Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO) Says Almost 40% of Staff in Rijswijk Has Membership and It Developed Close Relationship With the EPO Pensioners’ Association
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Monday, 7 October 2024
THIS week's EPO focus [1, 2] benefits from last week's meetings. One such meeting was a real (physical) meeting that took place in Rijswijk (incidentally, one of our folks in IRC was in Rijswijk yesterday, passed by the EPO's building).
SUEPO The Hague (TH) released a report about it this week and the Committee sent communications to say: "Enclosed are the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of SUEPO The Hague, held on October 7, 2024, from 17:00 to 20:00 at the SUEPO-TH headquarters, De Bruyn Kopsstraat 15, 2288 EC Rijswijk."
Here is the full report (or minutes) as HTMML, GemText, and plain text:
15 October 2024
su24011hpMinutes SUEPO TH AGM 2024>
7 October 2024, 17:00 – 20:00
De Bruyn Kopstraat 15, 2282 EC RijswijkAGM opens at 17:04
- Local Bureau Den Haag (LBDH) committee members present: DD, IB, FC, LMK, RMT, PC, TJ
- LBDH deputy members present: AB, IL
- Members present having the right to vote: 25
- Valid proxies: 2 proxies
- Moderator: IB
- Minutes: AB
1. Approval of the agenda:
- No additional points proposed by the audience.
- Decision: Agenda is unanimously adopted with no additional points.
2. Approval of the minutes of the AGM 2022 (November 2023)
- Discussion and approval.
- Decision: The minutes are unanimously approved.
3. Presentation of the Chair & Activity Report 2023 (IB, chair)
- Presentation of the annual SUEPO activities, overview of the situation at the EPO and insight into social dialogue.
- SUEPO enables checks and balances for the EPO and is essential for collecting feedback and information from/to staff.
- 38% of EPO TH staff are members of SUEPO TH.
- Social dialogue is still not conclusive, consultation is carried out pro forma, few improvements were made in the conditions of employment.
- Presentation of the most salient legal cases.
- SUEPO also essential in assisting colleagues with OHS, management and the administration. A gentle reminder to contact SUEPO TH as soon as possible before problems get out of hand.
- SUEPO TH enjoys a closer relationship with the EPO pensioners’ association, thanks to the observer status of EPO pensioner and former long standing SUEPO committee member Roberto Righetti.
- Process initiated with USF for obtaining training. Questions from the audience on the SAP, the unionization rate and mass emails.
4. Presentation of the Financial Reports 2023 (LMK, RMT)
- Presentation by the Treasurer of the finances of 2023. The Financial Report has been distributed to SUEPO members via email. Questions from the audience on the Central Kassa and number of union members
5. Presentation of the Auditors Reports 2023
- The Financial Report has been distributed to SUEPO members via email.
- Auditors gave a positive opinion on the finances for 2023.
- Chair thanks the four auditors, and thanks DA and DL who will stop being auditors after years of activity.
6. Acceptance of the Accounts 2023
- Decision: The accounts for 2023 are accepted unanimously.
7. Number of full members of the Bureau (Art. 15.2 Statute):
- Proposal: No changes, 7 full members and remaining candidates elected as alternates.
- Question: What was the number of committee members this year?
- Answer: 7 full members, 3 alternate members.
- Decision: the proposal is accepted unanimously.
8. Approval of 2025 membership fees (Art. 12.2 Statutes)
- Proposal: Continue with the rules decided in the AGM of November 2023. All membership fees shall be indexed according to the December 2023 SAP results, i.e. increase of 4,6% of all membership fees in January 2025:
- for active employees = 2,7% of monthly basic salary, first step of the member’s grade in the 2024 salary scales, Pensioners fees: 58euros,
- First calendar year membership for free during the first 3 years of employment,
- Young Professionals get the same flat rate as pensioners.
- Decision: The 2025 membership fees are approved unanimously.
9. Amendments to the Statutes & election rules
- No amendments proposed.
10. Discharging of the Committee
- The Committee was discharged by a big applause.
- Decision: The Committee is unanimously discharged.
11. Election of the Auditors
- DL and DA will not be auditors anymore.
- Volunteers: JM and VF
- Other volunteers? No more volunteers.
- Election: all volunteers elected (with one abstention)
12. Election of the Electoral Committee
- Volunteers: CR, PS, RR, AW, AZ, GR.
- Election: elected unanimously: CR, PS, RR, AW, AZ, GR.
- Big applause for MS who ensures the administrative side of the elections runs smoothly.
AOBs
- Feedback about the meeting with the President on 7 October 2024. The topic of reallocation of files was addressed by VP5.
- Reminder of the General Assembly for staff from all EPO sites to be presented by the LSCMU on Wednesday 9 October.
- Will there be a change in policy for transfers of the EPO financial surplus to the RFPSS/SSP, after the latest opinion of the Appeals Committee on the SAP, as per the President’s announcement of June 2024? The surpluses will still go to RFPSS and SSP. Only the pot for the pension tax compensation still needs to be filed, but there is enough money in the EPOTIF to cover that.
- VECOZO enrolment: it appears that opting into VECOZO makes the administration at the healthcare provider’s end easier. Questions remain as to the possibility to opt out of the VECOZO system, whether healthcare providers can see that staff members have an “aanvulende verzekering”, etc...
AGM closes at 18:35.
Next, we shall look at the 'meeting' in Germany (outsourced to Microsoft). █