EPISODE N°2 –> END THE REMOVAL OF THE EXECUTIVE AGENCIES
Thank you for your participation in the event on the 31 January. We actively continue our mobilisation against this disastrous move proposal.
As stated at the event, this move is not irreversible and we can avoid it. OIB would have NOT yet signed the lease contract for the Northern Light building, even if it was an “agreement made”, according to some. At least 9 months are needed to adapt the building to the needs of the Commission. This means that it would be impossible to carry out the removal (even for REA) in September 2023, according to the timetable proposed by OIB.
As regards the more substantial conditions, there is no valid reason for ANY of the agencies to move to the NL building. This is more expensive than COVE. Employees should adapt their working style to a location that is likely to be a site under construction for years. In COVE, the agencies made significant investments in facilities suitable for project evaluations, both in the building and in the offices.
Moreover, the current owners of COVE do not want to put out the agencies from their premises, nor do they plan to renovate the buildings.
To date, we have not obtained any information from OIB nor answers to questions in our trade union tract in January.
We reiterate our requests for clarification from OIB on the prospection procedure that led to the rental of this building, notably:
• What type of contract has been signed and what criteria led to its signature?
• Have several options been put up for competition?
• Has the Buildings Committee been consulted?
• Should this choice of location not be fully called into question in the light of the perimeter allocated to the Commission’s building stock by the Corporate Management Board of 23 January 2023?
• How have the needs of the activities of the hot-desking units been taken into account?
• Has a health and safety risk analysis been carried out?
We regret the lack of transparency in the choice of this building and of dialogue with staff (which still persists despite mobilisation and petitions).
According to our information, some Directors of the agencies do not agree with this move. What are their positions? Why are they not speaking?
The agencies pay the rent from their own budget, not from the EC budget. For this reason, OIB negotiates the agreement on behalf of the agencies. To this end, a relationship of trust must be established.
Union Syndicale asked the Security Directorate to receive the crime statistics in the neighbourhood. We also asked for guarantees from the Brussels Region regarding the increase in the number of staff to ensure security in a neighbourhood which is far from the described image. So far, we have not received this information. In addition, Pascal SMET’s presentation did not address security issues in the neighbourhood in the short term.
We are going to organise other actions!