Note for the attention of Mr. Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources
All the staff unions of the European Commission, united in the Common Front, have been informed of the outsourcing of the Wilson day nursery in circumstances that are unacceptable and disrespectful for both staff and parents.
The OIB continues to show the greatest contempt for any dialogue with the staff and their representatives.
The Common Front is firmly opposed to such an EXTERNALISATION as well as to this method of unilateral decision-making power used in defiance of any SOCIAL DIALOGUE with the staff and its representatives.
The expertise and professionalism of our colleagues are an asset for the proper functioning and sustainability of our services. Our colleagues cannot be replaced by staff who are not trained in our specific environment.
Since 2004, following the enlargement of the EU, we have constantly called on the administration to remedy the request of parents and future parents to be able to entrust their children to a quality educational service requiring qualified and experienced colleagues together with the necessary infrastructures.
This decision will have negative consequences :
1. Concerning our colleagues :
-An increase in psychosocial risk factors -already present with staff at the end of their
rope- following the imposition of a decision without consulting the first parties concerned,
putting them in a state of total insecurity, thus generating a mental burden, a loss of
bearings and unnecessary stress
-A deep demotivation of the teams
-Precarious jobs
– Loss of a professional meaning linked to the assignment to the European Schools
2. Concerning parents and children :
– Some educators did not know the name of the child in care
– Absence of communication between the company and the parents
– Problem in following up the pedagogical project
– Unsuitable structures for day care centres
3. Concerning the outsourcing project :
-The knowledge and know-how will be displaced elsewhere without benefiting from the
same resources and without any guarantee of the sustainability of the Institution’s jobs
and services
– The management on site will have no room for manoeuvre
– Opening hours will be restricted
– The precariousness of staff and the loss of the function
