During the eight and a half years period for which the Method for adjusting salaries and pensions was to be in force according to the 2004 Staff Regulations, there was a significant loss of purchasing power, mainly for staff in active employment.
These are the pay grids for officials and temporary staff on the one hand and contract staff on the other, resulting from the 2014 Reform and the 0.8% pay adjustment which applies with effect from 2/07/2012.
To reverse the trend and find the lost thread of social progress, the role of trade unions is irreplaceable.
Having its members’ subscriptions (€ 16 637.97) as its only resource, EPSU-CJ spent, in 2013, a total amount of € 15 578.62. 48.77% out of this total amount was spent for the strikes.
The European elections are a chance for us to have an influence on the composition of the European Parliament and, thereby, on the political orientations of that EU institution, the only one which can claim democratic legitimacy.
EPSU-CJ, the only trade union which was able to put forward a full and well-balanced list, combining experience and renewal, increased both its number of seats and its percentage of votes.
The ‘Method’ for adjusting remuneration and pensions, which, in its successive variations, has ensured, since 1972, social peace, to the extent that it was considered by both parties (employers and employees) as binding, is dead. After its expiry, on December 31, 2012, this method has been sentenced to death by the judgment of the Court of 19 November 2013 (Case C-63/12).
When working conditions are worsening, shall we join forces or go it alone?
The outcome of this reform is grim. Certainly, it could have been worse, and it probably would have been were it not for the mobilisation that we conducted together. But beyond a ‘profits and losses’ approach, this Reform is marked by social regression.
With the introduction of the long-awaited M-Pass, EPSU -CJ’s demand is finally satisfied. EPSU -CJ fully supports this egalitarian formula, which is likely to be of interest to colleagues regardless of their place of residence. However, this news has raised neither a wave of enthusiasm nor a rush to the markings.