrictive than those imposed by the Member State concerned.

·         Proposing to increase telework on a case-by-case basis depending on the goodwill of the manager also shows a willingness to treat staff differently while not respecting our own rules (article 1C of SR)

For the staff working at HQ, it is important to respect the effort requested by Belgium to deal with the increasing number of COVID cases.

Consequently, and taking into account this exceptional health situation, the FFPE requests that the Staff Regulations be respected and that all staff concerned by telework be obliged to apply the decisions of the Belgian Government regarding telework.

Also, as we have a large number of staff that are considered as essential, and whose attendance on site is obligatory, we would appreciate if the agency expedited the vaccine booster provision in order to guarantee service continuity. This is accordance with current Belgian practices, particularly re vulnerable staff.

The FFPE remains available if needed.

Best regards,

Benoit Bams

President FFPE-Eurocontrol