Are we all considered to be travel agents, working overtime without compensation?
The Guide to missions and authorised travel adopted in 2017 is currently under revision. Most probably and in order to fulfil the goals of the Institutions, the new text will give emphasis to economies and environmental aspects in line with current EU policies in these areas.
If this new approach is understandable, it should also take into account the wellbeing of the personnel. And this is not the case, as the personnel, already overloaded, will have in the future the responsibility to book themselves their travel and accommodation, as they do for private travel, bearing thus also the responsibility of seeking and obtaining both the cheapest and greener ways to travel.
Additionally, cheaper and greener travel can also mean longer missions, less compatible with working time rules (the mission being also working time !).
In this context:
Union Syndicale considers that putting more stress on the shoulders of the staff and make colleagues waste their working time is not a sign of an employer who takes care of its collaborators’ well-being.
Union Syndicale draws the attention of the administration on the need to include, as a reminder, the rules on working time (especially the Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003) with a view to ensuring that services will adopt a harmonised approach when calculating the duration of missions, as well as related constraints and compensation. In this context, the Commission should not neglect its commitments taken in favour of a balance between professional and personal life.
